First Impressions: Hooray for arcade-to-console ports!
Time Crisis is a mainstay in video arcades all around the world these days. It seems that if you are going to play a shooter, odds are good that you’re picking a game out of Namco’s famous arcade series. Most of us also know that the Time Crisis series is possibly the best console-light gun series on the market, and despite the fact that the competition may be on the thin side, that is saying a lot. Now Time Crisis 3 has been confirmed for release in arcades and on PlayStation 2 systems everywhere this September. So what’s new on the battle front with the world’s leading light-gun franchise? A bit more than you’d expect.
For those of you who didn’t know, the arcade game will be produced using a chip that is based on the PlayStation 2’s internal workings. Therefore, we can all expect that when console gamers receive their game, that everything will be up to par graphically in comparison to its arcade iteration. It is also likely that the reason we are getting a rather quick conversion is that because the hardware is so similar to the arcade version that there is less work that must be done before the game can shift -- a real bonus for all of us looking to put those light-guns to good usage.
For those of you who were wondering, those visual details mentioned up above are looking pretty darn good right now, better than most shooters you see in this particular sub-genre. That said, they are still somewhat blocky compared to other games outside the shooter genre. But to compare Time Crisis to a game like Final Fantasy would be simply unreasonable, as the gameplay here is more important than visuals in any game, even more so when you’re the developer and you need to make sure your light-gun support works correctly.
As for Crisis 3's gameplay, Namco hasn’t leaked much information out to the general public that doesn’t make this game sound a lot like the original and the first sequel. There will still be guns and plenty of bad guys to drill with some serious skill, so rest assured that the game’s basic chemistry will remain intact. It is interesting to note, however, that Namco has elected to force players into the crouch position if they want to switch between their four weapons. And switching will be required because it’s not possible to go through the game using just your endless supply of lowly pistol ammo. Strategy and conservation will play key factors in your success, and should provide a little bit extra to a genre whose games usually seem to be lacking with that extra innovative push.
On a side note, we all know that Namco likes to add extra features to their arcade ports to encourage people to pick up the console version. While nothing has been confirmed here yet, it is something to think about as we get closer and closer to the release date.
