Game Review: Crisis Zone

So... that last article left me a little down-hearted. I certainly didn't expect to praise something else above a Studio Ghibli movie, that's for sure. But knowing that When Marnie Was There was, potentially, the last movie they'll ever produce makes it even more bittersweet. Come to think of it, what's so "sweet" about "bittersweet" anyway? Because I'm feeling pretty dang bitter right now! Anyway in these trying times, I manage to find solace in the following words: "And now for something completely different". Let's see, where did I leave off before I got sidetracked with Indie-Cember 2 and the SDP Music Awards? That's right, I was going through the Time Crisis games! Yeah, let's get back to that.

Crisis Zone

• Publisher: Namco 
• Developer: Namco 
• Release: 
• Arcade, March 1999 
• PlayStation 2, 19 October 2004 (as Time Crisis: Crisis Zone) 
• Genre: 3D Action (Rail Shooter) 
• Players: 1 
• Save: Memory Card (80KB) 

You know your media franchise has hit the big time when you can afford to make a few spin-off entries. For Time Crisis, this would be Crisis Zone. In many ways, it follows the example of Time Crisis 2, the last arcade entry to have been released before. It's got the same cover-pedal mechanics, and the same health and time rules. That's not what sets Crisis Zone apart, of course. What does so, however, is the equipment that your player-character brings with him on his job: a sub-machine gun and a riot shield. And wouldn't you know, they figure into the gameplay itself.

To differentiate itself from the other Time Crisis games, Crisis Zone's arcade cabinet supports one player only, and uses a light-gun controller shaped like a sub-machine gun. Not having to pull the trigger for every shot you wish to fire is no doubt a good thing, especially given how relatively heavy the new controller is. In addition, each scene in each level is packed with destructible objects which build up score bonuses as you knock them down in quick succession. However, the game's difficulty is also balanced to account for the inclusion of rapid fire. Whereas most enemies in other Time Crisis games will happily go down with just one bullet, that is generally not the case in Crisis Zone. In fact, just about every enemy, right down to common foot soldiers, have their own lifebars to display how much of their vitals you have to whittle down. I don't mind this per-bullet weakness so much, except there doesn't seem to be any location-specific damage (i.e. more damage for a head shot) as in most shooters.

Destructible scenery is more prevalent here than in other Time Crisis games. (PS2 version.)

You and your team members are also equipped with riot shields. In most Time Crisis games, player-characters generally stick behind one point of cover until they're allowed to move on to the next one. But having a portable shield on hand allows your avatar (and thus, the camera) to move about more freely. It's not player-controlled movement, don't get me wrong; you're still stuck on a fixed path. Honestly it doesn't affect much as far as gameplay goes, but it's a cool development choice when you think about it, as it leads to an experience that couldn't exactly be emulated by other Time Crisis games.

As for the story, it's pretty much just another excuse plot. Crisis Zone takes place in a shopping/office park in suburban London, as it gets overrun by a generic pre-9/11 terrorist unit. They get answered by an international defence force, which surprisingly is not VSSE from the other Time Crisis games. You, the player, play as one of their number, a mister Claude McGarren (or "Croid McGalain" in the -- likely mistranslated -- arcade version). The three levels you have to liberate are a shopping mall, a park, and an office building, followed by one final boss level. Each of them lasts about six to eight minutes, so as with the rest of its arcade-based peers, it's not much for first-play length. Unlike the other Time Crisis games, you can play them in any order. I suppose this is great for those who aren't as good at the game and can't clear any particular level with just one credit, but once you're comfortable with your skills, there's not much reason to do so.

Special weapons return in the PlayStation 2 edition.

The home version of Crisis Zone came about in 2004, as Time Crisis: Crisis Zone for the PlayStation 2. In addition to the arcade mode and the prerequisite graphics upgrades, this port offers a second story, a "Crisis Mode" with stand-alone challenges, and the option to use two GunCons for dual-wielding action. Come to think of it, this came out at about the same time as Halo 2, which made dual-wielding cool again, so I wouldn't be surprised if Namco had taken cues from whatever preview material was available at the time. Another unlockable feature is the option to use alternate weapons, as in Time Crisis 3. Unlike in TC3, where alternate ammo is limited and must be replenished by shooting special enemies, the handgun and shotgun just need to be reloaded as with usual machine-gun. And remember what I said about the machine-gun being weaker to balance for its rate of fire? Handgun and shotgun rounds are strong enough to drop most enemies in one or two shots, to compensate for their lesser rate of fire. Furthermore, when you have them enabled, there are certain points where you can try out special weapons like rocket launchers, flamethrowers, and even a laser rifle. These segments are brief, but deadly fun. As home rail-shooters go, Time Crisis: Crisis Zone is another great package, and a suitable follow-up to TC3.

As for the arcade game it's based on? Meh, it's okay. The machine-gun controller gives it a different feel from its cousins in the Time Crisis series, and the levels are designed around that experience. These changes don't amount to much in the end, but then again, the formula which Time Crisis II arguably perfected didn't need to be changed any more than it was. The best way I could describe Crisis Zone is, then, "TCII with a machine gun". You should be able to form your own opinion on the game based on that statement.

Positives:
+ Plenty of destructible targets.
+ The more constant character movement makes stages feel more dynamic.
+ The home edition is loaded with extras.

Negatives:
- No location-specific damage (still).
- The story is generic.

Control: 4 SMGs out of 5
Design: 4 SMGs out of 5
Graphics: 3 SMGs out of 5 (Arcade) / 4 SMGs out of 5 (PS2)
Sound: 2 SMGs out of 5
Value: 2 SMGs out of 5 (Arcade) / 4 SMGs out of 5 (PS2)
The Call: 80% (B)

Game Review: Time Crisis 3

Time Crisis 3

• Publisher: Namco 
• Developer: Namco 
• Release: 
• Arcade, 2003 
• PlayStation 2, 21 October 2003 
• Genre: 3D Action (Rail Shooter) 
• Players: 1-2 
• Save: Memory Card (212KB) 

Previously on the SDP, I reviewed Time Crisis II, which codified many well-received conventions which stuck with the rest of the series -- the "Growing the Beard" entry, if you will. So, how do you follow that up? With Time Crisis 3, obviously. It follows much of TCII's example, sharing the same two-player setup and its improvements to the life mechanics, but does it do anything on top of that to set itself apart? Oh, it finds a way.

In TC3, you play as yet another pair of colour-coded VSSE agents, but the circumstances they're dropped into are a bit different from the usual fare. The setting is Astigos Island, a place heavily inspired by Greek islands such as Mykonos and Santorini, and it is currently under invasion by the army of the neighbouring Zagorias Federation, and its general (and the game's final boss), Giorgio Zott. In terms of writing a believable story, that's already a step up from the megalomaniacal villain of, say, TCII. In the various cutscenes, your player-characters also interact with a resistance fighter named Alicia Winston. While she doesn't have any effect on gameplay, this is an improvement from a storytelling perspective, considering that the usual role of women in Time Crisis games is that of the damsel in distress. As arcade-based light-gun rail-shooters go, being a genre filled with excuse plots, I was not expecting the story in TC3 to be as juicy as it was, but there you go. Granted, the voice- and motion-acting don't take themselves seriously enough to match the story, but baby-steps, people!

