PS3 Fanboy

As a huge light gun fan, I was enthralled to find out that Namco Bandai was bringing Time Crisis 4 to the PS3. Recreating an arcade experience at home has always met with a few stumbling blocks, but it appears that the new Guncon 3 might be the best home light gun yet.

We would love to try and set up the Guncon ourselves, but the kiosk at E3 certainly proved that, under the right conditions, the Guncon works. There are two sensors that must be placed at the top left and right of the television screen, essentially mimicking the technology found in the Wii sensor bar.

Shooting without an on-screen cursor was easy, and it wasn't too long before we were shooting enemies, switching weapons, and dodging enemy fire rather easily. The weapon select feature is fantastic: being able to switch between a pistol, to a shotgun, to a rifle for the various encounters adds an appreciable amount of strategy to the game.

Time Crisis 4 is looking to be a rather complete offering for PS3 owners, especially with the inventive FPS mode the game is promising. Although we're not fond of the generic art style, and the rather dull graphics, the Guncon 3 opens a world of possibilities for future light gun games on the PS3.

One game easily stole the show at Namco Bandai's Editor's Day: Time Crisis 4. This PS3 exclusive title will feature support for the Wii-inspired Guncom 3. Having recently played the original arcade version, we can confidently say that the PS3 version will be superior in every single way. If you haven't taken a closer look yet, you should. This will easily become one of PS3's killer-apps amongst hardcore gamers.

The new Guncom takes advantage of Wii-esque technology, which allows it to be compatible with SDTVs and HDTVs of all kinds (previous Time Crisis console titles did not work with certain types of TVs). The new HD graphics are stunning: a vast improvement over the pixelated mess of the arcade original.

The single most exciting feature of the PS3 Time Crisis has to be its new FPS mode, which allows you to freely move around the world whilst using Guncom 3 to fire at enemies. By adding the precision controls of a light gun game into the FPS genre is certainly going to create a truly immersive experience. If Namco Bandai can nail down the controls on the game before its November release, we can't help but think that this game could potentially set the standard for FPS game control.

View the trailer after the cut, or download the trailer directly to your PS3 by visiting our website on your console.

The latest issue of Famitsu holds some fairly interesting tidbits. It seems that Time Crisis 4 is going to have a direct port from the arcade machines exclusively onto the PlayStation 3 at some point in the future. As well as the arcade mode, the game will also feature a new mission mode, though there are no details regarding what that will involve, as of yet.

The most exciting news to come from this is that the Guncon 3 controller will be released, presumably, alongside the game. The newest iteration of the Guncon peripheral will use Infra-red emitters, rather the first two which relied on cathode-ray timing to detect where the gun was being pointed. As a result, the Guncon 3 will work perfectly with LCD TVs whereas the previous two did not. A downside to the new controller, however, seems to be that, judging from the attached image, it will be wired. Whether this is the case for the final product or to allow for backwards compatibility with the PS2 is unclear.