Official Website

Platform: Playstation 2

Genre: Action / Light Gun

Number of Players: 1

Peripherals: GunCon, GunCon2, i.Link Cable

It's almost become like clockwork when Namco releases yet another sequel in their on-going Time Crisis franchise. It makes perfect sense as they are the ones that really have brought the GunCon into the mind of gamers all across the board, and while some have tried to replicate their success, Namco really is the company that is at the front of the revolution for gaming of this style. Fall is a season that is a big deal for any fans of Namco's shooting titles as most of us know that this is generally when we see the new games come out, and this fall is no different. The latest, and perhaps greatest, entry in the Time Crisis series is none other than Time Crisis: Crisis Zone.

London, England is the home to the recently opened Garland Square, a fantastic multi-plex that has its own shopping center, an office building, a hotel, and even a scientific research center. However, the Square now has something that it didn't want: terrorists. They don't want money, they don't want to negotiate hostage releases, and in fact, no one is quite certain as to what it is that they really want, but the one thing that is certain is that they are complete and total control of Garland Square. With little known, the Special Tactical Force has been sent in to eliminate the threat and now it's up to First Platoon Leader Claude McGarren to take out the terrorist faction and face nearly impossible odds.

In comparison to the other Time Crisis games, Crisis Zone might very well be the granddaddy of all the games in the series. I can't honestly say that I am by any means a fan of the series, and while I find it to be enjoyable, it's really not something that I play on a regular basis. That right and duty usually falls upon the shoulders of my wife who loves the idea of holding a gun and blowing away wave after wave of terrorist. I still chalk that up to the restrictive gun laws in Japan, but that's just a personal thought. Crisis Zone though, when compared to the other games, has to be hands down the best game of the series.

The first thing that most fans will jump into is the story mode. You have three different sections that you can choose to go through from the park to the office building to the scientific research center, and the game can be incredibly difficult in spots. Unlike the other games, you will be equipped with a steel riot shield to hide behind. This is the equivalent to the option to "duck and cover" in the last game, and you can reload by hiding behind your shield as well. Usually in the TC game, you're given a pistol and then will find additional items along the way. Part of this is true with Crisis Zone, but the major difference is that you are not armed with a pistol but instead you have a machine gun. This eliminate the need to constantly pull the trigger, which I will admit that I did at first, but you really only need to pull the trigger once, hold it down, and blast away. To make things even more interesting, Namco has made the environments almost completely interactive. You can shoot through glass, papers and books; you can destroy works of art or blast away at balloons floating in the park area of Garland Square. Shooting terrorists is fun and all, but there's something to be said for being to destroy practically everything that is in your line of fire, and with terrorists climbing out of the woodwork, you can help but blow apart a few innocent items along the way.

The concept of simply shooting everything in sight has a little more to it than that however. Each of the stages is more or less set up with sub-stages and you only have so long to complete it. Should time expire either you will lose one of your health icons or it will be game over. You also need to be very cautious of those red icons gun sites that will show onscreen from time to time as these are enemies that will definitely hit you if you are not behind the safety of your shield. Unfortunately, I have a really bad habit of popping my head up whenever I see on of these, even though I know what the result is going to be. I guess my mind thinks that I can take them out before they shoot me, but you can guess who the one is that takes the damage.

You will also find hidden items throughout the game such as grenades, flame throwers, even a laser rifle to help make your mission a little easier, and things will get complicated. If you've played any of the Time Crisis game before, then you know that the cannon fodder that you take down will eventually come face to face with the stages boss, and it's not going to be an easy battle in the least. This is the area where the terrorists cheat essentially and bring in the heavy artillery. In the park section of the game for example, you'll go up against a squadron of helicopters including one that won't stay down for the count and is quite busy pelting you with missile and dropping steel canisters on top of you. You can make things a little easier however if you own tow GunCons. Crisis Zone allows you to bring home the action of a John Woo film in the comfort of your own living room, and this gives you more firepower as well. Should you successfully clear all the stages that story mode has to offer though, you will unlock an additional story mode, as well as a few other things along the way, but please note that the extra story mode will NOT allow you the two gun option, so enjoy it while you can.

The Time Crisis games have also featured a mission mode, and Crisis Zone offers that as well. Crisis Mission will put you in some very challenging situations where time isn't the only factor, but so is accuracy and everything else. This is the part of the game nearly lead to a broken GunCon however as my frustration from time to time began to build to an incredible degree, but the GunCon lives on. For an example of how Crisis Mission works, one stage in the machine gun missions has you killing terrorists, but you need to NOT hit any of your teammates. I guess I'm not quite a team player in this regard though as many of them died over the course of gameplay, and the controller came closer and closer to getting slammed down. At any rate, as you finish these modes with all the requirements met, you will unlock new missions as well as new weapons to use, and as any Time Crisis fan will let you know, the mission mode is one of the most challenging, and most entertaining, aspects of the game.

The only thing that I don't care much for with this version of Time Crisis is that there is no two-player option, but then again, I have mixed feelings about that. Time Crisis 3 did have the option for two-player gameplay, but the split screen that was utilized for this feature was horrible to say the least. Using the now abandoned iLink cable might not be a bad idea, but I know of very few people that own one, let alone two PS2's or multiple GunCons (okay, I have two, but that's just me.) So, no two-player mode is both a good and bad thing here, and while I can't say that it will definitely be missed, I also can't say that leaving it out of the mix was a wise decision.

I've played the other Time Crisis titles, but again, I was never completely into them for too terribly long. Crisis Zone however offers up plenty of challenging action that any fan of the series or GunCon titles in general is going to appreciate and it should keep most happy and playing for quite a while. Though some may see this game as just another entry into the franchise that relies on simple and subtle changes, they are more than enough to breath extra life into the Time Crisis line and it will be interesting to see exactly what Namco comes up with next year for the game, assuming that they aren't going to hold off until the next generation of PlayStation console in available. Crisis Zone is the most fun you can have killing people without making an appearance on the nightly news and America's Most Wanted for murder.
 

-mike-