Official Website

Platform: Playstation 2

Genre: Light Gun

Number of Players: 1 - 2

Peripherals: GunCon, GunCon2, i.Link Cable

Not all peripherals are highly regarded, and the GunCon unfortunately is one of them. Even though it’s been out almost since the PlayStation 2 was released, at least as far as Namco’s GunCon 2 goes, the amount of companies that are actually using the technology is fairly low. Do date, only Namco, Capcom, and Empire Interactive have found the time to make games that support it, and thus far, there are under 10 titles on the market with the phrase “GunCon 2 Compatible” slapped on the packaging somewhere. Of course, since they invented the GunCon, no offense meant here to Nintendo for originally marketing the light gun idea successfully, It’s only fair I suppose that yet again, Namco releases yet another title to hopefully generate some interest in it.

Time Crisis 3 continues the franchise, straight from the arcade and right into the comfort of your living room has been the norm for the series. As usual, peace has been threatened, and it’s up to the top-notch agents of VSSE, Wesley Lambert and Alan Dunaway, to pick up their guns, as well as all the others that they can find, and set things right. There is some returning enemies, as well as some new faces, including Alicia Winston, one of the games bonus characters.

By now, most fans of light gun games are thinking that if you’ve played one Time Crisis game, you’ve played them all. However, that’s not really the case here at all, and Namco has made some improvements with the title, although there are some drawbacks as well. But, the improvements are the really shining star here, dwarfing the occasional problems a great deal.

One of the most important changes is that you can now hang on to weapons. In the past games, when you found something like a machine gun for instance, you were limited to being able to use it until the ammo ran out. You couldn’t just set it aside for use later on. Now though, you start the game with a pistol, a shotgun, a machine gun, and a grenade launcher. Ducking to reload is your chance to change weapons. The option to change will pop onscreen whenever you reload, so you can take advantage when needed. It’s a great addition to the game, but having more weapons means one thing, and that’s difficulty. Even on the easy setting, TC3 isn’t a cakewalk, and some of the stages are a bit more difficult than one would expect, although it’s not to the degree of insanity that another Namco title, Ninja Assault, is. There are occasionally some changes in the screen appearance as well, and basically Namco has gotten rid of the simple stationary mode and brings to the table screens that will title and even change direction by at least 90 degrees. Again, this makes things more interesting.

Story mode is of course the main attraction here for most players, especially those that fed the machine plenty of coins in the arcade, but as usual, there are other modes of play as well. Rescue Mission will let you play as Alicia, and there are a few different ways that you can take this mode on. Story mode of course involves just Alicia, and you even have access to a sniper rifle, and you can never really go wrong there. If you just want to test the water though, you can jump into One Stage Trial mode, a quick look at some of the games stages. There is also Crisis Mode, the simple starting, but later virtually impossible mini-mission mode that many of us enjoyed in the last game. And of course, these are exclusives just to the PS2 and were not found in the arcade, so that gives a little extra play to gamers that may have burned out on this game, as if that was possible.

Something though definitely don’t change. The graphics are virtually the same as with Time Crisis 2, and often times appear a bit blocky. The games is, as usual, very short, and while that may have been okay in the arcade, although the drain on your wallet I’m sure was great, when you’re just sting at home, the feeling of finishing the game isn’t quite the accomplishment that it should be. The voice acting is also very sub par, but that’s something that I believe I’ve grown to expect from most of the light gun games, no matter if it’s at home or at the local arcade.

With the last TC game, we only had access to but a single GunCon, but Namco was kind enough to ship TC3 to us complete with yet another weapon. There isn’t any changes to it, and it’s still that vile orange, not nearly as cool as the jet black ones that are sold in Japan. I suppose you can blame uptight parent groups and trigger happy police for that one. So, the first thing to test is the two-player mode. Unfortunately though, it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be. The split screen is horrible, and if you have a smaller TV, it’s frustrating to play. There’s always the iLink option, but I don’t know of too many people that want to go that route. Another thing that’s gone by the way side is the option to play a single player game with two guns. Sorry guys and gals, but you can’t do a reenactment of your favorite scene from any of John Woo’s film in the comfort of your living room.

As a single player game though, Time Crisis 3 isn’t too bad, and in fact actually outdoes the last title by quite a bit. I’m still not happy with the length of the game, but that’s been the case with every GunCon title, especially when I watched Aaron beat Vampire Nights in a single sitting, using no continues, in under 15 minutes. There are still plenty of extras though it make it worth buying, and if you already own a GunCon, there are really no changes that would warrant purchasing it, unless of course you want another one, have a broken one, or simply don’t own one. Again I will recommend light gun over controller any day. If you’ve got an itchy trigger finger, this is the perfect thing, especially considering that the next GunCon title will more than likely be months away.

 -mike-