"Another reason why Namco is the king of Light Games"

The Time Crisis series has, up to this point, been a wonderful one-two punch in the arm for modern day light gun games. The ability to hide, the tense time-based systems, the vivid colors and crafty secrets; Time Crisis has had so much going for it, emphasising skill over luck and cheapness that so many other light gun games seem to thrive on. No innocent lives, barely any weapons upgrades, just straight-forward shootin', killin' bad guys, and looking for one more way to increase your score or lower your time.

One might have feared that the machine-gun dynamic would destroy the Crisis balance, that it would have thrown off gameplay or destroyed accuracy and the like, turning the Crisis series into a clumsy monster, one that rejected the skill, timing and finesse of the first two. Fear not. Crisis Zone is a worthy follow-up to a wonderful series, itself containing all the nuances that made its predecessors worthy of the light-gun crown.

Like the other Crisis games, the learning curve here is excellent; it will take you some serious tokens to get through it the first few times, more than likely, but especially if you're familiar with Time Crisis 2, before too long you'll be having little trouble getting through the game without dying, even on the hardest setting. From there is becomes a rush to find the maddest combos, to find the quickest ways to despense bad guys, and to find a perfect balance between speed and violence. It is definitely a game worthy of its name.

Diving in a little deeper here, one of the main differences about this game (besides the obvious machine gun) is the ability to shoot and destroy much of what is in the background. Not everything is destroyable, and even less of that is actually useful in building up fat combos, but for the most part, the destruction you can create is a beautiful thing. From trashing CD's in a trendy mall music store to shredding computers in an office to blowing away stone pillars ala The Matrix in a park, there's plenty of stuff to shoot besides bad guys. And alot of the stuff you CAN shoot, you WANT to shoot, simply because it beefs up your combos. Crisis Zone thankfully keeps with the scoring system of TC2, and the bigger the combo you can get, the better the score. If you can use the scenery to string along your shooting in between the baddies that pop up, you can gain big bonuses. Also, time is crucial, as one might imagine. The quicker you can beat a level, the more bonus points you'll earn. Soon, playing will simply become an exercise in finding the quickest way to destroy something.

The boss battles in Crisis Zone are fun and long, taking up almost the last half of each level. The tank, helicopter, and ''dynamic'' duo are an interesting challenge; one where you will be able to seek ways to destroy them better and faster. The last ''level'' containing the end boss is actually a big let down, unless you find another guy shooting at you with a slightly better gun to be terribly exciting. But overall, the level design is quite nice; the world feels vibrant and lived in, and trashing it sure is fun.

All in all, Crisis Zone is one of the top light gun games available. The gun is a bit heavy, and has some wicked kickback, but it is a pretty cool prop. It's fast, much better than the weak rapid-fire in TC2, where you could easily self-fire the gun faster than the game could. And it still takes skill and timing to dispatch the enemy, despite seeming the contrary. This is one of those arcade games that combine fun gameplay with decent depth. If this type of game is your thing, it could keep you shooting for months to come.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/12/00, Updated 04/12/00