Duck and shoot, duck and shoot, duck and shoot! Yup, third time is a charm in this series! Namco brings us Time Crisis 3 on the Playstation 2. Many games are so unique that you can make sequels galore and still have the flare of the first game. Namco is on the ball with Time Crisis 3, for those of you who didn’t grow up with the first duck and shoot Time Crisis 1 in the arcade, here is a little run down: A first person light gun game that relies heavily on knowing when to duck for cover and when to stand up to attack. In the arcade there is a pedal you press to "stand up", at home you can either use the button on the Guncon 2 (a fancy name for the Namco light gun) or the Player 2 controller buttons (just put it on the floor and step on it).

This time the VSSE has been sent to the island of Astigos, a beautiful island in the Mediterranean sea that has been invaded by General Giorgio Zott (how do they come up with these names?). The VSSE must stop the General from launching the tactical missiles and totally taking over the whole island. You take the role as Alan Dunaway or Wesley Lambert (Player 1 and player 2 respectively on the PS2 or link cable) to kick butt against the roves of machine gun, knife throwing, missile launching enemies!

There have been many changes to the game, not only has the graphics engine been greatly improved; you can now choose weapons! While in "duck mode" you can choose weapons such as a shotgun, machine gun and even a grenade launcher! Shooting the yellow coloured enemies will release ammo for these guns which you can use anytime during the game. The game play is fast and furious; you barely have time to breath before the game shouts ACTION again. A variety of bosses will keep you busy at the end of the three stages of the game?you are then rewarded with cut scenes that are funny and laughable in a good way?corny jokes are the norm in this game.

Just like in the arcade you can play two players co-op, but only in the arcade mode. The split screen is awful even if you have a 40 inch TV, the boxes are quiet small and you lose quite a bit of detail. The best way to play co-op mode is the via the PS2 firewire port, so if you have a PS2 with the firewire port buy two copies of the game and enjoy the most amazing link mode out there. I had no problems setting up the link, all I did was go to a local computer shop and pick up the proper firewire cable. Namco ensured that the sound track and effects are perfectly synced so you don’t hear an echo while playing in link mode. If only more games had co-op modes, we aren’t all competitive!

The environments are quite detailed and huge explosions are quite satisfying! There are some pretty cool level designs, which I won’t spoil in here; but let’s just say your character will get bumped around from being thrown from explosions! The game has a pretty decent "movie like" sound track and is good enough to keep you shooting at the various enemies and vehicles. For those of you who enjoyed shooting at the speed boats and watching them bounce by in Time Crisis 2, there are some motorcycles and jeeps to shoot at!

Even Time Crisis veterans will have some problems playing this game through normal mode, you do get some bonus credits as you play the game to make it easier. It is only a matter of time before you beat the third and final stage with more credits! After you finish the game once in Normal mode, you will unlock a special mission one player mission staring as Alicia Winston whom you meet up during the regular arcade mode. This side mission is a great bonus since the original arcade mode is a little on the short side. There are some neat additions to this side mission such as having a sniper rifle and a machine gun that seems to only fire 3 shots before jamming (talking about semi automatic). You get to play the game over again from her angle of the story, you actually meet up with the VSSE just like in the arcade mode?when she runs off in a different direction in the arcade portion you get to play brand new levels.

One note, NEVER play this game with a controller?shell out the extra $10 for the light gun package of Time Crisis 3 if you don’t already own a Guncon 2 from Time Crisis 2. It is just wrong to play a light gun game with a controller. Namco has done it again providing us with a great light gun shooter, the best in the series with amazing graphics and new weapons. A must buy for light gun fans!

Buy Time Crisis 3 with Guncon 2 (Pre-played) for the PS2 at

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