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| Developer |
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| Publisher |
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| Platform |
Arcade |
| Arcade System |
Namco System Super 23 |
| Release Date(s) |
Arcade: |
| Controllers |
DualShock 2 |
| Producer(s) |
Takashi Sano (producer) |
| Composer(s) |
Kazuhiro "Hige" Nakamura |
Crisis Zone (クライシスゾーン Kuraishisu Zōn) is a spin-off of the popular Time Crisis series.
Gameplay[]
In Crisis Zone, the player is part of the elite anti-terrorist trooper of the Special Tactical Force (S.T.F.), Claude McGarren. The game uses the same pedal system to reload and hide; however, the player uses a machine gun, a customized Steyr Mannlicher TMP with a laser sight and a magazine capacity of 40 rounds. Players take cover behind a portable ballistic shield that is strapped to the character's left arm.
Crisis Zone is the first Time Crisis game to date to allow the player to select between three zones to play in any order. Upon completion of all three of them, the player can then play the final zone to beat the game.
Scoring[]
Players score points by landing continuous hits on enemy soldiers and equipment. There is also time bonus points for remaining time after a zone is completed.
Plot[]
Original Story Mode[]
| Japanese version | English version |
|---|---|
| ロンドン |
Garland Square recently opened on the outskirts of London. Within the complex, there are department stores, a hotel, a nice park, and an office building. A complete urban complex. However, the complex has been taken over by a terrorist group called the U.R.D.A led by Derrick Lynch. |
Remarks: From the opening narration (Arcade version).
| “ | Garland Square recently opened on the outskirts of London. Within the complex, there are department stores, a hotel, a park, and an office building. It's a complete urban complex. However, the complex has been taken over by a terrorist group called the U.R.D.A. led by Derrick Lynch. | „ |
| ~ Opening narration (PlayStation 2 version) |
On August 2000,[1] Garland Electric Industries opens Garland Square in the heart of London. Full of modern amenities, it is considered the future of urban living. On 16 October 2000,[1] however, the entire complex is taken over by the U.R.D.A., a terrorist group.
With no demands or hostages, the Scotland Yard fears an unknown threat beyond imagination, realizing that the U.R.D.A. must be stopped and Derrick Lynch must not seek his hidden ambitions, whatever it may be. As such, they've ordered a covert international counterterrorism squad, the Special Tactics Force (S.T.F. for short), to liberate Garland Square. The S.T.F., in turn, assigns Squad 1, led by Claude McGarren (spelled as Croad MacGalain in the Arcade version due to transliteration), to spearhead the effort.
The S.T.F. arrives at Garland Square and faces heavy resistance by the U.R.D.A. Squad 1 secures the complex (by neutralizing all terrorists and killing the special agents Tiger and Edge), but the S.T.F. starts to get puzzled as in spite of their hard work, there's no sign of Lynch. An Eyes Only Broadcast from S.T.F.'s intelligence officials reveals disturbing information about Lynch's goal of "over-working" an experimental atomic reactor 5 km (3 miles) below the complex. McGarren and Squad 1 engage in a tense time-sensitive conflict to nullify Lynch and to prevent the reactor from becoming unstable, ultimately saving London from a nuclear meltdown.
Special Story Mode[]
Six months later, Lynch's successor Jared Hunter seizes control of the Grassmarket District. With S.T.F. Director Commander Kessler's daughter Melissa as a hostage, Hunter demands that the surviving U.R.D.A. members be released from custody in return for Melissa's life.
McGarren and Squad 1 are sent to rescue her. They fight their way through Grassmarket Street, destroying an experimental stealth defense droid called the Meta Morphic A-0940 in the process. They then storm the Belforte Hotel, where Melissa is held on the rooftop swimming pool. There, they are confronted by Hunter and his airborne attack squad. Declaring his intent for revenge, Hunter engages and loses to Squad 1. He then attempts escape in a modified, heavily armed cruiser, but is killed when the cruiser is destroyed by McGarren's helicopter. McGarren and his men then take Melissa to safety, having ended the U.R.D.A.'s terror once and for all.
