Time Crisis 4

"Terrorists fear mah plastic peacemaker!!"

So, think that the light-gun genre is dead with the next generation of games, right? Think they aren't as popular anymore than they used to be, right? Think pointing a plastic gun at a TV screen and shooting fake enemies is stupid, right?

Well, Namco Bandai says in a Lex Luthor-like way: “WRONG!”

So out comes Time Crisis 4, the next installment in the popular light gun series exclusively for the Playstation 3. It even comes packed with your newest instrument of justice: the Guncon3! So, is it still worth it to point a hunk of plastic at a TV screen and save the world?

Yes, Dammit!! Why would you ask that sort of question??

TIMED STORY

Basically, one or two players can play as either Giorgio (seriously??) or Evan, two V.S.S.E agents who look like they shop at Banana Republic and take 6 hours every morning to do up their hair. Joined by Captain William Rush of the US army and supported over radio by Rush's comrade, Elisabeth Conway, they have to shoot-up a bunch of terrorists who are using special biological weapons called “terror bites” to take over the world. Of course, series regular Wild Dog will show up with his 90-year-old ass for what seems like no reason other than to, well, be in a Time Crisis game. You'll even face his little buddy Wild Fang in complete mission mode (I know most people wouldn't buy the game unless Wild Fang was in it, so there you go).

Take it or leave it, but that's it. You expect anything else?

TIMED GAMEPLAY

Time Crisis vets are pretty much getting the same, fast-paced light-gun action that they know and love when they play TC4. But first, what about the all-new Guncon3? Well, your new toy is bright orange, has a handle jutting out the left side of it with one analogue stick and two buttons on it, two more buttons on the left side of the actual gun, another analogue stick where the gun's hammer would be, and finally two more buttons below that analogue stick. Add in two more buttons if you count clicking in the analogue sticks…and one more if you count the trigger as a button. Through the magic of some sophisticated modern technology (AKA two square LED things you hang off the top corners of your TV) the Guncon3 will work with ANY TV set!! Plasma, LCD, CRT…whatever you got. You then plug both the Guncon3 and the LCD things into the USB ports on the PS3 (the LED things both share one USB connection). When you start TC4, you have to calibrate the Guncon3, which is an easy process of just shooting a couple of targets on screen. One thing though is that the Guncon3 only calibrates properly if your about 4-5 feet away from your TV. Right above the hammer analogue stick, there is a light that turns solid red if your too close to the TV screen to calibrate properly. You would have to back up from you TV until that light goes off to properly calibrate your gun. However, during gameplay, the gun seemed to work just fine even when that light was red. Kind of weird, but whatever. But properly calibrated, the Guncon3 is just as accurate as past Guncons. A couple of complaints though: 1) The Guncon3 is NOT compatible with past Guncon games for the PS1 and 2, and 2) the Guncon3 is not wireless. It would have been so cool to pull off some John Woo stuff with a wireless Guncon…

TC4's main mode is, of course, the arcade mode. Just like past TC's, your basically shooting buttloads of terrorist's on-rails in timed sections while taking cover to reload weapons and dodge fatal attacks. Your main weapon is a 9-shot handgun, but you can switch to a machine gun, shotgun, and grenade launcher, all with ammo limits, by ducking and pulling the trigger. All the TC trademarks are here: blue colored enemies, red colored enemies that give out life-taking shots, yellow enemies that give you extra ammo when shot, knife-throwing enemies, and various armored enemies that require you to switch to your other weapons to take out. New enemies include the terror bites, which are basically swarms of beetles, dragonflies, and other insects that require machine gun or shotgun fire to take out. The game consists of one prologue stage and three regular stages, each with 3 sections in them. You start off with 3 lives and 3 continues, but continues will increase the more you fail arcade mode. You go through each stage shooting bad guys and racking up a high score, and when you get to the third section of the stage you fight a boss. Boss fights in TC4 are just as entertaining and challenging as in previous ones (Stage 2's boss fight has become one of my favorites). Even 187-year-old Wild Dog puts up a good fight. You'll even come across sections of the game where you man an infinite-ammo heavy gun on a helicopter and use a sniper rifle to shoot out truck tires. One new gameplay aspect that has been put into TC4 is the multi-screen battle. Basically, you character is behind a barricade, and you'll have to fend off enemies coming from different sides of it. You either use the analogue stick or point the gun the way you want to turn to change screens and keep them at bay. If they are able to destroy the barricade, you lose a life. Basically, if you liked the previous Time Crisis games, you'll have no problem liking this one.

