Time Crisis 4

Time Crisis 4 is the latest installment in the popular console series which originated back in the arcades of yesteryear.

The aim of the game is simple. Blow people/objects/insects in to oblivion. The G-Con 3 gun which arrives with the game is our first disappointment. The old PS3 G-Con looked fairly cool – it even looked remarkably similar to the gun the characters toted on the outside box of the machine. This new gun doesn’t. It’s bright orange. Speculation is that the colour was chosen to avoid the possibility of police forces worldwide mistaking it for a real gun. There is definitely no dange of that now.

The sleekness of the PS3 is shattered pretty much before you even load the disc. The gun, disappointingly, connects via a usb cable. That dirty dirty ‘cable’ word. In a world of wireless controllers, Nintendo Wii remotes etc this simply isn’t good enough. Next out the box comes the screen sensors. And another wire. The screen sensors (x2) simply fit on the top left and top right corner of your television.

Okay, so not a great start, let’s whack the game in.

The graphics are good, but don’t push the PlayStation 3. This is no Call of Duty 4. The cartoon style is still evident although it is a substantial notch up from the old PS2 versions. In regular arcade mission mode you have the choice of either of the two characters – each character having a different viewpoint on the action. There’s collectable machine guns, handguns, shotguns, mini-rocket launchers and the game works well and provides a reasonable challenge.

Back to the characters, Giorgio and Evan, both trapped in the 1980’s in terms of hairstyles – you almost feel like they deserved it when you eventually die in this game. Namco has improved the features of Time Crisis but when you start off in an airport (again) then you know originality wasn’t top of their agenda.

The missions however are varied, you can change your gun as you ‘hide’ and there is an element of moving the character thanks to the analogue stick on the gun. There are missions such as in a helicopter, and trying to snipe a truck’s tyres with a sniper rifle from a helicopter is no easy task. These are the missions we want and the game frequently delivers.

There is also a new First Person mode, in which you do move freely as in popular FPS such as Call of Duty and Resistance. It’s a decent feature but graphically this is not Call of Duty or Resistance. If it were this game could be big league.

Overall fans of Time Crisis can be reassured that this is a step forward for the series. The new gun, you will probably never love, but it works well. The graphics are significantly better and aspects of the gameplay are much improved. At around £60 including the G-Con 3 it isn’t cheap.

You’re either in to these games or you’re not. If you’re not, then Time Crisis 4 probably hasn’t got enough to make you fall in love, but if you’re an addict then it’s a cracking little blaster.

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