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| Developer |
Nex Entertainment |
| Publisher |
(NA) |
| Platform |
Arcade, |
| Arcade System |
Namco System Super 256 |
| Release Date(s) |
Arcade: June 20, 2006 PlayStation 3: (JP) December 20, 2007 |
| Controllers |
DualShock, |
| Director(s) |
Takashi Satsukawa |
| Producer(s) |
Hajime Nakatani |
| Designer(s) |
Takashi Sano (Supervisor) |
| Composer(s) |
Takeshi Miura |
Time Crisis 4 (タイムクライシス4 Taimu Kuraishisu 4) is the fourth installment in Namco's Time Crisis series which introduces new features to the cover-based light gun shooter gameplay engine of its predecessors alongside a new story and roster of characters. It was initially released as an arcade game in 2006, and was ported in 2007 for PlayStation 3, with the GunCon 3 light gun peripheral and features a new first-person shooter mode. It was later re-released as part of Time Crisis: Razing Storm with support for the PlayStation Move controller but without the first-person shooter mode.
Gameplay
Multi-Screen System
One major change in this game is the addition of the multi-screen or multi-hiding system, introduced in Time Crisis: Project Titan. Unlike Time Crisis: Project Titan, which players went on the offensive, players are placed on the defensive. In Time Crisis: Project Titan, players had to hide and shoot arrows to switch screens. Screen switching has been refined to allow the player to merely point the gun to the left or right of the screen to move around.
Barricade Endurance
The player is protected by a barricade whose endurance decreases from every hit. If the player faces the enemy and is out from cover, he/she takes one unit of damage from every hit. If the player is not facing the enemy or takes cover, he/she takes 1/3 unit of damage from every hit.
Missions
– First screen battle (Stage 1 Area 1): Hold off the enemy for 30 seconds! Number of screens: 2. Barricade endurance: 2 units. Weapons used: Standard weapons
– Second screen battle (Stage 1 Area 1): Hold off the enemy for 30 seconds! Number of screens: 3. Barricade endurance: 2 units. Weapons used: Standard weapons
– Third screen battle (Stage 1 Area 3): Defeat all of the enemies! Number of screens: 3. Barricade endurance: 3 units. Weapon used: Heavy machine gun (M249-E1 SAW)
– Fourth screen battle (Stage 2 Area 1): Pull yourself up before time runs out! Number of screens: 3. Distance required: 30 meters. Time limit: 40 seconds. Barricade endurance: Player's life gauge. Weapons used: Standard weapons. Additional condition: Beetle bites clinging on the player decreases life gauge and pulled distance
– Fifth screen battle (Stage 3 Area 2): Destroy all of the walls! Number of screens: 3. Barricade endurance: 3 units. Weapons used: Standard weapons
Standard weapons refer to the handgun, machine gun, shotgun and grenade launcher.
Penalty
One life and all the time bonus in that area is lost if the mission is failed by complete barricade destruction. In the fourth screen battle, running out of time or losing one life unit via beetle bites counts as a fail (only the time bonus in that area is lost if the latter happens).
Additional Gameplay Changes
Like Time Crisis 3, this game includes the multiple weapon system, with the STI's M1911 handgun, HK G36C machine gun, Mossberg 590 Compact Cruiser shotgun, and M79 grenade launcher. On several occasions, the player is equipped with a Browning M3 heavy machine gun, Mk 19 automatic grenade launcher or M249-E1 SAW with limitless ammo or a Mk 12 SPR sniper rifle (2 rounds per reload) used to shoot the tires on a marauding truck. On multiple occasions, Rush appears onscreen, whether caught in a trap or attacking an enemy as a diversion, and care must be taken to avoid shooting him as 1,000 points is deducted per shot on Rush. This also changes the penalty of shooting player characters by accident with 5,000 points being deducted per shot on the other player character.
