You know what. Fuck it. Time Crisis 1 is the best.
The president's daughter has been kidnapped on a remote castle island. It's sunset and you have a leather jacket. Time Crisis fucking rocks.
There's a certain je ne sais quoi to Namco's late 90s output. No other developer carried so much of what defined the "video game" in the prior decade and a half into their early 3D output, and certainly not while feeling so daring, bold and unbound by convention. There's always such a strong sense of style and energy, and there's few better examples of it than Time Crisis 1.
I have a bit of a history with TC (close friends are allowed to call it that, providing it's with dignity). Our family went on a big international holiday when I was about 11, visiting cities, theme parks and national heritage sites, but finding this arcade cabinet on the ferry there, complete with its chunky paddle and sliding recoil action, irritatingly remained the highlight of my trip when my parents asked afterwards. I was delighted to receive the PS1 port on my subsequent birthday. I think that's still my favourite birthday present ever. Finding a CRT on the side of the road earlier this year presented a dilemma. Claiming and carrying a heavy discarded television for half an hour back to my home was challenging and embarrassing, but the longing to bring Time Crisis back into my life made me accept who I was, and push past the looks of disgust and bewilderment from passing pedestrians.
The game is so excited about 3D. Swooping helicopters, a ride on suspended platforms, shoot-outs in active factories, wee moments of cinema. The ducking reload system is so much cooler than anything that preceded it, making you feel just that little bit more involved with your surrounding environment, and making avoiding attacks something more interesting than simply shooting the other guy first. Beyond gunfire, there's moving hazards you have to watch out for. Lunging attacks can be avoided with a quick duck, and effectively countered by popping back up before they retreat.
Enemy designs are simple, and instantly recognisable. You see a red guy, shoot him first, because he's dangerous. Orange? Get him for a time bonus. Blue are fodder, but you need to dispatch them quickly to keep on top of the ticking clock at the bottom of the screen. Standard enemies never take more than a single shot, making your gun feel powerful and keeping high-level play frantic.
What really makes me love Time Crisis 1 is that it's all one self-contained scenario. Having distinct levels in your game is an easy way to add variety, but as is true in games like Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil, little can make the objective as meaningful or the threat as tangible as laying all the cards on the table and have the player sweat and scramble through to the end, carrying each new war wound into the next fight. This is a "Time Crisis". You've got to sort this shit out right now. You're not getting a plane ride to an ice level halfway through.
Time Crisis is filled with little 10-second screens that change up the pace and keep it exciting. The bit where you step back from a barricade, or open a door into a 15 foot drop, or have to shoot gunners hiding behind turrets before they fire at you. It's just great. I love it.
The scenario of an old empire's coup against an incumbent presidency is great, too. The old regime's castle has been around for centuries, isolated from the rest of the world, but growing technologically advanced by their active war interests. You get romantic stone walkways, and the iconic clocktowers, hiding rooms full of submarines and blinking control panels. It's such a cool playset for this gun game.
It's the top of tip, it's the championship, it's the most tip-top Time Crisis.
(FURTHER PARAGRAPHS EXPLICITLY COVER THE EXPERIENCE OF PLAYING THIS VIA THE JAPAN-ONLY PS2 "GUNVARI COLLECTION + TIME CRISIS" RELEASE, AND I WOULD DISCOURAGE ANYONE OTHER THAN HARDCORE TC FANS FROM VENTURING FURTHER)
Bringing Time Crisis to the PS2 allowed Namco the opportunity to bring the arcade version to home consoles. Curiously, this isn't what they decided to do. What you get on the disc is essentially the PS1 ISO, but with G-Con 2 support.
Endearingly, in-engine assets used to reflect the G-Con 45 have now been modified to reflect the new controller. Take a closer look, and you'll notice Richard Miller, as well as Point Blank's Dr. Don and Dr. Dan, are now holding G-Con 2s in their respective keyart.
The increased precision of the G-Con 2 is welcome, and I was even able to hit that six pixel guy behind the distant turret at the start of Level 3 in one shot, but the game insists on using A as the reload button, which doesn't make for quite as comfortable a grip, so you may opt for your old 45, regardless. You can still use a second controller as a makeshift pedal, but the game seems fussy about which controllers you can use. I was only able to get a Dualshock 2 to work, but entertainingly, everything works on it. I was able to use L3 and R3 as my duck button. You may find success with contemporary Namco controllers, or maybe even PS2-era steering wheel pedals, but I can't guarantee that.
The game still displays in pixel-heavy 240p, with the biggest performance boost appearing to be in the loading times. It shaves a second or two off between stages, though you're sometimes faced with a disconcerting black screen.
All the familiar PS1 stuff is here, including the Original Mode and the old options menu. I wouldn't recommend getting this unless you're also interested in playing Japanese-language releases of the Point Blank games, but the precision and slightly quicker stage transitions are welcome. I'm sure anyone who's made it to the very end of this review wouldn't be dissuaded if this has piqued their interest.
