What’s New For the Series
Having not played a lot of the previous Time Crisis games (more so out of lack of having the software than not wanting to), this new title was almost completely new to me. I had heard about being able to duck and cover in the game, and that is still a big part of this fourth iteration. Players also have the ability to switch between multiple weapons, including shotguns, machine guns, and grenade launchers. You can always fall back on your pistol, which has unlimited ammo, but the other weapons provide obvious benefits in certain areas. Ammo for these weapons is found on certain enemies and sometimes in destructible items in the game world if I’m not mistaken. Switching between these weapons is a snap, and being able to take cover to switch weapons or reload is a big help in fending off the WOLF terrorist organization. Enemies have a variety of ways to attack you, ranging from firing guns to throwing objects to rushing straight at you with melee attacks. The name Time Crisis has a double meaning, too, as it refers to having to deal with each section of enemies in a certain amount of time, otherwise your character will lose life.
That said, the biggest addition found in this Time Crisis is the Full or Complete Mission Mode, whereby you can play through several levels in typical First Person Shooter format. Rather than your character following a mostly predetermined path like you do in the Arcade Mode, you will instead by walking around and navigating a 3D world. This is possible with the addition of a second analog stick on the GunCon3 controller.This took me a while to get used too; in fact, the setup and game play took me a while to get used to, but more on that soon. As far as this Full Mission Mode goes, I have not completed this entire story mode yet, but what I have played has been enjoyable. What’s interesting about it is that the player takes the role of William Rush, a prototypical military badass who takes on tough missions. These missions actually fill in gaps of the story missing from the brief Arcade mode, in which you also cannot play as Rush but you do work with him. Nicely rendered cutscenes start each mission, and the missions can be surprisingly long — the first mission took me nearly an hour, and I didn’t restart at any point, there was just a lot of ground to cover. One curious thing about these missions is the health system for Rush — by just standing still, you have the ability to recharge your health all the way back to full. There are also health packs lying around; having to stop and wait for your health to regenerate throws a bit of a wrench into the action in my book, but it’s better than having to restart a mission over and over, as certain areas can be tough if you’re not a quick dead aim. Overall, these are definitely basic level designs, the first one for example just being a large shipyard, but they are pretty enjoyable. The objectives are very basic too, and you shouldn’t really get lost with the help of a radar system and constant on screen and aural reminders about where to go and what the next objective is, so that’s a plus too; although, it does keep the missions in a “sandbox” if you get my meaning. However, I have to say that this setup is a unique experience–being able to walk and jump around like a first person shooter, but using a lightgun as my controller is definitely something new and different to me.
Another new feature to the series is the multi-screen sequences, whereby you change your characters field of view. At times, you will have to fend off an area from attackers for a certain amount of time, but they will come from multiple directions. You have to switch from say, Left to Center to Right, to see where enemies are coming from and take them down. You will get visual and aural cues on when to do this, but they aren’t always quick enough, so you have to stay on your toes and be checking down each path. Combined with the ability to take cover, it can be a lot of fun ducking in and out of cover to take out the bad guys.
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