Endgame

"Bored with Time Crisis? Want another chance to use that expensive lightgun? Look no further!"

Gameplay

It is apparent from the start that this a Time Crisis clone which is no bad thing with cheesy boss characters the duck feature and the circles appearing around ''dangerous'' bullets etc. It is quite a short game with 5 countries, with each country taking about 5. I got halfway through the 2nd on my first attempt but the difficulty does seem to get increasingly harder and will prob take you a few attempts to get to the end. Once again, like Time Crisis, you cannot save at all until you die or win. What is nice though is that when you clear a country you can reply it when you like in the Extras Menu to try and beat your time. In terms of extras there is a lot to unlock.

Arcade Mode - Play for Points instead of simply for time (to be unlocked within Arcade)
- Double Gun Mode – use 2 guns (open from unlocking Arcade)
- 4 Different Gun Types (shotgun/machine gun etc…) – One unlocked every completed time.
- Hyper Mode – game runs at 25% all the time without having to earn it.
- There is also another ?, but I have yet to have unlocked it!

Country Challenge Mode - Race Though a country against the clock

Music Player

One neat feature in game is if you reach a target of enemies in a certain time, then you enter a hyper mode when it goes blurry and you speed up 25% and the game goes at a much faster pace, increasing the danger level whilst also trying to lower the time it takes to clear a level.

Aside from the main mode ''End Game'' there is a bonus feature open from the start of Jade's (the main character) fav gun game of ''Mighty Joe Jupiter''. It seems quite fun if not short. It contains 3 episodes (with the ability to play them in sequence unlocked at the end) of comic book style where you play as a person similar to batman shooting aliens with a blaster ray with an elvis sound-a-like telling you to ''Recharge!'' ''a la'' Time Crisis. (Just Time Crisis didnt have Elvis!). Also included in this mode is a series of 10 training Mini-games with 3 difficulty levels which add more time to the game. (You even get a comic book entry with overly silly names…like the captain ka’ka’ka’ka has stolen the tri dimensional quark displacer!)

Story

Story, well I wouldn’t get too worked up about the so called excellent story. There is a story and it could be called more in depth than Time Crisis. Basically your boyfriend found out too much about the company (that you both work for) called “Eurodream” and they have been required to kill both of you. You are then sent on a mission to stop the company from completing an update to their vast network that will allow mind control or something. In reality this means collecting 3 Key Cards and inserting them into the mainframe in Swiss. There is one twist which I won’t spoil for you, near the end and is part of the alternate endings. I have only seen two, one with credits at end and one without and they depend on how fast you are I think? Overall the story is better than Time Crisis but simply is not developed enough at the end of the day to the point that you don’t know enough background information or how things are really working.

Graphics

Graphics in game are very good (well maybe not the character models, there is something odd looking about the guards) but environments are very detailed. Another interesting thing is much of the set can be shot at and destroyed which is quite neat. Cut scenes however are worse than in game, but I doubt you will be watching them that many times and are easily skip-able. (You may want to watch them again to try and understand the plot!)

Sound

Sound in general is pretty good with the mini game music being top notch and many catchy tunes that I am sure I have heard somewhere else…..(TC anyone?). The Hyper Mode tunes are also are very catchy (esp Swiss). Overall there are a few songs that blur into the background, but most have that “catchy” feel to it. Also I really liked the ending music, but this is prob just personal taste!

Overall

In general though it just does not feel as polished as TC. It just doesn’t have that same slick feel to it, like when you picked up TC for the first time. This could be to do with the poor cut scenes, or the fact it loads every 2 mins or less. The loading times are not that bad, just are annoying when you want to kick more ''Eurodream'' butt and a loading screen comes up for 5-10 seconds.

There is a fair bit or replayability with the mini games and the unlockables however it won’t last that long, however I can see myself picking it up again in the near future. You know lightgun games and their lengths, it all really depends on how much you play these games! Think Time Crisis length!

Buy? Rent? Not touch with a 10 foot barge pole?

Overall it seems a fun game, and is a nice distraction. If you have a lightgun and are itching for another Time Crisis you will find a good alternative here as there is plenty of shooting action for your lightgun to enjoy! However if you are looking for a lightgun game then I would recommend Time Crisis first, or if you have played it to death in the arcade then perhaps rent this first before shelling out for a lightgun of your own!

If you hate shooting games then avoid with a 10 foot barge pole! Why are you even reading this if you hate light gun games…..Shooo!

7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/11/02, Updated 06/11/02