Got to play the game myself (same build as Kobold I guess) at the Free Radical studios, and you shouldn't worry about EA messing things up. TS:FP much feels like the previous games, but with some improvements. e.g.: the controls system is now customisable (you can still choose the old GoldenEye-ish control sheme, but now default controls are based on the much loved Halo 2)
Singleplayer mode won't be the greatest of all time, but the story itself will be better this time, and above all, tons of humour! In each level, there is for example a drunk guard hidden, who's full of crap and says the most funny things, but there are also hidden extra's for those willing to explore: hidden scenes, a piano you can use to play some songs on, that sort of stuff.
And those who love(d) Timesplitters 2 and its challenges and arcade league will be happy to see all that return, no drastic changes though, just more of the same, but that "same" was hilarious so I don't mind.
Especially the mapmaker is better than ever before, I just can't start to explain how detailed it is, just about everyting is customisable, even up to spawnpoinst, mission objectives (e.g. for an Assault map), timers for doors,... The mapmaker in TS2 was way too basic, but this one looks just great, and easy to use. No need to worry about tiles matching like in the previous one etc.
Should become yet another fun game in the series ... or to sum things up with one of Karl Hilton's quotes: There are far too many games that take themselves too seriously nowadays.
(for those interested, a more detailed hands on, in Dutch, can be found over here:
http://www.x-power.be/modules.php?name=Previews&rop=showcontent&id=109 )