Weapons Property Changes
Damage output from the weapons is changed. In Time Crisis 3, players are known to abuse the machine gun because it deals the same amount of damage as the handgun. Hence, each machine gun bullet in this game deals about 1/3 damage compared to each handgun bullet. Also, the shotgun fires slower. Finally, the appearance of the Terror Bites requires players to be selective about the type of weapon to be used. To compensate these, the maximum ammunition capacity for the machine gun is increased from 200 to 300, Captain Rush will occasionally give ammunition for the machine gun or shotgun during Terror Bite sequences, the machine gun rate of fire is increased from 12 rounds per second to 15, and the number of shots per shotgun shell is increased to 11.
Scoring
The combo system is changed from the no-miss combo system used in the previous two games to one which is pegged to the continuous hit combo system. It starts with a 500 point bonus for the first 10 hits, increasing by 500 points for the next 10 hits up to a maximum of 3,000 point bonus for every 10 hits. However, the max hit cap is 1,000 hits which there is no more point bonus after that. E.g. Getting a 70 hit combo gives 13,500 (500 + 1,000 + 1,500 + 2,000 + 2,500 + 3,000 + 3,000) point bonus.
This continuous hit system is determined by a gauge which has red and green parts. The red part is constant while the green part increases by 1/60 second for every 12 continuous chase shots on foot soldiers up to a maximum increase of 100/60 seconds and will be kept as the game goes on (meaning an increase of time allowed between shots to maintain combo). However, it will reset to 0 if the player loses all lives and decides to continue from their last point. The gauge depletes if no hits are made over time and the resulting amount of points will be added to the score after the gauge is completely depleted.
With the change in combo system, the accuracy bonus is calculated by % of hits x 1,000 points (e.g. A 100% accuracy gives 100,000 (100 x 1,000 = 100,000) points) and the grenade does not reset the gauge.
Progression for subsequent chase shots on the torso is as follows: 100, 140, 180, 220, 260, 300, 340 and 380. Any shot after the eighth chase torso shot is worth 420 points. Any kills on enemy soldiers with lifebars is such that the final shot does not register as 2 hits but gives points based on kill shot instead of chase shot. E.g. If the machine gun is used on a green suited soldier (requiring 4 shots) and the kill shot is a head shot, he is worth at least 1,340 (100 + 100 + 100 + 1,040) points.
The amounts of points earned via time bonus is increased from 1,200 points for every second saved to 2,400. Secondly, the maximum cap of 99,990 points earned via time bonus per area is removed. Thirdly, the timer is no longer fixed for all areas in the entire game. E.g. The Prologue has 60 seconds per sequence but Stage 2 Area 1 has 40 seconds per sequence. Finally, failing any screen battle will cause all the points via time bonus in that area to be lost in addition of losing one life unit.
For shots on bosses, each non-stun or non-kill shot is worth 100 points. Each stun shot is worth 1,000 points. The kill shot on Marcus Black is worth 10,000 points. The kill shot on Jack Mathers is worth 20,000 points. The kill shot on Wild Dog in Stage 3 Areas 1 and 2 is each worth 10,000 points. The kill shot on Gregory Barrows is worth 30,000 points.
Enemy And Boss Endurance
Some enemy soldiers, machine weapons and vehicles, which require multiple hits to kill or destroy have lifebars. Unlike Time Crisis 3, they all have green lifebars (In Time Crisis 3, green lifebars are used on enemy soldiers and red lifebars are used on enemy machine weapons and vehicles). The Boss battle's lifebar system is refined with the number of lifebars clearly shown. It also refined boss invulnerability (first introduced in Time Crisis 3 on Giorgio Zott's final lifebar) with green and orange parts on lifebars. E.g. Marcus Black has green and orange parts on his x6 lifebar. Green part can be depleted by the player while orange part indicate boss invulnerability albeit the player can continue shooting at the boss while at that mode to earn more points. This is especially useful when the player battles Jack Mathers where his lifebar cannot be depleted until he picks up his twin machine gun and shoots the player once again after defeating Captain Rush in a brawl fight. The red lifebar only shows when the boss is on their final lifebar except for Jack Mathers where the green and orange parts can be seen during the final brawl with Captain Rush until he picks up his machine gun again to shoot the player for the last time.
