| Time Crisis: Crisis Zone review |
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The lightgun genre has been one of the most progressive in video gaming over the years. Scoring systems and methods of play have been rotated, overhauled, and evolved time and again, from Nintendo's quick draw/one-shot Wild Gunmen to Namco's hide-and-shoot pedal-based Time Crisis. Crisis Zone is an extension of the aforementioned Namco title, and in addition to the all-important pedal, your trusty Beretta has been replaced with a fearsome submachine gun. And, of course, this time there're much tougher enemies and heavy machinery to overcome...
A heavily armed terrorist group known as the U.R.D.A has taken over a newly opened business and leisure complex, holding those inside hostage and making the usual demands that any sane government would never give into (in other words, nothing that the player is really privy to from the start). Enter the Special Tactical Force (in other words, a one-man killing machine) whose goal is to eliminate the perpetrators and retake control of the area. Yes, Crisis Zone isn't going to win any awards for plot, but who really cares anyway? Luckily the ability to skip through the cutscenes is present and accounted for.
Crisis Zone's main hook is in its scoring system. Completely basing itself on the need to chain the death of one enemy to the next to rack up any kind of recognisable score, it is essential to keep the gun blazing across the scenery at almost all times. A large majority of the backgrounds and environments can be destroyed, and every shot to a destructible element in the scenery earns you a combo hit as you'd receive upon shooting a regular enemy. Due to the high firing rate of the gun, it is possible to chain together combos of 40-50 hits within mere seconds. On top of this, bonuses are given based on the strength of the opposition, so if a tank or attack chopper rolls in following hundreds of hits the extra points make a world of difference to the score. Crisis Zone is very much a score-attack game and learning which parts of the scenery will give you the largest combo possible is just as important as learning the best uses for the VFX powers in Viewtiful Joe, or the chain combos in Darkstalkers.
Of course, there're more important things to consider, such as the relentless onslaught of terrorists out to stop you dead in your tracks, and the pressure of the time limit given to clear each area. Anyone familiar with the Time Crisis series will notice no difference here in the way the game plays; the player character will move into an area and stay behind the complete safety of secure cover (in this case a riot shield). Players can pop up from behind the shield by pressing down on a foot pedal (or via a button on the side of a lightgun), allowing them to see the battleground in its fullest. Players are only able to shoot enemies when they are out in the open, and likewise, enemies can only hit players when they are similarly exposed. The vast majority of opposing shots will miss the player, but when a shot is going to hit, a small red circle will close in around it. Players have until the circle reaches the middle to take their foot off the pedal and duck behind the safety of their shield.
The one thing Crisis Zone throws into the mix is energy - every foe has their own energy bar and unlike other lightgun games, it will take more than one shot to overcome them. This is where the machine gun comes in. Players can hold down the trigger to continue a full-barrelled blast. Five or six shots are enough to take down a well-armoured trooper, but considerably more firepower is needed to down a tank or helicopter. Each area must be cleared within the time limit given - usually around 40 seconds. However, the faster an area is cleared, the more bonus time received to take on the next set of enemies. If time runs out, or all lives are lost, the game is over.
Unfortunately, Crisis Zone's biggest drawback is related to the scoring - like the rest of the game, it's very dated. The combo system is nothing new in the grand scheme of things, and has been done better in other games with more finesse. The almost-token "pedal for hiding" schtick is outdated and has been surpassed by the full reactive sensors of Police 24/7. The original arcade game is over five years old and although the PS2 port has received a radical visual overhaul, it's the same game in level design and the ravages of time have been particularly harsh to Crisis Zone. There are no exciting setpieces which lightgun games often thrive on, and (given the machine gun) no enemy save for the bosses will give you much resistance. There is never any real need to panic and the kind of challenge it offers is only one that will appeal to those interested in making and breaking score records. Every other attempt to make something of the game falls flat.
Thankfully, the game manages to avoid the lastability issues that often dog an arcade port. The lack of a dedicated two-player mode is frustrating, but there is an Akimbo option which allows a friend to join in the carnage. An extra, "Special" Story Mode is available after finishing the game, which pulls in some of Time Crisis 3's additions such as being able to change weapons on the fly and branching story routes depending on the performance of the player, and there is also a number of skill tests available which test the limits of accuracy, speed and reflexes.
Visually, Crisis Zone looks like any standard PS2 game. Smooth and polished, but lacking any real kick. This almost certainly comes down to its enhanced port status; although characters, machinery and backdrops all have detailed texturing, the geometry is simple and the design of the levels seems to play around this. The shopping mall doesn't have any fascinating look to the shops, the office looks like a small local business, and the most telling of all, the plaza, is as simple as a small park. There's nothing to write home about here other than the silky slowdown free frame rate.
Crisis Zone, then, will win few awards for advancing the lightgun genre; almost all of its ideas have been borrowed from other, arguably better games. It does, however, have a certain charm to its style and quirks, and those lightgun fanatics looking for something extra to test their abilities on would be well served by this offering. Anyone else is advised to look to Time Crisis 2 or Vampire Night, as both are much better showcases for the genre. |
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System: Sony PlayStation 2
Genre: Shooter
Developer: Namco
Publisher: Namco
Players: 1
Version: European
Reviewed: Jul 2005
Writer: Rob Bowker
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Pros:
- Hardcore scoring system
- Plenty of "home" version content
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Cons:
- Too easy
- Feels very dated
- Unexciting level design
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