Namco's Time Crisis is a impressive simulator of real-time gunfights that is fun to play along with the peripheral.
Platform: PSOne
Developer: Namco
Publisher: SCEE
Genre: Light Gun Shooter
Age Rating: 15-17 ELSPA
Release Date: November 1997
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Score: 8.5/10
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summery:
Namco's Time Crisis is a impressive simulator of real-time gunfights that is fun to play along with the peripheral.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In recent years the light gun genre has been stagnating with many of the same shooting gallery that has been seen many times, but luckily that changes with Time Crisis which was released in arcades in 1995. 2 years later it becomes available on PlayStation with the birth of the G-Con 45 Namco gun peripheral which brings the arcade experience on the PlayStation. Featuring better graphics and a new story mode to play through this will be a real blast through that you'll experience.
The story of Time Crisis is that an evil organization lead by Wild dog and his boss have kidnapped the Presidents Daughter Rachael and has demanded military secrets in exchange of her life. You'll play as Richard Miller who has been assigned to infiltrate his castle and rescue Rachael. Some of the cutscenes suffer with writing that's about as cheesy as House of the Dead and voice work bit they still look pretty cool though.
You can get the game with the gun which comes in a big huge box also includes a connector which plugs into your console but you also have the option to placing the yellow socket into your TV. You'd be better off to get a better deal for the game and gun package even if the Namco gun does not work older shooting games like Area 51 or Die Hard Trilogy. When you boot up the game you go through The light gun Calibration screen which you aim the gun at the target which calibrates the cursor where your aiming the gun. The gun itself is really accurate but the gun has 2 different buttons at the end of the gun on each side. You'll use one of those buttons for taking cover and reloading your gun in the game. It work fine but when holding the gun with 2 hands like a rifle it can make your arms tired in which you'll might lose if you keep playing so it's properly a good idea to take a break and give your arms a rest when ever needed.
In the game you'll have the main arcade mode and also included is a special mode which includes a new storyline to play though. In Arcade you can play either the Main story or a play through a Time Attack setting. The main game focuses on playing 3 different set of levels until you'll face a boss in the 4th area. Each level lasts for about a minute which all involves you shooting all the guys that appear on the screen before the time runs out. When you complete a wave the time extends giving you more time to complete the next wave. Most enemy's have different colors which determines their accuracy. Blue's miss most of the time, Grays are between both hit or miss but the Red guys can shoot you instantly the moment they appear so you'll need to need to watch out for them. You also find yellow soldiers which will rarely make their appearance for a brief time, if you shoot them quickly you'll get a bit of extra time which seems pretty nifty. Your goal in the game is to shoot anything that appears on the screen until you can advance to the next area, luckily there are no hostages to be aware which is a big relief. The only minor thing altered to the gameplay unlike the arcade version is that when you use a continue after dying you get sent back to the beginning of the level which at least makes the game more challenging. Once you beat the main story you can play through the Timed game which you have to beat through any of the 3 stages in the main game in the fastest time possible with Infinite Lives which ultimately kills the difficulty in it. Unless you run out of time in it you'll easily plow through it without having to worry about being shot a red guy.
Time Crisis on the PlayStation also includes a new storyline involving Richard having to uncover the plan of an organization known as Kartaris. The mode plays the same path as the main game for the most part until at the end of the level where depending on your actions to finish the levels takes you into different places of the hotel. For example you can either kill all the guys quickly takes you into the elevator up or just waiting for the elevator to go back up along takes you into the Jewelery Area. When going along the determined path you'll end up with a final encounter which determines the one of 6 possible endings you can get in this mode which does add replay value unlike other shooters.
Unlike other games where it utilizes the shoot or be shot business, Time Crisis introduces the duck and cover mechanism in which you used the pedal to get out from behind cover and using the gun to shoot the enemy. This version translates by using the button on the side of the gun which in the settings you can set the reload and pause buttons around to your liking or for which hand you're using for the gun. If your arms get tried from holding the gun like a rifle you can plug in a controller so you can hold the gun in one hand and use the controller in another hand to reload. Unlike other shooter games Time Crisis has a challenging gun-game experience you'll ever play. If you're searching for shoot out simulator you can't get any better then Time Crisis.
The graphics is a decent update from the arcade version dispute the framework being lower then the original Arcade version but that doesn't it from looking quite sharp with solid models, fluid animations and decent effects. Soundtrack is great overall but voice acting is a little cheesy to bear with.
Out of the available choices of Light Gun games Time Crisis is your best choice especially when you can also get the game with the Namco Gun controller with it. With it's excellent style of gun-play Namco's Time Crisis is a impressive simulator of real-time gunfights that is fun to play along with the G-Con 45 peripheral.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Pros:
1. Shoot, Hide and Reload Gameplay is pretty impressive and highly additive
2. It can come into a gun and game packaging which can be a great deal
3. Special Storymode has Multiple Paths for Multiple Endings
The Bads:
1. Holding the side buttons on the gun to duck and reload can tire your arms out easily
2. The Timed game mode is too simple to plow through
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (BlaZer91)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------