Publisher: Namco
Genre: Light Gun
Difficulty: Easy to play, difficult to master!

Game Overview:
Time Crisis is the best light gun game currently available for the
Playstation, and arguably the best light gun game period. You play the
part of Richard Miller, a special operations agent on the VSSE team. A
criminal master mind, Wild Dog, has captured Rachel MacPherson, the
daughter of the Sercian president. Your mission is to shoot you way
thru 3 Stages and save Rachel. Each Stage is made up of 4 areas, the
last of which is a boss area.

Choices:
At the beginning of the game you can choose to play the arcade version
or a special version of Time Crisis. If you choose the arcade version,
you can play in story mode or timed mode. 
In story mode you must shoot your way thru all 3 Stages. Your game is
over if you run out of time or if you loose 3 'lives'. You start out
with 9 credits, so you can only continue 8 times. There is a short FMV
sequence after each stage, and the end of the story is shown after the
boss in Stage 3. The story mode is identical to the arcade and is
quite fun. Finishing the game will take most people a good amount of
time. The difficulty can be toggled to easy, which grants 5 lives per
game instead of 3, and will give you a good shot at completing the
game much sooner. After you have finished the game in story mode look
at the amount of time it took. If you want a real challenge, try to
beat the best time that comes with the game.
In timed mode, you select a stage and try to finish it in the shortest
amount of time possible. In this mode, you have unlimited lives. This
mode is much more difficult to master. Beating the top time that comes
with the game on the easy stage is very tough.
The special mode is similar to the story mode but uses 'Branch
Reflected Condition System". This system will lead you thru 1 of 4
paths available. The path you take is decided by how fast you dispatch
the enemy in each given area, and sometimes what you shoot in a given
area. I hope this is a hint of what Time Crisis 2 will be like! The
special mode is every bit as fun as the arcade, and it has more people
to shoot.

Graphics:
The PSX version is not as sharp as the arcade version, but the
graphics are what we have come to expect from Namco. The CG sequences
are not as well done as Tekken 2, but actually the CG in the arcade
were not that special either. What is really cool is watching the bad
guys respond to where they have been shot -- shoot them in the leg,
they bend over and grab it, shoot them in the arm and they will spin
around. This also effects the game play. The enemy dies faster when
you shoot them in the head then they would if you shoot them in the
chest. Shooting the arms and legs will leave the enemy alive even a
little longer. The graphics in the special mode are nothing special,
as very few textures were used for the background, but you should
hardly have time to notice, because there are many more enemies
shooting at you.

Memory Card:
Each save uses 1 block to save your record times. My biggest gripe
with the game is that it does not automatically save your best times
(you have to go to a special screen to do it), nor does it
automatically load your best times. Arrrggggh. It doesn't appear to be
possible to have multiple saves either.

Sound: 
The background music is the same of the arcade, and is fitting, but it
isn't anything special. The commentators voice is also the same and
works fine. The gun report is ok, as are the grunts that some enemies
make when they are shot. Overall, here is nothing very special about
the sound or music for this game, it is ok.

Game Play:
For those that have not played in the arcade, the game play for Time
Crisis is a little different from all other light gun games. You start
the game with a 6 shooter, and you will not be able to upgrade to
another weapon at any point. New to the game is 'ducking'. There is a
button on the barrel of the GunCon (to replace the pedal in the
arcade) which allow you to duck and avoid the fire of the enemy.
Ducking is also used to reload. Ducking does take time, so while you
could wait behind the wall, crate or whatever for the shooting to
cease, you will quickly run out of time. Learning when to duck is
vital to accomplishing a fast time. Also, there are no good guys to
watch out for, so you can shoot anything that moves. Some of the
enemies have better aim  than other (the guys in red), so it is best
to take them out first.

GunCon:
This is the most accurate gun on a home system to date. The gun is
grey (rather than a neon color) with a bright orange 'safety tip', and
feels very sturdy. Definitely Namco quality.

Replay value:
The replay value is pretty high if you enjoy light gun games. Beating
the best time that comes with the game takes a while, and by the time
you do it, you'll notice you can shave some serious time off Namco's
best. I have played this game until my arms were too sore to hold up
the gun, only to come back for more later.

Conclusion:
If you are inclined at all to buy a light gun game, this is the one to
get. Don't let the cost of the game ($50-$60) ward you off, it is
worth it. (Plus you get the gun and you're gonna need it for Point
Blank!)


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Children need encouragemnet. So if a kid gets
an answer right, tell him it was a lucky guess.
That way, he develops a good, lucky feeling.
-Jack Handey

        Walter A. Danker
        danker@phar2.pharm.sc.edu
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