Versions[]
A PlayStation 2 port of the game was released in 2004 in Europe, North America, and South Korea with smoother polygon textures, higher difficulty, an additional mission taking place six months after the Crisis Zone Arcade mode, and a special mode in both the original story and special story modes which the player is able to use extra weapons for one or two ACTION sequences.
The PlayStation 2 port is compatible with GunCon 2 lightgun, and is available with an unusual two-player cooperative gameplay mode named "two-gun mode" by allowing two players to play simultaneously on a single-player mode without the use of split-screen (this is later used in Razing Storm), or weapon switching system (similar to Time Crisis 3, with some changes) allowing the player to switch weapons, depending on settings. Unlike Time Crisis 3, Time Crisis 4 and Time Crisis 5, which only the handgun has unlimited ammunition, all weapons now have unlimited ammunition in Crisis Zone.
As with the PlayStation 2 version of Time Crisis II and Time Crisis 3, players can access the Crisis Mission exercise menu through prolonged gameplay. The US (and Korean) version of the PlayStation 2 remake is called Time Crisis: Crisis Zone. Oddly, the PlayStation 2 remake of this game was never released in Japan; however, as it was released in South Korea, the Korean version of the game can be played on a Japanese PlayStation 2 console (which also applies vice versa to most other Korean releases).
Trivia[]
- This is the first game which each ACTION sequence does not last in multiples of 10 for its default difficulty (35 seconds). For the PlayStation 2 version, it is the "Stage Trial" and "Double Gun" Modes which each ACTION sequence lasts for 45 seconds.
- Due to the use of a machine gun with limited rounds per magazine as opposed to one which has umlimited rounds in the previous game, this is the first game which the amount of remaining ammunition is displayed in numerical form. Its PlayStation 2 version also includes the maximum amount of ammunition per magazine which strangely is the only game to have it despite the machine gun, shotgun and grenade in Time Crisis 3 and after having limited ammunition.
- This is the last game which Kazuhiro Nakamura composed music for the Time Crisis series before being replaced by Takeshi Miura for Time Crisis 3, Time Crisis 4 and Razing Storm. He would later reprise his role as music composer for Time Crisis 5.
- The Arcade version of Crisis Zone is the first in the series to use an infrared beam and camera system for its lightgun controller, instead of the traditional flash detection method (in Arcade repair circles, this is referred as an IR gun). Due to technological restrictions in PlayStation 2's GunCon 2 (a traditional lightgun relying on screen flashes) however, a fog will appear when the player fires using the machine gun in that version, ostensibly an alternative to having the screen constantly flash whenever the player fires.
- The Arcade version is also the first in the series (and the first Namco Arcade game as a whole) to display the PCB serial number on the title screen, as well on the operator's service menu.
- This is the only game that does not have an icon in Danger sequence, only having voice prompts instead. There are two Danger sequences in the Arcade version and one in the PlayStation 2 version. They appear as follows:
- In the Arcade version, the first Danger sequence occurs when the infantry fighting vehicle boss in Drycreek Plaza is charging its chain gun and the second occurs when the large attack helicopter boss in Garland Park flies towards the player. The PlayStation 2 version omits the first Danger sequence but adds a "Dodge that blade!" audio warning to the second one which happens just prior to the Danger audio being played.
- Some English arcade cabinets (running CZO4 Ver.B revision) feature green hit sparks, instead of orange.
Gallery[]
.png "Normal class soldiers with Derrick Lynch (Arcade version).png (1.08 MB)")
.png "Derrick Lynch in the attract mode (Arcade version).png (816 KB)")
.png "Tiger in the attract mode (Arcade version).png (732 KB)")
.png "Infantry fighting vehicle in attract mode (Arcade version).png (836 KB)")
.png "Attack helicopter in the attract mode (Arcade version).png (681 KB)")
.png "Normal class soldiers with Derrick Lynch (PS2 version).png (1.1 MB)")
.png "Derrick Lynch in the attract mode (PS2 version).png (1,015 KB)")
.png "Tiger in the attract mode (PS2 version).png (1,001 KB)")
.png "Infantry fighting vehicle in attract mode (PS2 version).png (1.04 MB)")
.png "Attack helicopter in the attract mode (PS2 version).png (862 KB)")