Shoot soldiers in yellow outfits for special weapon ammo.

Story aside, TC3's unique selling point is its multiple-weapon system. How it works is while you're hiding behind cover, you can pull the trigger on your light-gun to toggle between one of four weapons: the Handgun, the Machine Gun, the Shotgun, and the Grenade Launcher. The catch is that, with the exception of the Handgun, ammo for these weapons is finite, and must be replenished by shooting yellow-garbed enemies (the same ones who gave you bonus time or points in previous games). This is no quick gimmick, fortunately, but rather the game is designed around this additional functionality. On the upside, the ammo-bearing mooks are just frequent enough that you should seldom run into shortages. On the downside, there are also a lot of armoured enemies which take four or five regular shots to dispatch, not to mention all the bosses. Yeah, I get the sneaking suspicion that the game wants me to use all those extra weapons. You can still use your handgun for the whole game if you're a veteran raised on the old games, but your trigger finger will hate you for it.

In addition from the extra efforts put into the story and gameplay, the content has been buffed up considerably, too. Both the arcade and Rescue Mission stories take around 30 minutes to clear, which doesn't sound like much, but is still an improvement for this series. It feels like a longer journey, too, because each stage within each act takes place in a different setting. In act one, for example, you go from a beach, to a wrecked ship, to fighting the boss on a moving Jeep. That said, TC3 seems to have copied its action setpieces from the last game. The first act's boss takes place on a set of moving vehicles, the second act takes place on a train, and the third act includes a mini-boss battle with, of course, Wild Dog. As with the home port of TCII, TC3 lets you unlock unlimited continues and ammo for both your main and sub-weapons through repeated playthroughs and other achievements.

The Rescue Mission mode adds weapon upgrades and sniper levels into the mix.

Previous Time Crisis home ports experimented with either a second story campaign or a set of extra challenges, but the PlayStation 2 version of TC3 has both. In service of the former, beating the game once unlocks the Rescue Mission, a second story starring Alicia, the aforementioned resistance fighter. Much of her story runs parallel to that of the arcade mode, so you get to experience some of the same setpieces from a different angle, but there are new experiences thrown in as well. Every couple of stages, the format switches to a sniper-based setup, where you point your scope at distant targets and move on when they're all gone. These bits finally make use of the GunCon 2's extra functions: whilst zoomed in, you can use the D-pad on the back of the gun to move your field of view around without going back into hiding. The multi-weapon system from the arcade mode also shows up in Rescue Mission, but with a twist. Each of your three sub-weapons has their own experience meter which fills up with use, and when filled, increases that weapon's damage, fire rate, and/or ammo capacity. It's a neat addition which even further encourages the use of your alternate weapons, but I wonder why they couldn't have patched it into the arcade mode as an unlockable extra.

Time Crisis 3 is yet another example of how to do a sequel right. Now that Namco knew what they were doing, they were free to experiment with new mechanics. And not only did they do so, but they managed to design the game around them, for better or worse, so they come across as less a tacked-on gimmick and more an integral part of gameplay. Having a more intriguing story than the usual arcade shooter fare is a bonus, as well. Is it the best light-gun shooter around? I'd love to say so, but there's one other game which makes a strong case for that title, and you'll find out about it soon on the SDP!

Positives:
+ The multi-weapon system.
+ A longer run-time compared to the rest of the series.
+ The "Rescue Mission" mode in the PS2 edition.
+ Probably the best story the series has ever had and will have.

Negatives:
- An over-reliance on armoured enemies.
- The action setpieces seem recycled from Time Crisis II.
- Motion and voice-acting is still a little campy.

Control: 3 special weapons out of 5
Design: 5 special weapons out of 5
Writing: 4 special weapons out of 5
Graphics: 4 special weapons out of 5
Audio: 3 special weapons out of 5
Value: 4 special weapons out of 5
The Call: 85% (B+)

Game Review: Time Crisis II

Time Crisis II

• Publisher: Namco 
• Developer: Namco 
• Release: 
• Arcade, 1998 
• PlayStation 2, 1 October 2001 
• Genre: 3D Action (Rail Shooter) 
• Players: 1-2 
• Save: Memory Card (74KB) 

Previously on the SDP, I reviewed the first game in the Time Crisis series. Despite its flaws such as the steep difficulty curve, I find it sad to remark that it's become increasingly hard to find in arcades these days. The same cannot be said of its sequel, Time Crisis II, which launched in 1997 or 1998 and is still relatively common to this day. Now, how could that be the case? And why did Namco wait until the PlayStation 2 came out before making a home port? On the off chance I'll be able to answer those questions, let's see what's changed.

Our excuse plot this time around concerns an industrialist named Ernesto Diaz, who has just finished launching a network of communication satellites into space, only as a cover for sending nuclear weapons up there as well. This time around, VSSE sends two agents (named Keith Martin and Robert Baxter) to stop him in his tracks, kicking off a series tradition of colour-coded heroes in red (for Player 1) and blue (P2) outfits. There's also an allied informant named Christy Ryan who tips off VSSE about the evil plot, but she gets captured in the opening cutscene and doesn't show up again until the final chapter. This game doesn't nearly pass the Bechdel Test, is what I'm trying to get across. Oh, and Wild Dog returns, this time demoted to the rank of mini-boss.

TCII finally adds a visual warning for shots that are about to hit you. (PS2 version.)

But where TCII fails to innovate in terms of story, it does so in gameplay. At long last, there is a visual aid to warn you when an enemy shot is about to hit you, in the form of a red ring called a "Crisis Sight", as the game puts it. It only lasts for half a second or so, but when it is on screen it stands out, and let's face it, it's better than nothing. Oh, and if you remember struggling to keep your time limit up in the old game, you're going to love this: instead of carrying over throughout the whole game, your time limit resets for each scene, and if it runs out, you merely lose one life instead of the whole game. Also, your gun's magazine holds nine bullets instead of the six from before. That's something else, I guess. I know this doesn't have much to do with difficulty, but TCII replaces its predecessor's time-based ranking with a more traditional scoring system. You get point bonuses by landing shots in quick succession, landing a series of shots without missing, and by landing shots on the hard-to-find gold-uniformed enemies who gave time bonuses in the last game. Shooting an ally character, by mistake or otherwise, docks you a few points instead of a whole life as in other rail shooters, which again helps make for a less stressful experience than usual.

The story mode is once again on the short side, clocking in at 15 to 20 minutes, and combined with the more forgiving mechanics, it makes the game feel like less of a challenge than before. The PlayStation 2 version fails to include any additional campaigns, as with some other games in the series. That's not to say TCII lacks any replay value, however. To get the full experience, you'll want to play on both the P1 and P2 sides, as they will occasionally branch off into different paths and converge later on, giving the different players chances to see scenes from different angles.

