By and large, the prevailing opinion of games is that they just don't innovate enough. Every time a new FPS games come out, it's just like three others; every new fighting game is just like Street Fighter or Tekken with a few minor tweaks. Be thankful. You fans of those genres, you're in a veritable smorgasbord of innovation compared to the genre that is the absolute nadir of innovation...the light-gun shooter.
These things have been around since the days of the NES and Duck Hunt and Gumshoe for the home systems, and yet, how have they moved forward? Area 51 was thought to be different because if you shot some random objects...you went to a secret level! How sad is that?! Well, Namco has decided to do something about it. In Time Crisis 3, Namco's allowed you to dodge, switch weapons, and take ammo from your enemies. Granted, this isn't a whole lot, but when you're at the ground floor, you've got nowhere to go but up.
Story
The peaceful island nation of Lukano is being invaded by some military group called the Zagrios Foundation. The Lukans are fighting bravely, but they lack the manpower to fend them off. The Zagrios Foundation has taken over about 80% of the island and installed missile bases. They look like they'd be able to fend off the entire invasion, if only they had two more men to fight with them. Hey, you know what, you're Alan Dunaway. You know another guy, named Wesley Lambert, and you two have some guns! You can be those two extra men they need to turn the tide and take back 80% of their island. And so you are.
Gameplay
Unlike the maddening Ninja Assault where you'd give your Mistress' kingdom for a Ninja Assault Rifle, Namco decided to go back to the good ol' days of sharpshooting in light gun games, reducing the number of enemies that need multiple hits to kill to a special occurrence, rather than the norm. When you do face enemies that require multiple hits, you come equipped with a machine gun, shotgun, and a Grenade Launcher. (For when you absolutely, positively want to make sure it isn't alive overnight.) Switching weapons takes place when you have released the "reload" button. You simply click the trigger to cycle through the weapons, and hear the narrator announce to the world what weapon you've selected.
The game does a good job of throwing enough cutscenes in so you can rest your arms, because nothing sucks worse than having to tell people that you got a cramp and hurt yourself playing video games.
There are 3 main stages to the game that all have sub-areas, as all the Time Crisis games that have come before it. After you've beaten all those, you'll unlock the Rescue Stages, which is just more shooting.
Graphics
I can’t complain too much. They look okay, considering the amount of repetition they have to use, (You can't have the 1-shot kill guys be red on one level, and then be all camoflage-y on the next...the game wouldn't like that at all.) and for what it's worth the cutscenes don't look too bad, despite their campy content.
Audio
I'm pretty sure Namco and Sammy use the same narrator. He must be used to delivering all the cheesey dialogue without complaining too much, so he's all right. It does get annoying to hear "SHOTGUN" and "GRENADE" something like 75 times in a half hour, but, there isn't too much else that gets said. The other voice actors aren't bad either, I mean, the writing isn't THEIR fault.
Gripes
Seriously, just because it's a light-gun shooter doesn't mean I'm going to overlook obvious plot holes in the game. This just basically seems like the level designer making missions, and then someone coming up with the plot to tie it all together after the fact. The first level has you blowing up a turret, and then after that, you run to a wrecked ship. Then some guy in a helicopter blows it up, and then you shoot him, and get driven to a villa infested with enemy troops by your rescuer. Please write the missions ahead of time, guys. It'd be nice to have a coherent reason for going from Point A to Point B. It also means your dialogue would be able to make sense for once.
Overall
This shooter's probably the best out there for the PS2, and the best ever on a console with the exception of Elemental Gearbolt. The driving mission where you blow up the Jeeps is probably my favorite sequence ever in a light gun game. It'd be nice to see Namco go for some eye candy for Time Crisis 4, something that looks really impressive despite just being a light gun game. So, in case you're keeping track, I'd like the switching weapons (add a couple secret ones into the game...or better yet, upgrades to the gun based on the user's accuracy, so you had a little RPG action going on there), a better plot and dialogue, and I'd like better visuals. Then we'd really have some innovation, and something to get excited about.
