Deep Silver studio (based in Nottingham, England, location of the original Free Radical headquarters) to create the next entry in the TimeSplitters franchise. It was also announced that the new Free Radical would be headed not just by Ellis, but also by Doak, marking the return of both franchise creators amongst other "key original members;" however, it did confirm that development on the new game had not yet started, and would begin "in the coming months", once the studio was fully established. Gameplay Each of the TimeSplitters games are first-person shooters which also feature elements of exploration and puzzle-solving. Multiplayer is a core gameplay element, both co-operative such as allowing two players to play through story missions together and competitive multiplayer; however, these multiplayer elements were local play only, without online multiplayer, until the release of TimeSplitters: Future Perfect. The series' visual style uses character models and expressions emphasizing more caricatured, cartoon-like qualities and comic book-inspired design, supported by animators from traditional 2D animation backgrounds. Many of the characters represent parodies of established pop culture stereotypes, such as the aristocratic English explorer or the suave secret agent, and many aspects of the series focus on often surreal and self-deprecating humor. Story mode The games' story mode consists of a series of missions that can be played by either one or two players. In the first TimeSplitters, story missions are based upon the retrieval of a key object such as a time crystal)l and its successful return. TimeSplitters 2 and TimeSplitters: Future Perfect introduced additional story mode objectives and more complex levels. Arcade mode Arcade mode is the multiplayer aspect of the TimeSplitters series, but also provides the option to include AI-controlled bots with configurable difficulty levels, to act in place of human players. The games are notable for their large selection of multiplayer modes (such as a total of 16 different competition modes in TimeSplitters 2), spanning both traditional Deathmatch and Capture the Flag-type games, as well as other TimeSplitters-specific modes such as "Flame Tag", "Virus", "Shrink", and "Monkey Assistant." The games also provide players with options to customise multiple details of each game mode, such as rules and available weapons, to create a more varied experience. In arcade mode, players can chose from a variety of playable characters (a total of 150 in Future Perfect, for example), each with distinct attributes in areas such as speed and stamina. TimeSplitters