Steve Boxer has been busy on Time Crisis. Here’s his preview of number four in the popular franchise…
Those of you who are of a certain age should be well aware of Namco’s pre-eminence in the arcades, and its propensity for bringing its hottest arcade properties to Sony’s consoles. Here, then, is its best-loved arcade shooter, Time Crisis, updated for the PS3, complete with a redesigned G-Con light-gun (bright orange in the UK) and even a stab at a proper first-person shooter mode to go with the traditional on-rails action.
Which ought to excite those who have enjoyed Time Crisis games of yore. Although we will add a slight caveat – Time Crisis 4 is one of those games you’ll either love or hate, and if arcade-style light-gun shooting isn’t your bag, you’ll find it all too easy to pick holes in the cheesiness of the plot and characters and the slightly flawed fps mode. Both of which, in our opinion, are peripheral aspects of the game (you can play all the arcade chapters and ignore the fps ones should you so wish). What Time Crisis 4 is all about is diving around gleefully on your sofa, wielding your light-gun and embarking on a nostalgia-trip to the days when the arcades were the centre of the universe, and if you approach it with those sort of thoughts in mind, you won’t be disappointed.
The first thing you have to do is set up the G-Con, which is slightly more fiddly than you might expect, as you have to hang two sensors from the top of your television (weighted straps keep them in place). Some care is required with their positioning, as the further apart you place them, the further back you will have to sit from your TV. If you have a TV which is 32 inches or bigger, you need to place the sensors well inside the edges of the screen. If you are too close, an LED will light up on the G-Con; if in doubt, move the sensors towards the centre of the TV and recalibrate.
On loading the game, you’re faced with two main game modes: Arcade which, as you would expect, allows you to go as far into the on-rails game as you can before you run out of virtual credits (what joy not to have to insert actual coins), and Complete Mission, which is the full hybrid game mixing on-rails and fps missions.
Diving, as most people surely will, into Arcade, you get to choose to play as either Giorgio or Evan, both VSSE agents, who are, frankly, every bit as effeminate-looking as they sound. Before long, you meet Captain William Rush, a burly white guy with dreads who looks like an Aussie backpacker with a camouflage fetish. The first shoot-out (in an airport) is pretty gentle by Time Crisis standards, allowing you to explore the excellent weaponry (handgun, machine-gun, shotgun and rocket-launcher) and remember the game’s mechanic in which you’re ducking by default, and to stand up, must hold down the reload button (marked A1, on the gun’s second butt which your left hand holds); letting go of it lets you duck and reload. You can tell when you’re in danger of being hit, because a whacking great pink circle flies at you – if you see one, you must instantly duck, because health (you get three bars per life) is at an absolute premium.
My personal favourite weapon is the machine-gun – it’s deeply satisfying when you use it to mow down a wave of enemies, and it’s by far the best weapon in the fps segments, in which speed of reloading is an issue. The shotgun is great, because it operates just as effectively over a seemingly infinite distance, and while the rocket-launcher packs a serious punch, you don’t often find ammo for it. Early in the Arcade game, you’re introduced to Terror Bites, insect-like biological weapons around which the storyline revolves; the ones which are best taken out with the machine-gun and the flying ones with the shotgun. Plus you encounter a two-screen set-piece, in which you switch screens by pointing the gun beyond the relevant side of your TV and then a three-screen battle – several of which crop up during the game. And the first stage contains plenty of excellent on-rails, fixed-gun shooting sequences – in one, for example, you’re in a helicopter, and the camera angle swings around wildly in accordance with that. And, of course, you meet your first boss – a bit of a cool dude who wields an anti-tank gun one-handed and swings around on a rope. As with all the bosses, he has several times the life of any ordinary enemy, so you effectively have to kill him several times over.
Graphically, the Arcade side of Time Crisis 4 is unimpeachable – super-crisp, with all sorts of flashy textures and effects and, of course, that classic shiny arcade look. There are cute touches, too, such as a sequence in dark caves where you acquire a light-beam attached to your gun. When you die, though, you have to start from the beginning, although the more you play, the more virtual credits you are given, and when you get to a new stage, that stage is opened up so you can play it on its own. But in order to open new stages, you have to go back to the start of the game and make the most of that extra credit.
Complete Mission mode has attracted a certain amount of criticism – somewhat unfairly, in our opinion. It takes a bit of getting used to initially, as you have to control two joysticks, one with each thumb – the one at the rear of the gun controls where you look and the one on the front stock controls movement. The reload button stays the same, but weapon selection is achieved by repeatedly hitting the B1 button; C1 lets you swap between special weapons, namely grenades fro the hand, a grenade launcher and a single-shot device which kills Terror Bites in close proximity. C2 lets you toggle a targeting reticule on and off.