The president's daughter has been kidnapped on a remote castle island. It's sunset and you have a leather jacket. Time Crisis fucking rocks.
There's a certain je ne sais quoi to Namco's late 90s output. No other developer carried so much of what defined the "video game" in the prior decade and a half into their early 3D output, and certainly not while feeling so daring, bold and unbound by convention. There's always such a strong sense of style and energy, and there's few better examples of it than Time Crisis 1.
I have a bit of a history with TC (close friends are allowed to call it that, providing it's with dignity). Our family went on a big international holiday when I was about 11, visiting cities, theme parks and national heritage sites, but finding this arcade cabinet on the ferry there, complete with its chunky paddle and sliding recoil action, irritatingly remained the highlight of my trip when my parents asked afterwards. I was delighted to receive the PS1 port on my subsequent birthday. I think that's still my favourite birthday present ever. Finding a CRT on the side of the road earlier this year presented a dilemma. Claiming and carrying a heavy discarded television for half an hour back to my home was challenging and embarrassing, but the longing to bring Time Crisis back into my life made me accept who I was, and push past the looks of disgust and bewilderment from passing pedestrians.
The game is so excited about 3D. Swooping helicopters, a ride on suspended platforms, shoot-outs in active factories, wee moments of cinema. The ducking reload system is so much cooler than anything that preceded it, making you feel just that little bit more involved with your surrounding environment, and making avoiding attacks something more interesting than simply shooting the other guy first. Beyond gunfire, there's moving hazards you have to watch out for. Lunging attacks can be avoided with a quick duck, and effectively countered by popping back up before they retreat.
Enemy designs are simple, and instantly recognisable. You see a red guy, shoot him first, because he's dangerous. Orange? Get him for a time bonus. Blue are fodder, but you need to dispatch them quickly to keep on top of the ticking clock at the bottom of the screen. Standard enemies never take more than a single shot, making your gun feel powerful and keeping high-level play frantic.
What really makes me love Time Crisis 1 is that it's all one self-contained scenario. Having distinct levels in your game is an easy way to add variety, but as is true in games like Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil, little can make the objective as meaningful or the threat as tangible as laying all the cards on the table and have the player sweat and scramble through to the end, carrying each new war wound into the next fight. This is a "Time Crisis". You've got to sort this shit out right now. You're not getting a plane ride to an ice level halfway through.
Time Crisis is filled with little 10-second screens that change up the pace and keep it exciting. The bit where you step back from a barricade, or open a door into a 15 foot drop, or have to shoot gunners hiding behind turrets before they fire at you. It's just great. I love it.
The scenario of an old empire's coup against an incumbent presidency is great, too. The old regime's castle has been around for centuries, isolated from the rest of the world, but growing technologically advanced by their active war interests. You get romantic stone walkways, and the iconic clocktowers, hiding rooms full of submarines and blinking control panels. It's such a cool playset for this gun game.
It's the top of tip, it's the championship, it's the most tip-top Time Crisis.
(FURTHER PARAGRAPHS EXPLICITLY COVER THE EXPERIENCE OF PLAYING THIS VIA THE JAPAN-ONLY PS2 "GUNVARI COLLECTION + TIME CRISIS" RELEASE, AND I WOULD DISCOURAGE ANYONE OTHER THAN HARDCORE TC FANS FROM VENTURING FURTHER)
Bringing Time Crisis to the PS2 allowed Namco the opportunity to bring the arcade version to home consoles. Curiously, this isn't what they decided to do. What you get on the disc is essentially the PS1 ISO, but with G-Con 2 support.
Endearingly, in-engine assets used to reflect the G-Con 45 have now been modified to reflect the new controller. Take a closer look, and you'll notice Richard Miller, as well as Point Blank's Dr. Don and Dr. Dan, are now holding G-Con 2s in their respective keyart.
The increased precision of the G-Con 2 is welcome, and I was even able to hit that six pixel guy behind the distant turret at the start of Level 3 in one shot, but the game insists on using A as the reload button, which doesn't make for quite as comfortable a grip, so you may opt for your old 45, regardless. You can still use a second controller as a makeshift pedal, but the game seems fussy about which controllers you can use. I was only able to get a Dualshock 2 to work, but entertainingly, everything works on it. I was able to use L3 and R3 as my duck button. You may find success with contemporary Namco controllers, or maybe even PS2-era steering wheel pedals, but I can't guarantee that.
The game still displays in pixel-heavy 240p, with the biggest performance boost appearing to be in the loading times. It shaves a second or two off between stages, though you're sometimes faced with a disconcerting black screen.
All the familiar PS1 stuff is here, including the Original Mode and the old options menu. I wouldn't recommend getting this unless you're also interested in playing Japanese-language releases of the Point Blank games, but the precision and slightly quicker stage transitions are welcome. I'm sure anyone who's made it to the very end of this review wouldn't be dissuaded if this has piqued their interest.
2 Comments
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Yuggy
1 year ago