Time Crisis 1/GunCon45

Oh ya, finally getting to review Time Crisis. I am embarrassed to say, but I’ve never beaten the original Time Crisis. I never had a Guncon for my Playstation so I was only able to play it at the arcades, and man did it eat a lot more quarters than I had for one game. So at last, I got my Guncon, this one hand painted by my daughter and, of course, converted to Blamcon, and it’s time to finally beat the original Time Crisis, on the date of its 30th anniversary.

Just gonna lead off with a spoiler, I came out of this with a lot of respect for this game. The pacing, the fairness, and the test or reflexes made this about the most superb Light Gun play through I’ve ever had. The foot pedal mechanic, where you can hide as long as you want and jump out to shoot, is perfect. It’s used to dodge obstacles, grenades, rockets, and gives you a chance to collect yourself. You can hide, but that timer never stops ticking, and when it hits 0 you’re done. It creates a tension as you never really know the best time to pop out, but you gotta do it or die from the timer and it’s your choice when and how. This pedal mechanic went on to be incorporated into a huge amount of light gun games, but Time Crisis did it first.

Time Crisis came out December 1st, 1995, exactly 30 years to the day from when I did this video. 1995 could be called the golden age of light gun games, they weren’t just everywhere in the arcades, but a household item. Every system out there had at least  light gun and there were hundreds of games at home and in the arcade, I think the Playstation alone had like 50 models. But every single game that I can think of had passive movement, either you were standing and shooting or moving along a preset path, a rail shooter as it were. Ya, Time Crisis still moves you down that path, but the pedal gave you control over your timing and defence, which made it stand out. I, and I think many others, were guilty of actually ducking at the arcade when I pressed the petal, it was hard to not do that here but I was determined to make a good showing, and I’m a little older now.

I do miss this era of voice acting, I’ll include a bit at the end with the boss. It was cheezy, over the top, but completely full of sincerity which gave it a charm that stands to this day. A lot of early dubbed Japanese cartoons were like that.

The mechanics of the game are simple, get shot too many times by regular enemies and it counts as a hit. Or get shot by special enemies once, which usually shoot larger projectiles or some kinda rocket/grenade, and it’s one hit instantly. You get 3 hits before you’re dead. Ammo wise you get 6 rounds in the chamber, ducking even for a fraction of a second reloads, so this dual mechanic means you don’t have to hit any buttons on the gun itself. Run out of time, like I mentioned, and insta dead. Simple, easy, and not a lot to memorize.

The game itself is single player and as far as light gun games are relatively short, I think I played through in about 20 minutes all in. Considering I’m playing an arcade port this is fair, that’s a long time at the arcade.

The animation and movement of the enemies is great, they pop out quickly, do rolls, and have some very dynamic movement, the game isn’t afraid to make them very far away at times too meaning you really have to be right on with your shots, the hit box can be teeny so you need a steady aim, which is hard to do with that timer ticking down. There are a few times where you get an inhumanly short amount of time to aim, if you know arcades this is what I call the ‘quarter stealer’ moments where even if you’re doing great the game will find a way to lighten your pocket regardless. I think I did pretty ok at the game, I really wanted this review to be from my first cold playthrough but I think I could do much better after a few times since I’ll know when those super fast moments are and where to aim.

There’s 9 areas in the game, broken up into 3 stages. This game respected the rule of 3s. If you don’t know the rule of 3s I suggest you look it up, it’s spread across games, movies, books, you name it. Things are just more satisfying in 3s, and this game is broken into the golden pyramid: 3 3s, I just find it a satisfying touch.

Another satisfying thing about Time Crisis is its story, which I think everyone skips. You’re trying to rescue the daughter of the president of Sercia, a made up country, and you’re a secret agent infiltrating an evil lair. It’s unapologetic 90s cheese at it’s best, part James Bond, part Miami Vice, and it’s no deeper than it needs to be: You’re awesome, everyone is bad, start shooting. Simple fun, and just the way I like it.

I had a total blast playing this game, and with its perfect run time and pacing it’s a game that I want to play again. I’m actually itching to go again right after this review.

If I may, and this is a personal thing, for the most part I hate hitting forward buttons on pistols. I much prefer having a foot pedal or a secondary controller in my other hand to perform actions.