As for the home version, there are numerous unlocks to be had. For your first play-through, you'll have a limited number of continues, but this can be extended by either beating the game or using up all your continues, until you eventually unlock the Free Play option. By beating certain score and/or time targets, you can unlock alternate fire modes similar to the special weapons in later games. On top of that, there also shooting-gallery minigames to be unlocked, some of them based on Namco's old gun-game machines, and a series of "Crisis Mission" challenges which you'd be mad to attempt to earn all the medals on.

Both the first and second-player sides branch off to different paths at times. (PS2 version.)

Speaking of the home version, it is backwards-compatible with the PlayStation's GunCon, but also came bundled with a new light-gun model designed for the PS2: the GunCon 2. The GunCon 2 adds a few extra buttons, including one below the handle if you want to pantomime reloading the magazine, along with a D-pad up along the back. Even though TCII doesn't use these extra buttons for any specific features, the D-pad in particular is a very ergonomic option when used as a button to hide and reload with. As for re-creating the two-player experience of the arcades, your options are either split-screen or to link up two PS2 consoles by their iLink (a.k.a. Firewire) ports. Don't remember iLink? That's probably because it was abandoned by later models of the PS2, even before the redesigned version from 2004. Besides, this option would require you to own two TV monitors, two PS2s, two copies of the game, and two GunCons. If you're that intent on re-creating the arcade setup, you're probably better off buying an original arcade cabinet.

If I had to guess why, I'd say the lasting appeal of this game owes itself to the inclusion of a two-player option. The Time Crisis II arcade cabinet basically consists of two side-by-side machines which can either run independently or in co-operative multiplayer. Think about it from the arcade operator's point of view: you can get more income from a game that supports two people than with one, i.e. the first Time Crisis. As for the home port, it's nice that Namco went above and beyond the call, and added unlockable content to pad out the game's short running time. But TCII's lasting legacy is how it brought its series to a more accessible level of difficulty, and whether it makes the game more fun or too easy to be fun is a call best left for you, the player.

Positives:
+ New mechanics and rules make the game more accessible.
+ The two-player co-op mode.
+ The new GunCon 2, designed for the PlayStation 2 version.

Negatives:
- The new mechanics do take away most of the challenge from the first game.
- Still on the short side.
- Imperfect multiplayer options on the home version.

Control: 3 crisis sights out of 5
Design: 4 crisis sights out of 5
Graphics: 3 crisis sights out of 5
Sound: 3 crisis sights out of 5
Value: 3 crisis sights out of 5
The Call: 75% (B-)

Game Review: Time Crisis: Project Titan

Time Crisis: Project Titan
Publisher: Namco
Developer: Flying Tiger Development
Release: PlayStation, 20 June 2001
Genre: 3D Action (Rail Shooter)
Players: 1
Save: Memory Card, 1 Block

A lot had changed in the Time Crisis franchise between the release of the first game and the Summer of 2001, the general release date of our current subject. In the arcades, the sequel Time Crisis II made multiple long-lasting changes to the series formula, mostly for the better, and the spin-off Crisis Zone shook things up in its own direction as well. But neither of these games were given home ports in a timely fashion. Maybe Namco was just waiting for something better than the PlayStation to run them on, as both games were eventually ported to the PlayStation 2, another development in that aforementioned time frame. But before those games came to be, Namco and third-party developer Flying Tiger gave PSone owners one more run with the gun, with the console-only sequel Time Crisis: Project Titan.

Project Titan once again stars Richard Miller, the leather-jacket-clad one-man-army from the first game. This time around, he has been framed for the assassination of the president of Caruba, a fictional Caribbean island, and has 48 hours to clear his name. You won't be able to get a handle on the stakes outside of the opening cutscene, however. Without wishing to spoil, the game has a nasty habit of discarding plot points at the end of each of its four acts, as if this inanimate work of software had somehow come down with a case of ADD. With wishing to spoil, however, the real assassin (who looks nothing like Miller, by the way) pops up for the boss fight in act 2 and is abruptly killed in the following cutscene, at the end of act 3 we learn the president of not-Aruba was alive all along, and the fourth and final act deals with a titanium-enhanced army led by -- of course, -- Wild Dog, which is plonked upon us with virtually no foreshadowing.

The story fails to live up to its potential.

Oh, and the first act takes place on a yacht owned by Kantaris, the villainess arms dealer from the first game's second story, but it neither resolves anything from that past plot, nor does it advance the current plot in any way. It's just a total waste of a level which could have been better served showing Richard on the run from the not-Cuban authorities, for example. And no, getting to see Kantaris's low-polygon body in a bikini top does not help matters. While I'm digressing on the subject of graphics, Project Titan attempts a more detailed look than the first game, and it works for the most part. One of its nicer touches is that enemies in each of the four acts sport their own sets of costumes, each still retaining the series' trademark colour-coding by rank.

So if the story's a giant waste of time, does the gameplay manage any of the heavy lifting? Project Titan revives the rules set by the first game, meaning that you have to keep your time limit up lest you suffer death by the clock, and you have to guess when enemies will land direct hits with virtually no indication, lest you suffer death by loss of hitpoints. There is a new mechanic added from the original game, where if you can land a combo of 30 hits on enemies without missing, you'll earn an extra life. It's hard enough to get so that it doesn't break the game by offering you too many lives, but considering that none of the other Time Crisis games offer any methods of restoring player-character life, it's better than nothing. Another change occurs in the boss fights, where you can switch to different cover positions while hiding. Mostly, this is used to follow the boss as he, or it, moves from place to place. Given its limited implementation, this isn't much more than a quick gimmick, although variations on this system were eventually incorporated into later games, namely Time Crisis 4 (Arcade/PlayStation 3, 2005) and 5 (Arcade, 2015).

In boss fights, you have to follow your targets
by switching cover positions.

Project Titan once again supports the GunCon light-gun controller, and once again offers the same degree of button customisation. Regular controllers are also supported, and oddly enough, it is here that Project Titan offers its greatest improvements. First of all, it supports the analog sticks on DualShock and other controllers. But more importantly, there is a new lock-on mechanic where if you move your cursor close to an enemy, it will automatically snap to him. It can even follow arms, legs, heads, and other body parts as the targeted character moves around. This system isn't so overpowered that it makes the game feel like it's on autopilot, but it gives anyone the speed to come within shouting distance of the default record times. Yet it was never implemented into any of the other Time Crisis home ports, and that's a real shame.

The story campaign in Project Titan lasts longer than in the original, adding an extra fourth act on top of the usual three (ironically, you have fewer continues to finish the game with than before), but unlike the home version of Time Crisis, there's no additional campaign to pad out the first-play length. With that in mind, the game ends up as a niche title for only a certain kind of Time Crisis fan, namely the kind who seeks out more of the challenge of the original. Anyone weaned on the newer, friendlier entries will get turned off by its tougher conventions, not to mention the relative lack of value. If you are interested in the unforgiving early years of this franchise, I'd recommend you start out with the original Time Crisis home port first. But when you're ready to move on, you wouldn't do too wrongly to make your attack on Titan.  (Lame joke is lame.)