The number of lifebars for the bosses in arcade mode are:
- Marcus Black has 7 lifebars and has boss invulnerability on his second (x6) lifebar
- Jack Mathers has 8 lifebars and has boss invulnerability on his final three (x3, x2 and x1) lifebars
- Wild Dog has 7 lifebars [8 life bars if the lifebar in stage 3-1 is factored in] and and has boss invulnerability on his second (x6) and penultimate (x2) lifebars
- Gregory Barrows has 9 lifebars and has boss invulnerability on his third (x7) lifebar
The number of lifebars for the bosses in FPS mode are:
- W.O.L.F. Leader has 3 lifebars
- Frank Mathers has 6 lifebars
- Wild Fang has 4 lifebars
Time Bonus And Maximum Amount Of Time Per Area
| Area | Solo Play (in seconds) | Link Play (in seconds) |
|---|---|---|
| Prologue | 206 | 191 |
| Stage 1 Area 1 | 365 | 350 |
| Stage 1 Area 2 | 223 | 208 |
| Stage 1 Area 3 | 261 | 246 |
| Stage 2 Area 1 | 250 | 235 |
| Stage 2 Area 2 | 270 | 255 |
| Stage 2 Area 3 | 270 | 255 |
| Stage 3 Area 1 | 200 | 185 |
| Stage 3 Area 2 | 260 | 245 |
| Stage 3 Area 3 | 280 | 265 |
| – The time bonus is 2,400 points for every second saved. – The maximum amount of time in Stage 1 Area 1 includes the 60 seconds required for the two screen battles. – The minimum amount of time spent in Stage 2 Area 3 is 95.85 (33.65 + 30.08 + 32.12 seconds for each of the boss invulnerability on Jack Mathers' final three lifebars) seconds. | ||
Voice Cast
| Character | Japanese voice actor | English voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| William Rush | Akio Ootsuka (大塚 明夫 Ootsuka Akio) | Christopher Sabat |
| Giorgio Bruno | Hiroaki Miura (三浦 祥朗 Miura Hiroaki) | David Vincent |
| Evan Bernard | Hiroaki Miura (三浦 祥朗 Miura Hiroaki) | Travis Willingham |
| Elizabeth Conway | Mariko Suzuki (鈴木 麻里子 Suzuki Mariko) | Megan Hollingshead (credited as Karen Thompson) |
| Marcus Black | Hisao Egawa (江川 央生 Egawa Hisao) | Sam Riegel (credited as Jack Ringo) |
| Gregory Barrows | Hisao Egawa (江川 央生 Egawa Hisao) | John Snyder (credited as Harry Molloy) |
| Head of VSSE | Daisuke Gouri (郷里 大輔 Gouri Daisuke) | Michael McConnohie |
| Frank & Jack Mathers | Daisuke Gouri (郷里 大輔 Gouri Daisuke) | Chuck Cope |
| Wild Dog | N/A | Dave Mallow |
| Wild Fang | Kouji Tobe (戸部 公爾 Tobe Kouji) | Vic Mignogna |
| WOLF Leader | Rikiya Koyama (小山 力也 Koyama Rikiya) | Kirk Thornton |
| Larry Garfield | Taimei Suzuki (鈴木 泰明 Suzuki Taimei) | Michael Gough |
| David Maxwell | Chikao Ootsuka (大塚 周夫 Ootsuka Chikao) | N/A |
Story
A new biological weapons threat has been discovered in the USA, called "Terror Bite", which has gone into the hands of a terrorist organization. Two V.S.S.E. agents, Giorgio Bruno and Evan Bernard, have been dispatched to investigate the situation, first stop in California. While battling terrorists, they meet Captain William Rush of the US Joint Intelligence Division who assists them. Little do they know that these terrorists have more to them than meets the eye...
