Crisis Zone, Sony Playstation

Though not officially related to the popular arcade shooter Time Crisis, Namco's brand new gun-fest, Crisis Zone, was in fact produced by the very same team that brought us the company's best known shooter. And that's no bad thing, as Crisis Zone - a game fundamentally the same as any other game in the arcade genre - makes its way onto PS2. The Crisis Zone adventure takes place in the recently opened Garland Square complex on the outskirts of London after a heavily-armed terrorist group named URDA attacked and assumed control over the area. Their motives have yet to be discovered, but as elite STF (Special Tactics Force) officer Claude McGarren, your mission is to help secure Garland Square and ultimately suppress the URDA terrorists by whatever means necessary. But nobody, and we mean nobody, buys such a game because of its narrative or story-telling merits. You're here to shoot things - anything in between is merely an excuse for the challenges that ensue. Thankfully, Crisis Zone doesn't disappoint. Armed with bullet-resistant riot shield and sub-machine gun, your assignment as an anti-terrorist soldier throws you in at the deep end. Engaging in frenetic shoot-outs with the enemy throughout, you'll find yourself under fire from literally hundreds of terrorist troops across several well-suited locations such as offices, parks and shopping malls. And to add an extra element, Namco has also given the players the ability shoot two Guncons simultaneously. But it's a double-edged sword. True, you'll get more rounds fired, but your level of control will diminish, making some of the more distant sniper-like foes difficult to dispose of. Shoot your enemies, survive, then move on - that's pretty much the formula. Crisis Zone is much like Time Crisis, Virtua Cop et al, but it has a level of interactivity that is superior to most. Compact Discs jump from shop shelves, and environments on the whole are mostly destructible. It helps to make Crisis Zone that little bit more convincing. We don't know if this is the first in what may be a long running series, or if it's a one-off gap-filler until the next Time Crisis game makes itself known, but we do know that it's well worth playing.

Buy Crisis Zone for 7.99 GBP

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