Positives:
+ Retains the challenge of the original.
+ Lock-on system makes the game more playable for controller users.
+ A more detailed graphical style.

Negatives:
- Lousy story, with many dropped plot points.
- Awkward voice acting to match.
- Failed to implement modern conveniences from Time Crisis II.
- Multi-cover system works, but is limited to boss fights.

Control: 4 lock-ons out of 5
Design: 3 lock-ons out of 5
Writing: 2 lock-ons out of 5
Graphics: 5 lock-ons out of 5
Sound: 2 lock-ons out of 5
Value: 2 lock-ons out of 5
The Call: 60% (C-)

Game Review: Time Crisis

Time Crisis

• Publisher: Namco 
• Developer: Namco 
• Release: 
• Arcade: 1995 
• PlayStation: 31 October 1997 
• Genre: 3D Action (Light-gun Shooter) 
• Players: 1 
• Save: Memory Card (1 Block) 

Once upon a time, arcade light-gun games followed a strict formula. Shoot the bad guys, don't shoot the innocent bystanders, and shoot outside the screen to reload. I've covered a few of those kinds of games already. But in 1995, one company added a new dimension to the formula. That company was Namco. That game was Time Crisis. And that new dimension was a foot pedal added to the machine, with which the player could hide from enemy fire. Over the past twenty years since the original's release, the Time Crisis series has been a mainstay in arcades, with a fifth entry (not including spin-offs) recently having been rolled out as of this article. The series has also carved out a niche for home console gamers, as the premier light-gun game series on the PlayStation family. So, the question I have to end my introductory paragraph with is, does the first game still hold up?

In this game's story, you are Richard Miller, a leather-jacket-clad operative from the spy agency VSSE, and your mission is to rescue the princess of Sercia from the villainous duopoly of deposed prince Sherudo Garo and mercenary Wild Dog. Oh, and some ninja with a claw who serves as the first act's boss. Okay, the story's not that important; it's basically the save-the-princess template updated for the pre-21st century. But Time Crisis has other selling points to fall back upon anyway. The arcade machine uses a foot pedal, which you hold down to advance and release to hide behind cover. You can't just turtle your way through the game, though, since you can't shoot enemies unless you're out of cover. Also, the game runs on a timer, which is extended by clearing each scene of action, and if either the timer or your stock of lives run out, the game is over. Upon starting a game, you can also choose an alternate time-attack mode, which limits you to one of the three acts but also gives you infinite lives, which is a suitable choice for beginner players.

In addition to enemy fire, you have to duck to avoid obstacles.

Time Crisis is not a game for beginners, however, especially if you're used to later, more forgiving games in the series. Only a few of the enemies' shots will land a direct hit if you don't duck out of the way, but if there is a tell for the hurt-shots, it's very hard to... tell. Maybe the damaging bullets are coloured red, I don't know. A rule of thumb is to pay attention to the enemies' uniforms. The red-clad enemies will almost always fire a hurt-shot when they appear, and thrown weapons (grenades, knives, etc.) will always hit unless you hide or, if you're really good, shoot them out of the air. Furthermore, on occasions you must duck to avoid larger obstacles, such as cranes, crates, and cars, which would knock you about otherwise. Fortunately, these obstructions are accompanied by an on-screen warning. Oh, and be on the lookout for the guys in golden uniforms. They don't fight back, and disappear if you let them go, but they're good for a few extra seconds of time, which in this game is very valuable.

The PlayStation version instead uses a special light-gun controller, the GunCon, with two buttons which work the same way. These controls may be customised to the extent possible; not only can you switch which button hides and which pauses the game, but you can even control whether you hide by holding or releasing the button. You can even use a second controller, preferably a dance pad or the pedal from a steering wheel, as the pedal if you absolutely have to emulate the full arcade experience. The GunCon itself, however, is a bit more complicated to set up. In addition to plugging the controller plug into one of the front ports on your PlayStation, there's a second cable which you have to plug in between the video cable and the TV/VCR/etc that it's plugged in to. And then you have to calibrate the gun sights every time you boot up the game. However, you'll have an even worse time of it if you're using a regular controller. This game pre-dates the DualShock controller, so analog stick controls are not supported, leaving you with the relative imprecision of the PlayStation D-Pad to move your cursor about.

The Special story mode in the home version offers
branching paths based on your performance.

On the other hand, the PlayStation version offers its own benefits, apart from the obvious one of no longer needing to hunt down an arcade which still has the first game in operation. This version includes a second story mode on top of the arcade version. This new story takes place in a hotel run by an arms-dealing villainess named Kantaris. (Honestly, there's so little character development to be had that, I don't know why I bother giving you everyone's names.) What's novel about this mode is that the level progression branches off at multiple points, subtly leading you to one area or another based on your performance. For example, if you clear out a room in the first area before the elevator doors close, you'll go down one path, or down another path if you can't make it in time. It's a tall order to try and get all four of the possible endings, given the difficulty of acheiving these unique objectives on top of the base difficulty of the game itself. Honestly, it's a good thing this extra mode was included, because the arcade mode only lasts about fifteen minutes (not including the time lost from re-playing sections of the game after continuing, which is pretty much inevitable), which is short even for the series' already short standard.

The graphical style employed in Time Crisis is typical of the PlayStation era, with low-polygon models and a a hybrid of realism and anime art, allowing for expressive (if unchanging) faces without looking too outlandish. The enemy character models come with multiple coloured uniforms which tell you, at a glance, what role they serve in their futile quest to stop you, such as the aforementioned accurate red-shirts (pretty much the opposite of you'd expect from Star Trek). Whilst there are no bonuses for hitting the head or other weak points, the enemies' death animations do react to where you hit them, such as twirling to the ground when you shoot them in the leg, or half-flipping backwards with a headshot. The music is forgettable and most of the line-reads in the performance are awkward at best, but the gunshot sound effects are impactful and change from room to room, simulating the changing acoustics, and the announcer who tells you "Wait", "Action!", and "Danger!" is just present enough to tell you what you need to know, but not too present as to be annoying.

The impression given by the original Time Crisis was one of trying to find its bearings. It employs on mechanics which were changed and/or abandoned for subsequent entries, and runs the risk of either alienating or intriguing series fans weaned on later entries. It's got that old-school NES thing going on, where it compensates for having a shorter duration by making it really tough to beat. If that's your thing, great. If not, at least it makes beating this game all the more rewarding.

Positives:
+ The cover-pedal mechanic puts a fresh spin on the genre.
+ The game's rules offer more challenge than other entries in the series.
+ The bonus campaign in the home version.
+ Little touches like death animations and gun sound effects.