(taken straight from manual)
The U.S. Army's Internal Surveillance Group (ISG) has learned that a top-secret weapon developed by the armed forces is about to fall into the hands of the European terrorist organization known as W.O.L.F. In response, the ISG instructs Captain William Rush to head to California and investigate the incident. Arriving at Pier 5, the enemy's purported hideout, Captain Rush finds himself face to face with unimaginable enemy forces and menacing biological weapons. Meanwhile, having received similar information, the European Union dispatches Giorgio Bruno and Evan Bernard, two agents from the V.S.S.E. International Intelligence Agency. Upon their arrival in California, however, the pair is ambushed by a mysterious military force...
Plot
The game opens in California, where intelligence officials from both the U.S. Military and the V.S.S.E. learn about a top secret weapon targeted for terrorists' smuggling and their plans. William Rush infiltrates a pier to gather more information, finds that the enemy has already acquired the insect-like weapons (codenamed "Terror Bite"), and from the handset device obtained from the defeated W.O.L.F. Leader, they are going to have a weapon trade-off in the afternoon at San Francisco. After being told by Elizabeth Conway about an information leak incident at the airport, Rush heads to the airport to help V.S.S.E. agents Giorgio Bruno and Evan Bernard advance further to stop a truck shipment of Terror Bites and defeat all enemies. They discovered U.S. Army dog tags on the enemies' bodies which reveal that the terrorists are soldiers like Rush himself.
After Rush found out about the terrorists' identities (The Biological Weapons Special Operations Unit, AKA the Hamlin Battalion), he was forced to thwart the enemies' plot to occupy Dam #18 in California alone. After having to put up with the battalion's destruction at it, Rush, Giorgio and Evan arrive at a secluded bio-weapons research facility in Wyoming only to discover the Terror Bites are all gone. Elizabeth Conway then tells the men that the Hamlin Battalion attacked Buckley Air Force Base near Aurora, Colorado, prompting the men to rush to the AFB. As Rush, Giorgio, and Evan invade there from the outside, a couple of Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAVs) departed the base without warning. The Colorado National Guard has already been deployed but is little help against the Terror Bites, so Rush decides to lead the Guardsmen toward an entrance while Giorgio and Evan try to take care of the UCAVs, when the mercenary Wild Dog also appears and attacks the two agents by using a grappling gun to snare the helicopter, forcing them to defend themselves. After they land their helicopter safely, they pursue Wild Dog (whose arsenal has a tractor beam with which he throws detritus at the player) into the base and defeat him, ending with Wild Dog detonating himself for the fourth time. Rush encounters and defeats Wild Fang, Wild Dog's younger partner from the previous game, ending with Wild Fang being hit in the back by a UCAV.
Gregory Barrows is the one behind the stealing of Terror Bites who ordered the nuclear-armed stealth bombers to destroy the United States in a retaliation scheme for the poor treatment he received from the U.S. Military. After Gregory Barrows blows up the stairs to the control panel, Rush orders the National Guard soldiers to form a human ladder for the V.S.S.E agents to climb up. After Gregory Barrows is defeated, Rush gives the V.S.S.E agents the final lift needed to get to the control panel, where the agents press a big red button on the control computers which self-destructs all nuclear missiles that the UCAVs have already launched.
Versions
Arcade
The game was first shown at E3 2006 prior to its recent final revision arcade release. One major change is the addition of the multi-screen or multi-hiding system, introduced in Time Crisis: Project Titan. Unlike Project Titan, which players went on the offensive, players are placed on the defensive. In Time Crisis: Project Titan, players had to hide and shoot arrows to switch screens. Screen switching has been refined to allow the player to merely point the gun to the left or right of the screen to move around. The game also utilizes a new light gun control with infrared emitters. Prior to this, all Namco light gun games used gun controllers that relied on cathode ray timing. Because Namco's light guns with cathode ray timing utilized memory chip-to-lens pointing, the arcade cabinet designers had to ensure that the infrared-emitting light gun controllers would provide the same accuracy as their cathode ray timing-based gun provided in the past. This delayed the game's release given past accuracy issues with IR light guns. The player can choose to customize gun calibration and/or turn the blowback on or off with a pre-game code explained in the cabinet. The game, like its predecessors is available either in a 29" standard twin cabinet or a 52" deluxe twin. It also features a voice navigation system that guides players through different situations. Given the voice navigation system, it can be voiced either in Japanese or English. Prior to the game, it was voiced exclusively in English.
