The Wii is perfectly suited to lightgun arcade conversions thanks to its pointy-clicky design. So, I was surprised when a copy of Time Crisis 4 was delivered to my door complete with a brand new G-Con PS3 lightgun and some strange LEDs on leather straps. Both get plugged into the USB ports, the LED peripherals hang over the top of your TV and of course, you poin the gun at the screen to shoot.
So, if you’ve played Time Crisis 4 in the arcade you’ll know the score. You play as either of two slightly too well-groomed agents as you put a stop to a bunch of terrorists and some biological weapons called Terror Bytes that take the form of swarms of beetles and mosquitos.
This one’s on rails but will only move after you press a button to poke your head out of cover and shoot the bad guys shooting at you and running at you with hatchets. You can also switch between weapons and you’ll have to do this tactically depending on what you’re fighting. You can let loose with a handgun, shotgun, machine gun or grenade launcher. Some stages are on foot and others see you constantly pressing the trigger as you fire from various vehicles.
Arcade mode is pretty short and sweet but there’s also Complete Mission mode which sees you playing as a super-soldier using all the many buttons of the G-con controller to explore and shoot. This mode’s longer and, with all the mini games and the two player mode, there’s plenty to keep you occupied if you like arcade shooters.
It’s corny, sometimes frustrating but a good blast if you let off some steam. My review of Time Crisis 4 for the PS3 gets a good 6 out of 10.
The graphics look a bit poor for a PS3 title.