It’s time to hunt. Oh, don’t worry, you won’t
have to go looking for your targets – they will line up nicely in front of you.
Namco has just released Time Crisis: Crisis
Zone, a first-person shooter for the PlayStation 2 console system that features
terrific graphics, wave-after-wave of targets and a storyline that tries to tie
the whole thing together.
The storyline isn’t all that important – this
is an arcade shooter. It breaks down into three elements, hide behind your
shield, pop your head out to blow away the bad guys and environmental pieces,
then duck behind the shield and reload.
However, for the record, here is the storyline
…
Led by Derrick Lynch, the U.R.D.A. has taken
over control of Garland Square, a complex on the outskirts of London.
“So you will understand and fear your own
foolish mistakes,” laughs Lynch, somewhat maniacally, like extreme cartoonish
bad guys are prone to do.
Garland Square hosts a variety of amenities,
from department stores to a hotel to a park and office buildings. It also has a
lot of other things – bad guys.
You can begin in one of three areas (said
hotel, park or office), and you are placed behind a shield with a countdown.
Once the countdown ends, you are given one point of view with plenty of targets
spread across the screen from right to left. Some are close to you, others are
off in the distance or hiding behind scenery. From a fixed position, your job is
to eliminate everything on the screen without taking too much damage. Once you
have done that, you are automatically moved to the next fixed position. Repeat
the previous task. The variety comes when, in the park, the assortment of bad
guys is replaced with one-man helicopters. This gives your targeting a bit of a
workout.
Each bad guy has a damage bar above his head.
Once he takes enough damage, he does a rag-doll flop, or flips backwards. The
bodies disappear, so you don’t leave the place littered. You can withstand only
so much damage before the game asks if you want to continue. In essence, you
have a damage bar – obliterate it and you lose a life, lose all your little
lives and it’s game over.
The control elements in this game are very
simplistic, and the interface leaves nothing to the imagination. There are no
real tactical decisions here. You use the shield to take the damage, wait for a
pause in the enemy gunfire, as they reload, then pop out and blast them. There
is a clock running, so you can’t waste too much time.
The sound elements are merely average for this
type of game – and embrace the arcade shooter nature of the title. Graphically,
Time Crisis: Crisis Zone does a very good job. The environments are somewhat
destructible, and the bad guys do nice flips or tumbles to the ground when
killed.
This is not, by any means, a thought-provoking
title. Time Crisis: Crisis Zone is a reflexive arcade shooter that looks good,
but offers little more than wave after wave of targets. If you are looking for
just such a shooter, this would be worth checking out, or renting.
|
Review |
Gameplay: 7.0
Fixed shooting locations relegate this to
thoughtless challenge. See bad guy, shoot bad guy. Try not to get shot much.
Once into a level, the game pulls you through until you run out of health. This
is a purely a reflexive exercise.
Graphics: 8.0
The environments are wonderfully destructible; the bad guys do nice flops when
they are killed, and some of the special effects are well done. The game does
look nice.
Sound: 6.8
Average is about the best this game has to offer in this department.
Difficulty: Medium
Several difficulty levels will allow you to
tailor the game. The AI at the lowest level is predictable, and improves
marginally as you climb the challenge ladder.
Concept: 6.8
This does the soft shoe with the storyline,
trying to hold an arcade shooter together with a storyline that really isn’t
that important to the action. How the bad guys got so much support is amazing.
This is not a thinking gamer’s shooter, by any means.
Overall: 7.0
Time Crisis: Crisis Zone is a fast-paced
arcade shooter that soft-peddles a storyline to try to work some cohesion into
the game. Is the storyline that important? No. The action is pretty much
nonstop, and you are dragged to each shooting location. This is purely a
reflexive arcade shooter. If you are looking for a light straightforward
shooter, this may be your ticket to the target-and-shoot entertainment you
crave. It looks good and plays well. If you are looking for a little more meat
with your FPS potatoes, you may wish to dine elsewhere.