PlayStation 3
The game was released for the Sony PlayStation 3 exclusively bundled with the GunCon 3 light gun peripheral. The release dates are as follows:
- November 20, 2007 in the United States
- December 20, 2007 in Japan
- April 18, 2008 for Europe
- April 24, 2008 for Australia
The PlayStation 3 edition features 480p (4:3) and 720p (16:9 widescreen) support and a specially-programmed first-person shooter mode, which players engage combat similar to a typical FPS game, but with manual gun pointing, aiming, and firing, in addition to the arcade mode. Players play as Captain William Rush for 5 levels and as V.S.S.E. agents Giorgio Bruno or Evan Bernard for 10 levels through the game's "complete mission", complete with arcade footages when playing as Giorgio or Evan. Much like its predecessors, it features Crisis Missions. The Crisis Missions has some backstories, starring characters from previous Time Crisis installments.
Time Crisis 4 was re-released on the PlayStation 3 as part of Time Crisis: Razing Storm, released in October 2010, with support of the PlayStation Move controllers but without the first-person shooter mode.
Reception
The game received mixed reviews, with an average GameRankings score of 60.33%. GameSpot gave the game a 5.5 out of 10, while Jeff Haynes of IGN gave it an 8.0 out of 10, concluding that it is "a fun game for any shooting fan looking to blast away with their PS3." Matt Miller of Game Informer, however, was more critical of the game, giving it a score of 4.25 out of 10, criticizing its first-person shooter mode, "ludicrous plot", and shooting mechanic. GamePro rated Time Crisis 4 a positive score of 4 out of 5, saying the games plays just like the arcade, but replayability is an issue. G4 TV also gave the game a score of 4 out of 5.
One of the main key areas was the Guncon 3 controller included with the game. Chris Remo of Shacknews stated that it uses "two analog sticks for full movement and camera control, with pointer-based aiming on top" and that once "you get accustomed to it, this control actually works just fine, and feels like it could be the basis for its own game." According to Miller, however, the controller "feels cheap," with analog sticks that are "chintzy and hard to use"; referring to the left-hand subgrip which forces the main shooting handgrip to be held with the right hand, Miller claims that the Guncon 3 "hardly accommodates left-handed players." Ryan Davis of GameSpot expressed that the complexity of the control scheme seems to contradict the pick-up-and-play mentality of the light gun genre.
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 60.70% |
| Metacritic | 60/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| Edge | 5/10 |
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | 3.67/10 |
| Eurogamer | 5/10 |
| Game Informer | 4.25/10 |
| GamePro | 4/5 STARS |
| Game Revolution | D+ |
| GameSpot | 5.5/10 |
| GameSpy | 3.5/5 STARS |
| GameTrailers | 6.4/10 |
| GameZone | 7.7/10 |
| IGN | 8/10 6.8/10 (AU) |
Trivia
- The prologue of this story takes place in San Francisco Airport. The way this is known is that a few posters say "Welcome to San Francisco."
- On a related note, the part which the helicopter crashes into the airport is a reference to Resident Evil Degeneration which in that movie, a Boeing 747 crashes into an airport.
- The arcade version uses the Time Crisis II PS2 engine. The PlayStation 3 port got a new game engine with HD textures, improved models, and Havok Physics.
- The soundtrack and pre-rendered cut scenes are updated for the PlayStation 3 version.
Gallery
Attract Modes
Time Crisis 4 Introduction (PS3 version)
Time Crisis 4 Arcade Intro
External Links
- Official Arcade Website (Japanese)
- Official Arcade Website (English)
- PlayStation Blog - From Arcade to Playstation 3
- It is announced on June 2018 that warranty support for this game on arcade cabinets has ended. Links: End of warranty support (Japanese) and List of games whose warranty support has ended (Japanese)