Namco finally unleashes their much anticipated home port of TC2.
After several years of waiting, Namco lightgun fans have finally received the home conversion of Time Crisis II that they so desperately have been waiting for. Namco took the original arcade version, spruced it up in a number of the ways for the PlayStation 2 and released an even better GunCon to play the game with. Needless to say, the game was worth the wait, especially if you were a fan of the original or just of lightgun titles in general.
As they did with Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast, Namco has pretty much reworked all the graphics, from the cut scenes to the characters to the environments. The characters and environments are rendered with at least twice the number of polygons, the textures have been stepped up a notch, and the special effects are both high in quality and even more numerous. The framerate is always locked at 60fps, and there are no instances of popup or glitches, both of which plagued the arcade version. The display is somewhat jaggy, and can best be compared to that of Ridge Racer V. It is something you quickly forget, however, upon putting a few minutes into the game. Overall, Time Crisis II is still a gorgeous game.
Although Namco offers a version of the game with the GunCon 2 packed-in, the peripheral is not required. The original PSX GunCon can be used, but there is definitely somewhat of a gameplay difference due to the additional buttons the GC2 has. Regardless, the GunCon 2 may be the best home lightgun ever created. It is smaller and lighter than the GunCon 1, but has a really responsive D-pad in the back, along with the "A", "B", Select and Start buttons in a better position along the barrel. The GunCon 2 plugs into the USB port on front of the PlayStation 2, and has additional wires which allow a second player to hook-up a second GunCon 2, to allow 2 player simultaneous action. As with any GunCon title, you are still required to use a video pass through wire. If you use an s-video or component connection exclusively, you will need to purchase to either purchase an adapter (which is stated right on the game's box) or just dig out your standard composite AV cables for the game. The only issue I had with the GC2 is, unlike the Japanese version of the peripheral, the entire gun from barrel to butt, including the D-pad and buttons, is bright Day-Glo orange. It's actually difficult to tell that the buttons are actually buttons and not just decorative items, without pressing them first. I understand the need for "toy" guns in the US to be colored in such a way, but it would have looked so much nicer if the D-pad and buttons were at least molded in some contrasting color. Just a minor nitpick.
Time Crisis II plays just as the arcade original did, with the only exception being the lack of an action pedal to step on. For those not familiar with the series, the action pedal (or button in this case), allows you to peak out and take shots at the enemy, and then quickly duck back down behind foreground objects for protection as well as to reload. This extra dynamic is really what separates Time Crisis II from most other lightgun games. Because there is no action pedal packed-in with the game or gun, you need to either hold the "A" or "B" button along the barrel with your supporting hand, or you can very easily use your thumb to press any direction on the D-pad for some great single-handed action. One feature that the Time Crisis series never had was power-ups.
The game feels every bit as exciting as the arcade original, but with some additional stages and options. Along with the single player Story Mode, TC2 comes packed with a Practice mode, the all-important 2-player Split Screen mode (a first for lightgun games), and a dedicated "2 Gun" mode, for those gunslingers that love to shoot it up with 2 GunCons.
Nearly every game in the genre suffers from the same little drawback; Lack of replayability. Time Crisis II unfortunately falls in the same trap, but those that are fans of games of this type probably wont complain all that much. If developers can figure out how to add some RPG elements into lightgun titles, then maybe they could earn an "A". But until then, that drawback still costs Time Crisis II a grade. Overall, TC2 is a great arcade to home conversion, as well an excellent action-packed lightgun game that no one should miss.
