Time Crisis: Razing Storm isn't just a chance to play a fantastic light gun game on your PS3; it's a chance to play three of them—and, if you want, you can even use the PlayStation Move controller to do so.
This compilation includes the destructible environments of Time Crisis: Razing Storm, a re-release of Time Crisis 4 and the campy pirate shooter Deadstorm Pirates. The PlayStation 3 package also comes with a bunch of new modes for Razing Storm, including one that turns it into a first-person shooter and another that takes the game online.
Ideal Player
Fans of the Time Crisis series and of Namco's arcade light-gun games are going to love this chance to play through the game at home without the need for a pocket full of quarters.
Why You Should Care
Like The Shoot, Time Crisis: Razing Storm has a chance to prove how diverse the Move controller can be, delivering not only Wii-like games and augmenting hard-core titles, but also reproducing an arcade experience in your home.
How does Time Crisis: Razing Storm hold up with Move controls? There's a reason Time Crisis survives in arcades as other games fail. It's fun and an experience hard to mimic at home. While the Move's controls aren't quite as liquid fast nor as spot on as an actual arcade light gun, the motion sensing add-on does a fairly good job of replicating it. I was able to pick off targets, head-shot after head-shot, in the earlier games and sweep the screen of enemies in Razing Storm.
So there weren't any issues with the Move controller as light gun? Time Crisis: Razing Storm isn't without its problems. The targeting reticule has a bad habit of drifting out of sync with the controller, leading to a floating cross-hair that points to the side of the screen while you're pointing at the center. While this doesn't crop up much in the arcade versions of the game, the need to aim off screen to look around in the first-person story mode seems to exasperate this issue. Pointing off screen in the opposite direction seems to fix the problem, as if you're bending the targeting back in place.
Time Crisis: Razing Storm isn't very long, is it worth the price? While you may be picking up Time Crisis: Razing Storm for the latest Time Crisis that landed in arcades, it's not all you're going to get. There are really four games on this disc, making it a fantastic buy for fans of Time Crisis. Deadstorm Pirates is a campy pirate-themed light-gun game in the vein of Let's Go Jungle, giving you control of how you progress through the short, but delightful campaign. Time Crisis 4 is a faithful port of the last big Time Crisis arcade title. And Razing Storm also includes a unfortunately broken off-the-rails Story Mode.
Broken off-the-rails story mode? What's wrong with it? The Time Crisis story mode takes the series off the rails, packing in plenty levels, plot and fun weapons. But all of that goes out the window the first time you have to rely on the awkward controls to do anything other then walk in slow straight lines. The mode uses the Nav (or a PlayStation 3 DualShock) to move and the Move controller to control where you look, slowly pushing your screen around by aiming off screen. It's a tedious process that sucks most of the pleasure out of the process of playing through the story.
Here have a look:
What about the GunCon 3 controller? Does Razing Storm still support that? While the GunCon controller is supported in Time Crisis: Razing Storm, you'll have to use its proprietary sensor set up to get it to work. I suppose that shouldn't be surprising, but as a Move owner with a camera already plopped on the top of my television it is slightly annoying.
What about the Move's gun attachment, how was that? The Move's gun attachment is a great add-on purchase for the game, unfortunately it makes reloading, which is done with a button push, a big issue. Because the reload button for all of the arcade games is located on the top of the Move controller, you have to pull the gun back to push it, making the very important and frequent action get in the way of the playing. In story mode you can use the Nav controller's buttons, which is much better.
Time Crisis: Razing Storm In Action
The Bottom Line
Fans of Time Crisis, especially those who already own a GunCon 3, will want to pick this game up. It's not as easy a sell for those of you with a Move controller intrigued by the idea of playing the fun arcade game at home. There's a lot here that's enjoyable, but as soon as the game strays from replicating the arcade titles it falters and fails.
Time Crisis: Razing Storm was developed and published by Namco Bandai Games for the PlayStation 3, released on October 19. Retails for $49.99 USD, compatible with PlayStation Move or GunCon 3 controller. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played through the campaign, sampled the story mode, Time Crisis 4 and Deadstorm Pirates alone and with my son. Was unable to find anyone to play online with despite multiple attempts.