Price: £39.99

Players: 1-2

Arcade perfect is the words you want to hear when Time Crisis 2, the 1998 arcade sequel, is mentioned for the PS2 and it's fully justified, given the strength of the consoles available at the moment and what can be done when they're programmed properly. Do you need to be told what this is about? If so, there is a plot such that it is but these type of games, which have included Virtua Cop and Confidential Mission are just first-person shooters which involve you pointing a lightgun at the screen, shooting the bad guys and hoping to last through each round as long as possible. Where TC2 differs from other shooters is in the ducking option. You'll start off each section hiding from the enemy, but pressing the red button on the side of the gun (I've been playing with the original G-con lightgun but these have since been superceded for reasons that will become clear soon) will bring you out into the open ready to blast your foe before retiring to reload.

As stated above, there's no detriment to this appearing in the home than what you saw in the arcade and if you're playing on a 32" widescreen set, or larger, you'll experience the full fun of the arcade. It certainly can't be played on a tiny portable as the screen wouldn't be big enough to recognise the gun to any worthwhile degree. Sonically, it's all "bang bang bang" in stereo so that gets a bit repetitive as does the overblown Hans Zimmer-esque movie theme music in the background. Dolby Surround, or even Dolby Digital 5.1, would have added some depth, but what's here will do fine. It just won't make you sit up in surprise. It's very easy to pick up and play and those with the new breed of gun or, to make a point, two guns will be able to blast away John Woo-style for the singular gamer, whereas two-player options will allow an iLink hook-up to play with two consoles over two TV screens, or both opponents having their small screens together on the same TV side by side.

As for the extras, you'll get three mini-games to play first off with a fourth available once you've completed the entire Time Crisis 2 story mode. Agent Trainer places you in a shooting range first close-up and then from a distance, Quick & Crash is a shooting gallery which ends with blasting at a cup and Shoot Away 2 is the early 90s sequel to the 80s original from the days when clay pigeon shooting as a computer game was all the rage. Undoubtedly fans of the arcade game should get this, but longevity must be considered, especially given the recent innovation in the arcade that is Police 24-7 - like TC2 but with a motion-sensor unit in front of the screen in which you stand and people nearby laugh at you as you ACTUALLY duck down so as to avoid the bullets onscreen, then stand up, twist about and reach around to pop a cap in the ass of the baddies. Now *that's* what I'd like to see on here.

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Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2001.