Of course, a home edition of TC wouldn't be complete without extra modes. The main extra mode is the complete mission, where you take control of Captain William Rush in FPS levels that basically mimic a PS2 Capcom gun survivor game. This 15-chapter mode mixes these levels up with the regular on-rails levels from the arcade mode, hence the name complete mission. Pretty much every button on the Guncon3 is used in the FPS levels: you use the analogue sticks to move Rush around while other buttons control weapon changing, reloading, crouching, and jumping. You can even turn on crosshairs with a push of a button if you have trouble aiming. Besides all the weapons from the arcade mode, Rush can also use a knife for close encounters and hand grenades. None of Rush's weapons have infinite ammo, but dead enemies drop plenty of it. These levels are pretty long, and can take half-an hour or more to complete. One main problem with the FPS levels is that there will be sections were your basically just moving huge distances from one place to the other, and Rush moves very slow and there is no sprint button. Also, your objectives during these levels, which include flipping switches or blowing something up, are pretty dull. Your enemies, while very plentiful, are just dumb drones who stand out in the open and often fire in different directions that are NOT towards you.
Boss fights in these levels are at least pretty challenging. So while complete mission mode can be pretty fun, it can also get pretty boring. I appreciate something different, but I probably would have preferred Mr. Rush's levels to be on-rails just like in arcade mode.

A TC home edition staple, the crisis missions, also makes a welcome return. Crisis missions are separated into six stages, or “days”, each with four tasks to accomplish. These range from getting a certain amount of points, using specific weapons, or taking out specific enemies. These missions will give you various high scores to go for, and should add in some replayability. You also get a set of target shooting mini-games where you take out red bulls-eyes in various situations, while avoiding shooting blue bulls-eyes and other targets. A lot of these will take a sharp eye and steady hands to complete, so it's definitely something people can get into for accuracy practice and shooting for high scores.

TIMED GRAPHICS

Overall, TC4 doesn't really represent a “next-gen” game well. Some environments and character models look pretty good, but overall it looks like a hi-def PS2 game. This is especially evident during the FPS levels, where you frequently be running around some drab buildings or corridors, with only the one outdoor level looking halfway decent. Cut-scenes are pretty slick though, and integrate well into the arcade and complete modes. Explosions and such can look pretty good. TC4 also runs pretty smoothly throughout, with an option to install game data to decrease load times. Overall, a decent effort.

TIMED SOUND

TC4 sound is also a decent effort. Sound effects like gunshots and explosions get the job done well enough. Music is ok techno-like stuff, but it's mostly forgettable (except maybe Wild Dog's theme which I'll probably never forget). Voice acting is what you would expect from a light-gun game: brutal. Still, if you have a 5.1 surround system, it's pretty cool to hear bullets whizzing past your head.

ACTION!

Like previous games, TC4's main mode will probably take less than an hour to beat. Complete mission mode beefs that time up to 2-3 hours. However, beating these modes multiple times will unlock various goodies like infinite ammo and continues that will help you shoot for very high scores and beat the harder difficulties.. Crisis missions and the mini-games also have high scores that need beating. If you somehow know someone with another Guncon3 (or someone who doesn't mind using the controller), then you can play arcade in split-screen two-player mode and most modes support two players as well. Also, the back of the Time Crisis 4 box mentions downloadable content in the future as well, hopefully.

When it comes to light-gun games, you either love them or hate them. Good thing for you people I love them, so Time Crisis 4 gets my seal of approval. It's fast-paced shooting action with extra modes and replayability, and if you can afford it's $90 price tag, then you'll have a very good time…Crisis…with it!!!

I made a funny!!

KEWL
+Fast-paced shooting action
+Guncon3 works well
+2-player co-op modes
+Various extra modes
+Decent graphics and sound
+Lots of unlockables and high scores to shoot for makes for a lot of replay value

LAME
-Graphics aren't really “next-gen”
-FPS levels in complete mission mode can drag on and get boring
-Atrocious voice acting
-Guncon3 doesn't work with PS1 and 2 Guncon titles
-$90 might be too steep for some people
-Seriously, the main characters look like Abercrombie & Fitch models

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/10/07

Game Release: Time Crisis 4 (US, 11/20/07)