[ARCADE/PC] Time Crisis 5 ~ Full Game, P1 Side (1080p 60FPS)

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FamilyTeamGaming

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Published on September 15, 2020 8:04:52 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrM4v0iW7ag

Game:

Time Crisis 5 (2015)

Duration: 47:53

7,176 views

45

Who needs Gigaleak anyway?

Now here's a game I thought I'd NEVER get to play. The first new mainline Time Crisis game since 2006 and the first Time Crisis game period since 2010, originally announced in 2014 to some hype, Time Crisis 5 was released in 2015 for arcades only to little fanfare. Upon release, I get the feeling all of us lightgun rail shooter fans collectively asked the rethorical question: "This won't ever get a home release, will it?", to which Bandai Namco's silence pretty much was all the feedback we needed to know the answer. Let's just say that a manner to play the game at home has very recently surfaced, which I will not get into details about.

Despite most people's experience of Time Crisis 5 being solely through YouTube videos and whatever gameplay they can get out of the odd arcade machine they DO find of this game, this game has already gotten quite the reputation for being the "worst game in the franchise", and also for having quite a controversial storyline. That's quite a lot for a 17 minute long little arcade game. Are any of these observations fair, however?

I'm inclined to agree it's the worst, but honestly, it's really not by much. There's very little impact when shooting people, as the gun sounds are rather muted and the enemies just turn into floppy ragdolls upon death, making the experience feel repetitive. The "dual pedal" mechanic the game boasts so much about - allowing you to snap from two vantage points to shoot the enemies - while kind of neat, mostly doesn't really add anything, but thankfully it doesn't get in the way. There aren't that many instances where you have to use it and it really feels like it's making a difference in gameplay, especially when by far the most common use of it is to just finish off the last 1 or 2 enemies that are blind firing behind cover, since the hit detection isn't accurate enough to let you just shoot their arm off. "Getting around shoddy hit detection" doesn't sound like the devs' intended use of the mechanic if you ask me. There are quite a few neat usages of it throughout the game, like avoiding smoke grenades and shields, but sadly there are several times there is nothing to do in one of the hiding spots, as well. I think perhaps what limits the mechanic's potential by far the most is the length of the game: clocking in at around 17-18 minutes, this is by far the shortest game in the series since Time Crisis 2 (which was about 15 minutes long) and only about half the length Time Crisis 3 and 4 were (around 30 minutes). Seeing as the game has 6 stages rather than the traditional 3, as well, this leaves very little window for the mechanic to be elaborated and developed on when you barely hang around the stages for longer than 3 minutes each. At least the soundtrack is pretty cool and doesn't shy away from referencing previous games! The game is still fun enough, though, and being mercifully short means it doesn't get TOO boring, more than what can be said for Time Crisis 4...

Speaking of Time Crisis 2, this is a good opportunity to segue into talking about the story. Spoiler warning in case you don't want to be spoiled on a game shorter than the average episode of a TV show: TC5 is a direct and distant sequel to TC2, the most obvious indicator of this is how your third partner and mentor is an aged Robert Baxter, the Player 2 character from that game, now an NPC. Playing as Luke O'Neil (P1) and Marc Godart (P2), the three of you investigate Wild Dog, the recurring villain of the series, who is under the posession of a briefcase of the late Christy Ryan, the spy woman from TC2, containing information about a traitor within the VSSE. After chasing Wild Dog in a futile attempt to retrieve the briefcase, it falls on the hands of Keith Martin, the Player 1 character from TC2, trying to solve the mystery on his own. Upon locating Keith, he's at first uncooperative, however Robert is quick to use violence on him. After nearly gunning him down, the briefcase reveals Robert was the traitor all along, killing anyone who tried investigating him (including Christy) and wiping out any data that might incriminate him. Robert plans on "resetting the whole world" using a drug seized by the VSSE that turns anyone coming into contact with it into zombies. Of course, you thwart his plans just in time and in a heartfelt moment, gun him down as he refuses to surrender for the last time.

The story is obviously paper thin, but, for the standards of a short arcade game, I honestly find it really interesting. It feels satisfying to at least see some development to the characters and the VSSE as an agency - seeing Robert turn evil and the implications the VSSE might not be as clean of an institution as we've been lead to believe. So, personally, no complaints from me!

This game really isn't as bad as it's made out to be. It's not amazing - you'd probably be better off with any of the others - but it's not exactly a blight on the franchise!

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