Negatives:
- The difficulty level is the most unforgiving in the series.
- Limited ease of control if you're not using a GunCon.
- Silly voice-acting and bland story.

Control: 3 gold uniforms out of 5
Design: 3 gold uniforms out of 5
Graphics: 4 gold uniforms out of 5
Audio: 4 gold uniforms out of 5
Value: 3 gold uniforms out of 5
The Call: 70% (C+)

Game Review: Gal*Gun (First Impressions)

Gal*Gun (Demo)

• Publisher: Alchemist
• Developer: Inti Creates
• Release: PlayStation 3, 23 February 2012 (Japan/South Korea)
• Genre: First-person action
• Players: 1
• Rarity/Cost: Free

NB: I should note that the following text reflects not the full version of Gal*Gun, but a free demo available on the Japanese PlayStation Network store. It's possible for foreigners to create and use a PSN account, to not only buy the game but get its free demo, but it takes some doing. The late JewWario of You Can Play This has uploaded a video to instruct you on doing such, as a matter of fact, so go watch that. Oh, and the title is listed in Japanese, so search for "ぎゃる☆がん" ("Gyaru Gan").

Everyone done? Good. Now, on to the review, inasmuch as I can call it one.

A little Fun Fact about me as a gamer: I love light-gun shooters (Japanese-made ones, that is), as evidenced by the fact that I have an article tag for them. My favourite has to be the Time Crisis series by Namco, and I shall have to review them sometime. But stay in love with a genre for long enough, and sooner or later each new experience starts feeling like the last. Not to mention, a lot of these games are bloody short! Of course, that's because most of them are ports of coin-op arcade games, which are short by their nature of being designed to get players on and off as fast as possible, but still. So it's about time for some new blood in the genre, I say, and then along comes Gal*Gun, an Asian-exclusive PS3 game, providing a cute quasi-parody of the genre. Is it the new blood we need? Let's find out.

Gal*Gun started life not as an arcade game, but an XBox 360-exclusive from early 2011. However, somebody forgot to make a light-gun controller for the 360, so you have to play it with a traditional controller. Not that it's inherently a bad thing, I mean, a lot of these games have traditional controller support. Not very good traditional controller support, but hey, the spirit of inclusion is there. Besides, this version is region-locked against non-Japanese XBox 360s, and they made a patch to censor the panty shots... more on that some other time. But then along came a port for the PlayStation 3 a year later, bringing along with it Move controller support and the ability to play on non-Japanese consoles. But would you want to? Again, let's find out.

You play as Tenzou, an Ordinary High School Student who gets accidentally shot by a bunch of magical arrows by a cupid named Patako. Although according to the opening cutscene I don't think it was that unintentional. But anyway, Tenzou is blessed with super sex appeal, although he has to find true love before the magic's affect wears off, he'll be lonely for the rest of his life. Now, I actually had to find that last part off of the game's Wikipedia entry, because its story is presented visual-novel style in spoken and written text, which of course is presented entirely in Japanese. But the end result is that all the girls in Tenzou's school go crazy over him, and he has to fend them off with the use of Patako's Pheremone Gun. And I'm like, what is your problem Tenzou?  Why are you even fighting them in the first place? Aren't you supposed to find love before the day is out or whatever? Maybe you're one of the few among us who know the difference between love and lust; that's the best explanation I can manage.

Enemy "bullets", in the form of text characters, are easy to block.

But anyway, here's where you come in. You move a cursor with the Left Stick and press a button to "shoot" at girls, whereupon instead of dying they swoon with delight and disappear. It even does that Virtua Cop thing where the camera automatically zooms into certain targets. And you know how in most shooters you can deal more damage with head shots? Well to that effect Gal*Gun has "Ecstasy Shots", which are located around the front of their skirts (you know... where they hide their lady parts), and bring them down with one shot instead of the usual three or four. The girls' attacks consist primarily of launching various kana and kanji characters that drift lazily towards the screen, and you must shoot to block them or incur "damage", inasmuch as I can call it damage given the context of the story. But whatever it symbolises, if it falls to zero, it's Game Over, of course. However, unlike most shooter games, light-gun or otherwise, your Pheremone Gun has unlimited ammo; you don't even need to reload its magazine or anything. Combined with the lethargic sense of danger, and based on the demo alone, Gal*Gun shapes up to be an unfortunately boring experience. Maybe the pace picks up in the later stages of the full version, I don't know.

In addition to your health meter, there's a heart-shaped meter which you can fill up multiple times with successful hits. Once it fills at least one, you can hover your cursor over a girl and press Triangle to enter what's called "Doki-Doki Mode". As the setting shifts to a different plane of existence or something, you move your cursor between various pre-set points along the girl's body, and press the fire button/trigger to, I don't know, poke her there or something, filling up a separate meter on the left. But you have to do it before your heart meter runs out of juice and you get kicked back out to the main game. And you can't just button-mash your way to success like in the main game; as you place a hit and the girl, ahem, "reacts", you can't fire again until her animation completes. This partial denial of input makes for a truly boring, tedious diversion. So anyway, assuming you manage to complete this mini-game (don't forget to press Triangle again to deliver the, ahem, "finishing blow"), and do you want to know what the reward for all that was? A bomb, inasmuch as I can call it a bomb. All the girls on-screen, ahem, "cleared out" simultaneously. And I'm like, *why* couldn't I just launch a "bomb" instantly when I press that confounded button!?

The Doki-Doki Mode takes way too much time to get through.

If I ever purchase the full version, I'll make a part-two of this review, but the demo hasn't given me much to be excited about. Let me put it to you this way: this isn't a game that should make you buy a Move system if you don't already own one. Rather, if you don't already own a Move system, then give this a pass. The unorthodox setting is cute, either in the sexualised spirit with which it was intended, or in its camp value for attempting the former and failing. But as a game, let alone a light-gun game, it's rather boring and slow-paced. Maybe the full version ramps up the challenge something decent, but otherwise I can't quite recommend this game, inasmuch as I can call it a game.

Control: 4 Ecstasy Shots out of 5
Design: 2 Ecstasy Shots out of 5
Graphics: 5 Ecstasy Shots out of 5
Audio: 3 Ecstasy Shots out of 5
The Call: 3 Ecstasy Shots out of 5 (C)

Game Review: Ghost Squad

Ghost Squad

• Publisher: Sega
• Developer: Sega AM2 / Aritificial Mind & Movement (Wii)
• Release:
• Arcade, 2004
• Wii, 20 November 2007
• Genre: 3D Action (Rail shooter)
• Players: 1-2 (Arcade), 1-4 (Wii)
• Save: 1 block (Wii)
• Rarity/Cost: Common, US$10-20 (Wii)

Anyone remember Target: Terror, that arcade light-gun shooter by Raw Thrills? No? Good on ya. Pretty much the only thing it contributed to its genre is that it's possible for one of these games to last longer than twenty minutes, although in doing so stripping out all the fun, charm, and gravitas (whatever gravitas remained in this genre) brought upon by its Japanese competitors. One of those competitors was Ghost Squad by Sega AM2, which not only started showing up in arcades around the same time as Target: Terror, but years later got a home port on the Nintendo Wii -- wouldn't you know, also around the same time as Target: Terror. So, what does Ghost Squad do right over its American rival? More importantly, does it do anything right?

