Video Game Review #625: Time Crisis

Time Crisis

PlayStation

Nostalgia Factor:

Prior to my playthrough for this review, I hadn't played Time Crisis in a very long time. It was back in, I want to say, 1996? 1997? Almost exactly 30 years ago. Dang, time is going fast. Anyway, I remember running into this game at an arcade, and it immediately caught my eye. I was a big fan of these kinds of games. Lethal Enforcers and Virtua Cop were my jam. I had known about Time Crisis from reading about it in video game magazines. I was a little apprehensive of the game because I was such a big Sega fan at the time. I was always rooting for them in the 32-bit console war. Didn't really go in their favor, though.

Despite my uneasy feelings towards the game, I thought it looked fun, and I popped in some quarters and gave it a try. I was pleasantly surprised by the game. It looked great and it was fun to play. I enjoyed having the ability to duck for cover, which I thought was an amazing thing to add to a game like this. I loved it. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough quarters to play it for very long.

I would never end up playing the game aside from that one very brief experience in a random arcade, thirty years ago. I don't know why I never checked the game out. It was just never a very high priority to me, for some reason. Well, here we are in the year 2026. I figured it's about time I finally played this. Get it? Time?

I'm a natural comedian.

Story:

I always thought this game had something to do with time travel or time manipulation because of the name Time Crisis. But I guess they just named it that because there's a timer. I've been wrong about this game for all these years.

Not that it matters. This game does not tell any kind of coherent story. You are a special agent, and you are sent into an enemy facility to rescue the President's daughter from an evil group of bad guys. Hmm, not a very original plot, but that's the least of our worries. After the initial cutscenes, all logic immediately goes out the window, and you can forget about the storyline completely. The plot becomes an incoherent mess of wild and over the top action scenes filled with terrible voice acting that leads from one big set piece to another. Take a look at the Wikipedia description of the game's story and tell me that it makes any damn kind of sense. Bonus points if your eyes don't start to glaze over about halfway through.

There is a "special version" of the game included on the PlayStation disc. It is not very long, but apparently it is an extension of the original game's story. Again, not really sure what happens here. I think you destroy a robot factory or something? Depending on how good you are at the game, there are different branching paths you can take which lead to different story beats. I played through this mode twice and went on the exact same branch each time. So I didn't get to see anything different. Oh well.

To top it all off, the game just kind of abruptly ends. You're in a shootout in a parking garage, and a car races past you (not sure if you can destroy it because I tried multiple times, reloading a save state over and over again and I couldn't do it). Then the credits start to roll. I was like wait, what?

Gameplay:

I don't have a whole lot to say here. If you've played any other light gun shooter that has ever been made, you should be familiar with the concept. Just shoot everything you see. Don't let the enemies hit you. Aim off screen and fire to reload. There are destructible things in the environment that hide power ups. Get hit three times and you die, and you have to use a continue.

What makes this game different is the duck and cover mechanic. Rather than just blasting away at everything you see, you want to duck, regroup, and then pop up out of cover. Shoot an enemy or two and then quickly duck again. You can't just leave yourself out in the open like, say, Virtua Cop, and expect to make it through the game unscathed. You must take advantage of the cover mechanic. This makes the game a little bit easier than other light gun games.

To counteract this, the game uses a timer. You have a strict time limit to make it through each area. You can't just hide under cover 90% of the time and progress through the game slowly and cautiously. There's still a sense of urgency to finish before the timer runs out. You have to shoot, take cover, come out, shoot, take cover, come out, etc. You need to get in a rhythm and make sure things are moving along quickly. It doesn't matter how careful you are and how much health you still have left: if that timer runs out, you're screwed.

But like I said, this is an easy game. Playing it on its default difficulty, I cruised through it in one day. I even played through the special mode twice. The special mode is cool, in that it gives the game a tiny bit more longevity. If this had solely been based on the arcade game, this would be one very quick and very shallow title. Heck, even with the extra mode, it still is. I beat this whole thing in one day, and I don't really see a reason to return to it. Like, ever. Not that this is a bad game. It isn't. There's just not a whole lot to see here.

Graphics:

This is a good looking game. It's right up there neck and neck with the Virtua Cop series. This was clearly Sony's answer to those games. Bright colors, blocky enemies, destructible things in the environment, etc. If I didn't know anything about games, and you showed this to me and said it was Virtua Cop 3, I would probably believe you.

But don't expect to be "blown away" if you are a modern gamer. This is definitely a product of its time. But being from that time myself, I think it looks great. You have to understand, these types of graphics were revolutionary when I was a kid. My jaw hit the floor when I first saw this game in action. Even though I realize there are much better looking games out there now, 30 years later, I still can't help but appreciate it. 

Sound:

The only thing I remember about this game's sound is its terrible voice acting. I don't remember a damn thing about the music - and I played through this game three times for my review. So yeah. Seems like there's nothing memorable there, or it would have stood out to me.

Overall:

This is a fun game, and if you are into light gun shooters, you will probably enjoy it. That said, it left little lasting impression on me. Don't take that as an attack on the game. I know this is a popular game. And it is fun. Maybe if I'd bought this game for the PS1 and had grown up with it, I would appreciate it more. 

It was tough coming up with a final grade for the game. I ended up settling on a C+.  I feel like this may be too low. Like I'm saying: "yeah, this is a slightly above average game - and that's all there is to it". But I don't meant to undersell it. I do feel like this is a well-made game, and I truly wish I could give it a higher grade. But I can't. There's just not enough meat on the bones for me. It's fun for what it is. But ultimately, like I said, it left little lasting impression on me. 

THE GRADE:

C+

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