The fps side of Time Crisis 4 is fairly hard – you have to pick up pretty much all the ammo that enemies drop, plus there’s no way of running, and you move grindingly slowly. So you need to make good use of cover. At least your health bar is refilled when you stand still for a while; you effectively get three health bars, which can be refreshed with pick-ups. In technical terms, in comparison with other first-person shooters for the PS3, Time Crisis really doesn’t impress. But all the Arcade stages are in the Complete Mission game, and the fps missions are heavily checkpointed, so at least you don’t have to go back to the beginning of the game every time.
Time Crisis 4 may not be Namco’s (OK, we know it is Bandai-Namco these days, but Time Crisis is a proper Namco franchise) finest moment, but if you approach it without expecting the Earth, you’ll find it does provide a solid slab of proper, adrenalin-charged arcade-style light-gun action. For those of us who crave just that, it’s easy to forgive its flaws. Now, Namco, are you going to treat us to a PS3 Point Blank, so we can get more use from the G-Con?
no way I’m hanging anything over my shiny piano black telly, it’ll scratch it, then I’ll curse too much and end up divorced
Comment by MrJimmy — Apr 21, 2008 @ 4:11 pm
Still no news on a southpaw version?
Not interested then.
Comment by Dan Ashton — Apr 21, 2008 @ 5:23 pm
IMHO if i wanted to play games like this i’d get a Wii
Comment by mobiletone — Apr 21, 2008 @ 5:36 pm
Full ist of reviews can be found here:
http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages4/938758.asp
Interesting mix of opinion (especially how the Official Playstation mags rate it depending on which side of the pond you are).
Considering the sites I trust tend to be on the lower end of the page I can’t say I’ll be buying it.
Comment by Shrui — Apr 21, 2008 @ 6:05 pm
@3: The lightgun has been around for longer than the Wii y’know. It was a PlayStation staple (and a PS2 one with the G-Con 2, supporting Time Crisis 2 and 3 and a dinosaur game from Capcom, among others).
I’m not sure whether I’m gonna go for this, but one thing is getting to me…why is it a “preview” after the game was released?
Comment by Youlikeyams — Apr 21, 2008 @ 8:34 pm
@5 lightgun was around waaaay before the Playstation - Duck Hunt!!!
Comment by JohnSketch — Apr 21, 2008 @ 8:38 pm
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Pingback by Time Crisis 4 Preview… | GameBlews PS3, XBOX 360, Wii, PSP, DS News — Apr 21, 2008 @ 9:00 pm
Price of Time Crisis in Britain is around £50-65.
Price of Time crisis in America is around £35.
(See Play, Amazon for prices).
Three Speech, because you’re on our side and want to champion your readers rights and not some website which is obviously just a corporate mouthpiece for SONY, can you please ask someone at SCEE why we have to pay so much more for PS3 games, hardware and downloadable content?
It just seems a little odd that’s all.
Comment by Jimbo — Apr 21, 2008 @ 10:33 pm
I really enjoyed TC3, but until Namco makes a southpaw version of the gun, I’m not even going to think about putting my money down for this. And speaking of the gun itself, I understand the colour, but why did they have to make it so ugly with the extra bit on the side? Such a waste for a mode I have no interest in playing.
Comment by STJ — Apr 22, 2008 @ 1:25 am
thank you for once again ignoring any bad news and only focusing on stuff that makes scee look better.
you really show where your site’s true priorities lie and what a waste of bandwidth it is to visit this sycophantic, infected pustule on the face of the internet.
the official blog for scea posted about the mgo beta being postponed by you sad wankers dont post anything if it doesnt make scee look like saints do you.
this site disgusts me.
Comment by thedragonrider — Apr 22, 2008 @ 6:23 am
lol
Comment by iagdad — Apr 22, 2008 @ 7:46 am
Sounds like the arcade element is the only part worth playing. That won’t keep me busy for long. I think I’d rather pop down the local megabowl and play it there for a pound a turn. Better that than shelling out £65 to prance about my lounge with a bright orange pistol in front of my sensors-clad TV.
Comment by reakt — Apr 22, 2008 @ 8:25 am
The fact that I thought this had come out months ago says something. I’d rather play Duck Hunt.
@9 - Aside from the hyperbole, I agree with you - I’m surprised TS hasn’t mentioned the MGO debacle… even with a positive spin!
Comment by rooee — Apr 22, 2008 @ 9:51 am
Thank you for your blog post, Steve.