I'll start with the plot, inasmuch as an arcade game meant to get players on and off the hot seat as fast as possible can have a plot. Unlike Target: Terror, where your only motivation is that your targets are terrorists and that's bad, the antagonist force in Ghost Squad has a name: the Indigo Wolves. Their rap sheet includes kidnapping the President of the United States -- twice, in two of the game's three missions -- and the president of an arms company. Because... evil. And so a non-governmental force called the M.O.P. dispatches squads of ghosts (not literally, I just wanted to make a pun from the title) to dispatch the Indigo Wolves' threats. As such, there's a fair bit of immersion to be gained from taking orders from a remote commander and "leading" computer-controlled team members, even if they bear no impact whatsoever on your game. So does the arcade version's controller, a big hulking thing which I think is modelled after an MP5. (Then again, it gets hard to keep holding the darn thing up during extended play, so forget about it.) But the immersion is quickly lost when you realise its characters have no characterisation to speak of, or for that matter, when you bear witness to the goofy voice-acting. So maybe Ghost Squad's story isn't so great, but more importantly, does it play any good?

Alternate fire modes may help you out.

It should; this isn't Sega AM2's first ride in the light-gun rodeo, so a lot of Ghost Squad's mechanics had become familiar by the time it was made. You shoot terrorist characters who will occasionally attempt to shoot at you, you don't shoot hostages or other unarmed persons under penalty of losing health points, and you change your magazine simply by pointing your gun (Wii Remote) off of the screen. No pulling the trigger (pressing B) or shaking the gun (Remote) necessary. Huh, that's new. Not exactly; Sega AM2's earlier shooter Confidential Mission (Arcade/Dreamcast, 2001) also handled reloading in this manner. But it's nice to see it implemented here on the Wii as well, since having to shake the gun (Remote) tends to mess up your aim, if not your focus, in a way that simply flicking your sights off to the side does not. In an actually new feature (for the arcade scene, at least), you can select your weapon type when starting a game, and most weapons feature alternate fire modes (single-shot, burst fire, full-auto, etc.) which you can toggle by flicking a switch above the trigger (pressing Left/Right on the Control Pad).

This game is short. There are only three levels, and very short ones at that -- I'm talking at least five minutes apiece -- and not even a final boss after it all to tie up the story, such as it is. That's not to say Ghost Squad doesn't have its ways of hooking you in for repeated play-throughs. By collecting experience points (in the Wii version only, I'm afraid), alternate paths will be unlocked for you to choose between during repeated visits, as will new weapons for you to try out. In addition, you'll be tasked with completing special objectives (again, also built upon from Confidential Mission), mainly in the vein of using your gun's (Wii Remote's) Action (A) button to defuse bombs, restrain hostages or fight in hand-to-hand combat, or simple sniping and protection segments. Mess these up, and you're still allowed to continue, maybe with a blow to your life meter. But completing these tasks, in addition to landing head shots or other special hits, fills up a separate "GS Meter". Filling this up gives you extra ammo for your alternate fire modes, thus providing a tangible... not really, more like "direct"... at least non-score-related reward for skillful play.

Tasks like defusing bombs are done with the Action (A) button.

In a genre which has become as formulaic as the arcade light-gun shooter, innovation is nine-tenths of the law, and Ghost Squad boasts enough exclusive features to help it stand above the crowd, even to this very day. Even better, these memorable traits have survived passage to the Wii, and then some. But this genre has often suffered from a lack of substance, and Ghost Squad is sadly no exception. It takes a lot more effort in this regard to make an arcade game suitable for the home experience, but given its progression of unlockables (including the goofy Ninja and Paradise modes), it's certainly worth more than one spin. Just wake me when you can pack in more than three levels.

Positives:
+ Sharp controls.
+ Many unlockable paths and weapons.
+ Silly additional modes are good for a laugh.

Negatives:
- Only three stages.
- Poor voice acting.

- An insubstantial story.

Control: 5 hostages out of 5
Design: 4 hostages out of 5
Graphics: 3 hostages out of 5
Audio: 1 hostages out of 5
Value: 2 hostages out of 5
The Call: 70% (C+)

Game Review: Target Terror

Target Terror

• Publisher: Raw Thrills (Arcade), Konami (Wii)
• Developer: Raw Thrills (Arcade), Leviathan (Wii)
• Release:
• Arcade, May 2004
• Wii, 22 April 2008
• Genre: Light-Gun Shooter
• Players: 1-2
• Rarity/Cost: Moderate, US$10-20

Here we go again... it's time once again to bring up Raw Thrills.  In the way I see the world, these guys take me back to the mid-90s, a time when two distinct art styles were fighting for control of the arcade game world: 3D-style polygons, pioneered by companies including Sega (Virtua Fighter, Virtua Cop) and Namco (Tekken, Time Crisis), and 2D digitised-actor art pioneered by Midway (Mortal Kombat, Area 51).  I gravitated towards the former, if only because at the time I was too young for the blood and gore coincidentally trumpeted by the latter camp, but before long my preferences sticked.  Now, fast-forward a decade, and combine that with how Raw Thrills' inferior racing title more or less overtook Sega's Initial D Arcade Stage series, and my opinion on the company soured pretty quickly.  And the moral of this story is...?  I will not buy American if I don't want to, whether the subject is video games, animation, cars, or pornography.  Or all four at once.  ...Which would be a fan-game based on Transformers: Kiss Players, so forget about it.


The graphics style is years behind the times,
but maybe that's just me.

But I brought up Raw Thrills again not just to make that joke, but to review their other claim to fame: the light-gun shooter Target Terror.  Also known in more sensitive settings by its Japanese title Target Force, it first released for arcades in 2004, and in 2008 got a port for the Wii courtesy of Konami.  This title serves as a spiritual successor to the nigh-identical Area 51 and Maximum Force by Midway, in that the graphics engine utilises chroma-keyed footage of actors as characters, put on top of a pre-rendered CG background.  I'll try to leave this aesthetic approach to personal taste, but it just doesn't work for me, even on a gameplay level - that's right, I'm going so far as to blame it for my difficulty in hitting targets correctly.  And yet this low-tech approach still doesn't save the game from occasional slow-down, if only on the Wii port.  But given that these backgrounds are on the technical level of those lame FMVs from PSone-era games, I was pleasantly surprised that there are breakable objects here and there, mostly in the form of windows.  Regarding the "actors", if I may be permitted to put on my film-critic hat for the moment...  You know what, I won't even bother, because their acting sucks no matter how you look at it, especially in the case of the blonde news anchor who kicks off each level.  Furthermore, the Wii version also lets you adjust the level of graphic violence, with the lowest setting replacing the blood with green paint, the characters' death animations getting cut off, and even explosive fuel barrels get replaced with equally explosive paint barrels.  Taking that with the rest of the game's presentation, it's almost the game is going for self-parody (knowing what they did with The Fast and The Furious, that wouldn't be out of the question), but that doesn't make it any less painful to sit through.  I'm a pragmatist, peoples.

