Time Crisis 4: Guncon time!

[Chris Beveridge]

Anyone else pony up for this today? I just got in the first two areas on very easy level and I'm having fun, even if I do suck the big one on it in general. I just play to have fun and enjoy it which I very much do.

Mild annoyances: the setup booklet only talks about how to set up for tv's up to 50" for 16:9 sets. Bah. People have bigger you know these days! Those sensors need more cabling to spread out on my set! It works fine though so it's all good.

Maximum seating distance on a 50" is 13 feet. I assumed that meant the cable for the gun itself would reach that. Sadly it seems to be closer to 9 feet, meaning I'm at the edge of my seat and leaning forward with it. Good for building up my arm muscles though...

Gameplay continues to be a lot of fun though and the 5 point calibration helped smooth it out even more.

[Chuplayer]

They make USB extension cords, you know. I use a couple for my PS3's mouse and keyboard. I got it in anticipation for Unreal Tournament 3. I got a couple five footers from the dollar store that work very well.

Are you saying that the cord that goes between the two sensors isn't long enough? You can extend that with a little electrical know-how, but I don't know how that would affect the usability of the Guncon 3. It's the sort of thing that I would love to test if I had a TV that large :crazy:

Is the arcade mode a good replication of the original arcade cabinet? Because that's the meat and gravy of Time Crisis home ports. From what I've played of the arcade version, it was better than TC3. If that experience is brought home flawlessly, I'll be happy.

Also, how does the game handle the 16:9 transition? The arcade versions I've seen were all 4:3. Do they add more enemies to the left and right side of the screen? Or are those areas barren? Or did they do something else to cock it all up?

Finally, is the aiming at least a bit more accurate than the arcade version? Shooting out those tires in the helicopter mission was a pain in the ass in the arcade. I literally shot the last tire out with less than half a second left on the clock. It was very frustrating.

[Johnny]

Really looking forward to this but I'm waiting for the Japanese release on the 20th December. Partly because I can't afford this at the minute but mainly because I want a proper black GunCon3, not a horrible orange monstrosity.

[Chuplayer]

Well, I got it this morning. It rocks! I've been playing it constantly since I got it.

The first thing I noticed was how accurate the gun really is. I was worried about how the sensors might work, especially since the arcade version seemingly used 10 sensors placed around the screen. The part where you have to shoot the tires is still a pain, but at least the rest of the game is fine.

I really, really like the Wiimote style features of the GC3. The part where you have to aim where the flashlight shines is one of my favorite additions to the game. However, multiscreen battles are made much less annoying thanks to the addition of the analog sticks. I guess a Wii style control scheme didn't work well in that scenario because I dreaded it in the arcade.

The target practice missions are a double-edged sword. On one hand, they're so plain compared to the Crisis Missions modes in TC3 and Crisis Zone. On the other hand, they load up fast.

I noticed some framerate drops here and there, but most of them weren't anything that really affected the game. There was only one where the fire sprinklers go off that made the framerate skip a few beats during intense gameplay. As for the other times, it seems to happen when your character is moving in wait mode, so you can't shoot anyway. Still, it's a little disappointing when a game with clean but somewhat unimpressive PS3 graphics gets any slowdown at all. Then again, downloading the game's 1.01 update and installing it to the hard drive seems to have helped performance somewhat.

I haven't even tried the complete mission mode yet, but I'm looking forward to it. Long story short, I like this game, and I've finally got something to look forward to using my PS3 with other than with PS1 and PS2 games.

[beatmania]

I wish the guncon uses IR like the Wii. Are those LEDs? And 6 of them!

I think eventually I will need to build a landing platform or something to put all those sensors on top of my TV. :crazy:

If they standardize them then we can have TVs with IR sources built in. Instead, everyone's got their own ideas on how to do better than the other guy.

[Chuplayer]

I wish the guncon uses IR like the Wii. Are those LEDs? And 6 of them!

Well, two sensors with three LEDs in each of them. (Actually, that might be a bit of a misnomer as I think the Guncon 3 is the sensor, and the LEDs only give the gun something to work with.)

If they standardize them then we can have TVs with IR sources built in. Instead, everyone's got their own ideas on how to do better than the other guy.

But then it would be a pain in the ass to have better technology. Either that or the built-in stuff would be useless when companies continue to release their own stuff anyway.

[Chuplayer]

I just finished the complete mission mode, and it taught me something. It taught me that reviewers are full of crap.

The "45 minute FPS missions" are actually only one 45 minute FPS mission. The first one. The reviewers who complained about the hour long FPS missions obviously only played the first level! What the hell?

Yes, the FPS missions had problems. Rush moves slowly, and enemies are kinda stupid. The Guncon 3's analog sticks also don't really help the situation. However, they never stop being fun! Walking through the dark corridors of a dam with only your gun's flashlight which you aim is so exciting! The final FPS mission is also great. Lots of epic firefights there. The forest level is awesome. Seriously, I'm surprised at how memorable this game is.

It was a little disappointing that they recycled the arcade game in the complete mission mode, but at least it's still a good, quality mode to play. I also would've liked full animated cutscenes with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but whatever.

Crisis Missions also get unlocked later, and they have their own little storyline. I wasn't expecting that! I haven't gotten very far in them, but at least they're something.

[Chepin]

Amazon had it for $50 yesterday so I ordered it. I'll have to see if it will work with my 80" projection screen, though I kinda doubt it. Most likely I'll have to play it in my room with the 40" lcd. It should be more fun in co-op mode, so I'll have to keep an eye out for a second gun.

[Chuplayer]

Amazon had it for $50 yesterday so I ordered it. I'll have to see if it will work with my 80" projection screen, though I kinda doubt it. Most likely I'll have to play it in my room with the 40" lcd. It should be more fun in co-op mode, so I'll have to keep an eye out for a second gun.

They bollocksed co-op up by making it splitscreen only. TC2 and TC3 did it with multiple consoles with firewire (I think), and the PS3 could have done it over LAN with multiple consoles, so I don't know why they didn't just do that. That, and GC3s aren't sold separately. It's the only stain on the underwear of TC4 I can find.

[VinceA]

Nice to hear good reviews of TC4 since it's the first game I plan to get when we finally pony up for PS3

[Chuplayer]

Nice to hear good reviews of TC4 since it's the first game I plan to get when we finally pony up for PS3


It is truly something special. Part of it comes from the fact that light gun FPS hasn't been done before. (Or at least this well.) But it's a great game! Yeah, I'm gushing over it, but so what?

Where's the love? Not even Chris has returned to this topic :grin:

[Johnny]

Where's the love? Not even Chris has returned to this topic :grin:

Unfortunately, I just can't afford it at the minute. I could get the US one fairly cheaply, but don't want to be stuck with the monstrosity that is the orange G-Con 3 and, as the Asian release also features an orange gun, I'm buying the Japanese release which, unfortunately, is pretty damn expensive.