Time Crisis 3 - PS2

Lightgun games continue to make it outside of the arcade, despite being largely written off by sceptics, mainly due to the fact that they are peripheral reliant and often represent a comparatively short gameplay experience.

In times that seem to demand at least ten hours of gaming, where does a game that barely lasts ten minutes fit in? Surely it's a niche genre with no real mainstream appeal? This would largely be true if it weren't for the incredible success of the Namco's Time Crisis series.

Although the concept was originally part of the unholy trinity of Namco's blatant plagiarism of Sega concepts (Daytona - Ridge Racer, Virtua Fighter - Tekken, Virtua Cop - Time Crisis) the series transcended its somewhat ugly birth to become the world's leading shooting game.

The third in the series, as you could probably have guessed, Time Crisis 3 aims to build on the foundations of the adequate original and superb second game in the series that sold in huge quantities on the PSOne. And little has really changed in the latest version in terms of the mechanic of 'duck-hide-pop-up-shoot' that successfully established its ancestors.

The arcade duck-pedal is replaced with a button on the lightgun making the PlayStation 2 version of Time Crisis 3 as near as dammit to the System 246 original, still wildly popular in coin-op emporiums around the world.

The major upgrade, aside from the delicious graphics, is the new-found variety of different weapons, and as such represents a first in the evolution of lightgun gaming. Games in the past have tended to centre on a single weapon, with the odd, rare upgrade thrown in along the way. Time Crisis 3 dishes up machine guns, shotguns and rocket launchers regularly enough to make a standard pistol feel inadequate when you're relegated back to it.

Although the story of the game is engaging, it's massively cheesy. The standard enemies, generally SWAT Team-looking types with a sluggish trigger finger, are joined by special yellow enemies that replenish ammo, red fellas who shoot at you very quickly and must be dealt with immediately, and red enemies that deal out slow moving heavy damage.

The trick is to pop up, make an evaluation of who's in a certain room or area, then take them out strategically so as to reduce the risk.

In terms of getting your mitts on a decent shooter, this is the real deal. Time Crisis 3 offers an impressive 30 minutes of gameplay and can be played cooperatively between two players. Complete the game once and be rewarded with an entirely new mission.

We recommend that you get rich somehow and enjoy two player gaming via I-Link with two copies of the game, two PS2s and two TVs.

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