As for how it is played, it's got many of your light-gun game cliches: shooting outside the screen to reload, shooting hostages takes away one life, yada yada.  And it can't even do that well: the enemies are arranged with little to no regard to logic or the flow of motion, and there is no indication as to when they will land a direct hit on you either.  Woe betide you when someone hits you with a melee attack after leaving you no time to react, which is an inevitability, trust me.  Alternate weapons are available to pick up as well, but of these, only the machine gun, shotgun, and explosive weapons are what I'd call useful.  The shocker and freeze ray are, in practise, nothing more than pistols with slower firing rates, and the flamethrower's fire takes a little while to hit the target; unfortunately, you don't always have "a little while".

Yet despite it all, it does do at least a few things I like.  You are able to reload your guns not only by pressing B while pointing off-screen, but also by shaking the Wii Remote. I will admit it is a nice touch, since it helps keep your focus on the action.  Also, there is the Justice Mode, wherein the player can use two guns/Wii Remotes at once.  Assuming you can get over the coordination issues inherent with throwing your non-dominant hand into the mix, it's generally a big help.  Come to think of it, this came out for the arcades right around the time Halo 2 came and made dual-wielding cool.  Considering that, plus the game's title and setting apparently designed to tap into post-9/11 paranoia...  Yup, they're trendwhores.

"Justice Mode" supports two controllers in a one-player game.

Further to its credit, Target Terror is longer than most light-gun games, something which the genre has always struggled with., but that's beside the point.  In total, there are ten levels, each broken up into two sections, for an running time of about one hour.  That's not long in the grand scheme of things, but considering I can clear the arcade modes of the Time Crisis games in about 20 minutes each, I have no choice but to call that improvement.  Now that I mention Time Crisis (a far better series, might I add), the Wii port shares the same continue system: you have a set number of continues to finish the game with (30 in this case, and even on the easy level, you'll need 'em all), but running out will give you more continues the next time you start a new game.

There are bonus games which you can access by completing certain tasks in-level, mainly of the destroying-objects sort. (NB: I cannot confirm their existence in the arcade version.) Oddly, these minigames start immediately after you clear the special objective, rather than waiting for the end of the stage.  I suppose that would dodge the problem of the game ending before the level end could be reached, but as it is, it still unsettlingly breaks the flow of the game, for what that's worth.  And the games themselves heap on the cheese even more than the rest of the game, should that even be possible.  There's one where you shoot terrorists as they try to push tied-up bikini girls into a vat of glowing green acid, and another where you take aim at terrorists in golf carts, an homage to another arcade mainstay, the Golden Tee golf series.  You get extra points from these minigames, but that's it.  In fact, that serves as a metaphor for the game as a whole - when you consider the presence of other, better shooters, they render Target Terror silly and pointless.

Control: 1 terrorist out of 5
Design: 2 terrorist out of 5
Graphics: 1 terrorist out of 5
Audio: 1 terrorist out of 5
The Call: 35% (F)

NES Month: Freedom Force

Freedom Force

• Publisher: Sunsoft
• Developer: Sunsoft
• Release: NES, April 1988
• Genre: Rail-shooter
• Players: 1-2, Alternating
• Rarity/Cost: Common (US$1-10)

In my quest for the perfect Zapper-compatible game, I have come up with the following conclusion: they're all really short. There are the games that repeat short levels endlessly, or those that have a finite story that is over before you get into it. Today's subject, Freedom Force by Sunsoft, oddly has some of both of these qualities. Although you only get five levels before looping back and doing them again, the prospect of earning the best ending by clearing it four times in a row should keep you coming back for more -- if you can handle it.

The game itself is a glorified shooting gallery, specifically something like Hogan's Alley on steroids. As you slowly pan through a location, you must shoot terrorists as they pop out from behind cover, while not shooting hostages and civilians as they do likewise. These aren't cardboard cutouts, either; everyone's been given quite a few frames of animation, and there's even a tame amount of blood. If you let an enemy go for too long, they'll start shooting at you and drain your health meter. Empty either your health or ammo meter, and of course, your game ends. Shooting an innocent, on the other hand, adds a point to your Error meter. If you fill up your Error meter with six strikes, you go back to the first level with your score intact.

Keep your health and ammo high, but not your error meter! [1]

The only way to get power-ups in this game is to shoot the window in the lower-right corner of the screen as something pops up inside. The Health and Ammo icons refill their respective meters, but nearly every time the Health pickup shows up, it disappears faster than you can even react to it. Now that's just criminal. It's easier to just score points to automatically refill your health, but you can only do this twice (at 20,000 and 60,000 points). If an icon of a weapon shows up, you can shoot it to switch to that weapon. There's no difference between the .38 caliber handgun and the .44 magnum other than what sound they make (but man, is it a satisfying report). The grenade launcher, on the other hand, takes out multiple people when you pull the trigger -- and unfortunately, this includes civilians, so avoid this. The final icon type makes the game harder by having more people appear at a faster rate. If you pile on the Harder items, you'll be shooting almost constantly, which was enough of a challenge for a Time Crisis veteran such as myself.

The plot, paper-thin as it is, suits this game's genre well enough. First, you rescue an airplane that has been hijacked on the ground, and then you proceed through the airport for the next three scenes. The fifth and final scene jumps straight to the mastermind's hideout. Like I said, this game ends before you start to get into it. Clear this level, and you get what can barely be called a cinematic before going back to the first airplane scene. You're supposed to get a different ending if you clear the game four times in a row. I haven't made it that far, but it's a neat thing to work for and it give this game some much-needed replay value.

The Code Breakers mini-game. [1]

After clearing each second and fourth level, you get to play a mini-game called Code Breakers. This is a Hangman-type game wherein you are given a category and must shoot letters to select them. The catch is that you can only shoot letters that are lit up; this group of four letters cycles to the next each second. Since the hit box for these letters is smaller than the people you shoot in the main game, if your light gun's accuracy is fading, it'll be hard to pick out the letter you want. You're done when you make five mistakes (not including repeated or non-lit letters), run out of time, or finish the puzzle. A time bonus is awarded if you complete the puzzle, but you don't lose anything if you can't make it. There aren't that many puzzles, either, compared to thousands in each of the Wheel of Fortune games. Execution aside, it's a nice little diversion that doesn't detract from the core of the game.

1992's Lethal Enforcers may have modernised the light gun genre, but many of its facets can be seen here, in a game four to five years older. Even more shocking is the fact that, for the most part, it all works. Concepts such as power-ups and hostages to avoid are things that have been ingrained into the minds of gamers who have ever frequented arcades in the 90s. While I can't guarantee whether or not they first appeared here in Freedom Force, this is still well ahead of its time, and offers just enough replay value to interest a purchase from light gun fans.