Your Preview has inspired me to open the product I have had for almost a week (due to GAME’s policy of pre-orders arriving two days in advance of the official release date) & actually play it (rather than being lazy every evening & just starting-up “Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection”, “PixelJunk Monsters”, and/or “Pain” as they are pre-installed on my PS3’s hard drive).
I was in two minds after reading many other reviews following my pre-ordering of the latest Time Crisis title, even though I have been a fan of the series on all PlayStation platforms so far, but you have convinced me that this may be a better Arcade conversion than “Ghost Squad” (or even “The House Of The Dead 2″ & “…3″) on the Wii.
I was also sceptical about the First Person Shooter mode, but it sounds as if it could well be inserted at appropriate points in the plot of the “Complete Mission” to give the player a ‘breather’ between the high-action fast shootin’ rounds.
Thank you also for making me laugh out loud at your quote:
“..choose to play as either Giorgio or Evan, both VSSE agents, who are, frankly, every bit as effeminate-looking as they sound…”
The noise alerted my boss, who would probably die a few times over too if he found I was reading the ThreeSpeech blog rather than doing what I am paid for!
What with Steve Fox in “Tekken 5 (Dark Resurrection)” and Giorgio & Evan in “Time Crisis 4″, I am beginning to think (Bandai-)Namco have opened a closet full of such characters recently.
What next? Renaming “Bomberman”? [Think about it].
All we need now are standalone “GunCon 3″ controllers in the UK, or at least third party gun controllers compatible with the new sensors. Without them two-player offline games are going to be as kak as they ever were trying to centre a gun reticule using an analogue stick or D-Pad buttons.
PS. All:
Before “Duck Hunt” is quoted as the definite and/or first Light Gun experience, check out the Magnavox Odyssey “Shooting Gallery” home console title. This pre-dates the Nintendo offering by at least 12 years!
BFN,
fp.
Comment by fanpages — Apr 22, 2008 @ 10:33 am
@12 rooee - I can kind of understand why the MGO delay hasn’t been covered here - it’s not an in-house title. However, I wonder when there will be a posting about the recent announcement that Home is delayed (again).
Comment by reakt — Apr 22, 2008 @ 10:50 am
Erm…where is my last post here? Why are posts being deleted? All I said was that we in Europe are having to pay nearly £30 more for this than people in America and I wondered if you’d find out why?
Comment by Jimbo — Apr 22, 2008 @ 11:38 am
@12 rooee - I can kind of understand why the MGO delay hasn’t been covered here - it’s not an in-house title. However, I wonder when there will be a posting about the recent announcement that Home is delayed (again).
yes metal gear online has been put basck to the 24th and home has been put back and wont go live Until Autumn wich kinda sucks but o a good point PS3 Video Download Service This Summer and Call of Duty 4 PS3 Map Pack Release Date Moved to April 24th so we get it the same time as usa
now on to time crisis 4 i have played it and intend to get it but will wait till the price drops or come in seconhand as i feel 65 is a lot and think that there is more inportent games to get
Comment by heaqdcasphil — Apr 22, 2008 @ 12:19 pm
I don’t understand why people complain about this game, it’s a great light gun game and I always enjoy playing it. Once you complete the arcade part of the game more mini games are opened which are quite fun to play. I really hope Namco or any other developer brings out more Point blank style games for the PS3 Store.
Comment by Darius — Apr 22, 2008 @ 12:59 pm
@ reakt - This is true. But Sony is reliant on exclusives like MG to achieve dominance in the market - so isn’t it strange that one of Sony’s (semi)official forums should suddenly go so conspicuously silent when a debacle occurs?
Big love, TS, I’m not slating you - just seems a tad selective, that’s all.
Comment by rooee — Apr 22, 2008 @ 2:13 pm
Imo, does TS even need to talk about the MGO Beta delay? It’s listed right under the Playstation BLog tab, anything TS posts would just be a simple copy-paste job from Playstation Blog, and it only takes you one click to get there. While I enjoy Playstation Blog, TS is excellent for covering upcoming products and games, I’ve never seen the information posted here about Buzz and Singstar posted on any American site. It’s nice to get a EU perspective (espically since I’m an Australian gamer).
Keep up the great work TS (but please include Australia in future giveaways, I’m a huge fan of Uncharted and was quiet dissapointed when I couldn’t enter the Press Kit giveaway. Although luckily I found one on eBay ^_^ )
Comment by STJ — Apr 22, 2008 @ 2:59 pm
They now have a link to the MGO news to the right of this page (via the US blog). I guess there’s nothing more for them to add.
Comment by reakt — Apr 22, 2008 @ 2:59 pm
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