Time Crisis

"A good shooter from Namco that beats Sega's Virtua Cop."

You are Richard Miller. You are assigned to rescue the President's daughter. There goes the story for Time Crisis, another masterpiece from Namco. This great shooter departs from those scroll and shoot titles out there. It also removes those boring shoot everything before you get shot titles, too. With a pedal and a realistic recoil action gun, Namco has overdone itself again. The graphics are top notch perfect from the bad guys to the backgrounds to the flying knives heading for you. The bad guys also act realistically when they get shot. In other games, they just disappear. In Time Crisis, they do some death pose and fall to the ground, then they disappear. The gameplay is different than most titles out there. Sega once dominated the shooting genre and now Namco rules it. The encorporation of the pedal is a good addition to those gun games. Basically, you step on the pedal to pop out of your hiding place and start shooting. Release the pedal to hide from bullets and knives and other hazards to preserve your health. Beware, this game actually gives you a time limit to complete certain stages! The gun is very accurate and has a neat recoil feature. The sounds of this great game is a big improvement over many titles. Bad guys fall with a thonk and the guns make an accurate sounds just like when firing a real gun. The graphics is fully 3D and it is very detailed unlike most shooters. You can even see the expressions of the enemies after they get shot. Bosses move very fluid and explosions don't cover up the screen at all. This game may dethrone Sega from its shooter's genre. It's the next best thing out there beside the real thing.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99