Control: 3 Zappers out of 5
Design: 4 Zappers out of 5
Graphics: 3 Zappers out of 5
Audio: 3 Zappers out of 5
Value: 2 Zappers out of 5
The Call: 75% (B-)

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[1] "Freedom Force NES Screenshots". MobyGames. http://www.mobygames.com/game/nes/freedom-force_/screenshots.

NES Month: Gotcha! The Sport!

Gotcha! The Sport

• Publisher: LJN
• Developer: LJN
• Release: NES, November 1987
• Genre: Shooter
• Players: 1
• Rarity/Cost: Common (US$1-10)

I would be remiss in my coverage of NES Month without mentioning LJN Toys, Inc., one of the most infamous publishers of the NES era. The titles released under the so-called "rainbow of death" label were all based on movie/TV/etc.-licenses, and almost all of them sucked: The Karate Kid, Back To The Future, Jaws, and Friday the 13th. But what's important to remember is that LJN only published the games -- the development "talent" was all over the place: Beam Software, Atlus, and even Rare. Yeah, I just broke you. There were only a few games LJN actually developed (or just didn't even credit the real developer). One is Jaws, done in collaboration with West One, and it sucked. Another one is this: Gotcha! The Sport!, and -- holy crow, it's actually pretty good!

Gotcha! was one of LJN's first titles, released in November 1987 alongside Jaws and The Karate Kid. As with almost all of LJN's games, it's based on a movie, although this one is more obscure. The movie, simply titled Gotcha!, was released in 1985 and involves a paintball player trying to escape from East Berlin. The game, on the other hand, puts you in a capture-the-flag paintball competition. You have three lives and a limited supply of ammo, but for some reason your ammo count goes down only if you miss. Shooting small boxes of ammo will give you more shots, and a life will be traded for ten shots if you run out. If you're hit or run out of ammo with no lives left, the game is over. Your goal is to make it to the opponent's flag and bring it back to your base so you can move on to the next round.

This game can be either really boring or really challenging.

This game has a rather interesting control setup: it's played using the Zapper and a controller at the same time. The Zapper is used to shoot opponents with your paintball gun, obviously, and collect the flag at the other end of the map. That's where you have to use your controller: holding Left or Right moves you along the map. You'll probably do this by holding the Zapper one-handed and the controller in your other hand. If you want to try some other method, be my guest*, but don't expect the same level of control. As basic as it is, this mechanic works well, and it's a shame I haven't really seen it in other places except the Wii, especially since today's light gun controllers (the GunCon 2 for PS2 comes to mind) have a D-pad built in.

*DISCLAIMER: I, the writer, cannot be held responsible for any injury to person or object resulting from trying some other method of playing Gotcha! The Sport! in a manner other than described.

If you've got lots of experience with light gun games, then this one can get boring quickly. When starting up, you get to choose from three difficulty levels. The easiest setting will bore professional shooters rather quickly, but it's easy to get shot on the hardest setting unless you're eagle-eyed. There are only three settings (forest, city, and snow field), and the game loops through them endlessly (in theory) until you lose, so it won't be long until you see everything the game has to offer. But that never stopped Donkey Kong, and we all know how well that turned out. ...Very well, actually.

No one dies after getting hit with paintballs.

The graphics in this game are decent. Since you're using paintballs, enemies you shoot will put their hands up, drop their gear, and run off-screen. What a cute way to tone down the violence. The sound design, however, is pretty terrible. The music for each of the three settings is a minimal five-second loop. Whenever an enemy is aiming at you or has captured your flag, the music changes to an even more annoying loop, and when it goes away, the old music starts over from the beginning.

Given the repetitive nature of Gotcha! The Sport!, I'm not sure how much I can recommend it, even if you're bored to death of Duck Hunt. Regardless of the results, I just have to applaud its technical innovation of letting you move and shoot with a light gun at the same time. And, as with a number of less-popular NES titles, if you need a game to kill a little time with, you could do far worse than Gotcha! The Sport!.

Control: 4 paintballs out of 5
Design: 4 paintballs out of 5
Graphics: 3 paintballs out of 5
Audio: 2 paintballs out of 5

Value: 1 paintball out of 5
The Call: 70% (C+)

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[1] "Gotcha! The Sport! - NES Screenshots". MobyGames. http://www.mobygames.com/game/nes/gotcha-the-sport/screenshots.

NES Month: To The Earth

To The Earth

• Publisher: Nintendo
• Developer: Nintendo
• Release: NES: November 1989
• Genre: Shooter
• Players: 1
• Rarity/Cost: Common (US$1-10)

Chances are, if you own an NES, you own a Zapper, the gray or orange light gun sold with three different hardware bundles (the Deluxe, Action, and Power Sets). And a good chunk of you probably only play it with Duck Hunt, which was packed into those bundles. But what if you want something else to shoot at with the Zapper, if only to justify your purchase? Turns out there are about a dozen games compatible, in part or in whole, with the Zapper. One of them is To The Earth, published and developed by Nintendo and released in November 1989.

In this game, you "control" a spaceship which must travel all the way from the planet Neptune back to Earth, hence the title. There are four stages in this game, where you travel to Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, and finally Earth. Yes, they skipped Mars for some reason. Maybe it was on the opposite end of its orbit or something, but more than likely they could only make four levels and didn't care where they started.

Gameplay is simple enough. You just shoot down as many enemy spacecraft as possible with your Zapper. One thing you'll notice is that every time you shoot and miss, your health will go down a bit. The other way to lose health is if an enemy drops a bomb on you; shoot them before they hit your hull to avoid taking damage. You regain a chunk of health for each enemy you hit, however, so good players won't have to worry about their health for much of the game.

Shoot down enemy bombs to stay alive. [1]

There are three kinds of items to help you along the way. Once you start causing some chaos, a red icon will appear on the lower-right corner of the screen; shoot this to trigger a bomb of your own and clear all enemies off the screen. An "E" icon, when it appears at the lower-left of the screen, instantly restores some energy, and a comet will give you a barrier, letting you take several hits without taking damage. You'll need all the help you can get, since the onslaught of enemies grows faster and faster as you move on. It's enough to wear out your trigger finger, especially if you're using the original Zapper, which had a lot of resistance on the trigger.

As tough as this game is, it's rather short. Like I said, there are only four levels, and the whole game takes around twenty minutes to complete. That said, it's short but sweet. Between this and Duck Hunt, it's a shame that Zapper-compatible games aren't all that meaty, but you'll appreciate the extra immersion - and in this case, the extra challenge.

Control: 3 planets out of 5
Design: 4 planets out of 5
Graphics: 4 planets out of 5
Audio: 3 planets out of 5
Value: 1 planet out of 5
The Call: 80% (B+)

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[1] "To The Earth - NES Screenshots".  MobyGames.  http://www.mobygames.com/game/nes/to-the-earth/screenshots.