Time Crisis
Time Crisis is a lightgun shooter game that was released by Namco in 1996. It was later ported to the PlayStation in 1997, along with the Guncon lightgun controller. GAME: Time Crisis is a three-dimensional first-person rail shooter, similar to Virtua Cop and The House of the Dead, in which the player holds a light gun in his/her hand and shoots at the enemies on the screen. Time Crisis is best known for its cover system, in which the player can hide behind cover to dodge enemy fire and reload his weapon. There are three stages, each consisting of three areas and a boss fight. Unique features are described here in: A foot pedal that serves multiple functions: When the pedal is released, the player takes cover to save hit points while reloading the weapon. While the pedal is released, the player cannot attack. In console implementations, a key command takes over the functions of the foot pedal. The player loses a life if he/she is hit by a direct bullet or obstacle while not taking cover, and the game ends when he/she loses all lives. A light rifle (introduced in Point Blank) that uses a special memory chip to synchronize areas of the screen as the player spins the rifle. The light rifle also has a recoil function that simulates the recoil of a real gun. A countdown timer that charges up as you clear an area of enemies. When the time runs out, the game is immediately over. Therefore, the player must take risks by shooting enemies quickly and hiding only when necessary. Time is extended when crossing an area, and there are also time bonuses for quickly shooting certain enemies. The PlayStation version has an exclusive Side Story mode, in which the player's performance, such as how quickly he/she can clear an area, affects the path he/she takes through the game, giving multiple possibilities.
Story
In 1995, V.S.S.E., an international protection agency, assists Serbian opposition leader William McPhearson in a coup that overthrows the century-old authoritarian regime. Shortly thereafter, McPhearson is elected the first president of the Sercian Republic. However, Sherudo Garo, the last survivor of the regime, plans to restore the old order and launches a series of attacks and assassinations that quickly destabilize the nation. To top it off, Sherudo has McPhearson's daughter Rachel kidnapped and held captive in his family's castle on a remote island, demanding vital military secrets in exchange for her life. The desperate McPhearson turns to the V.S.S.E., which in turn sends veteran agent Richard Miller, the "one-man army," to infiltrate the castle and rescue Rachel. Miller arrives at the island and rams his explosives-rigged boat into the outer wall of the castle to create an entrance. Sherudo hears the bang, but his security chief, Wild Dog, assures him that Miller won't last long against his well-trained mercenaries. Meanwhile, Miller makes his way to the main courtyard against fierce resistance and finally reaches Rachel's location. She warns him of a trap before she is spirited away. Miller is then confronted by Dog's chief assassin, Moz, and his unit. He defeats them and interrogates Moz, who reveals that the real hideout is in the clock tower. There, Miller is attacked by Sherudo, a skilled knife thrower, and shoots him, but Rachel is held at gunpoint by Dog. Angered by Sherudo's death (because it means he won't get paid), Dog reveals his intention to blow up the castle with Richard and escape with Rachel. Miller tracks the two to the castle's helipad and arrives just as Rachel manages to break free, whereupon Dog shoots her. The enraged Miller engages in a fast and loose firefight with Dog on the roof, during which Dog accidentally sets off his detonator and kills himself in a fiery explosion. Richard collects the injured Rachel and escapes in Sherudo's helicopter, while the rest of the castle goes up in flames. In the PS1 version, players can also unlock a special mission known as the "Kantaris Deal" that takes place a few weeks after the events of the main story. Miller is alerted by V.S.S.E. to an illegal weapons factory in a Serbian hotel that has ties to Wild Dog's organization. He is assigned to infiltrate the factory and take out its owner, Kantaris. After leaving the lobby, Miller has three different paths to his destination. The first leads him through the ballroom and casino, where he takes out Kantaris' reaper Spider. Then he tracks her to the swimming pool just as she is trying to escape by air. After shooting down an escort ship, Miller damages the engines of Kantaris' ship just as it is taking off, causing it to crash and explode. The second path, which is only passable when there are less than 22 seconds left on the clock, instead leads through the mall and down into a garbage chute. There, Miller uses a grappling arm to punch a hole in the wall that allows him to access the underground weapons factory. From there, he makes his way to Kantaris' office in the lounge and defeats her personal security droid, which then malfunctions and rolls out the window, taking her with it. The third path can be made available if Richard fails to activate the claw in time. Instead of entering the factory, he goes through the parking lot. After defeating a spider-legged battle tank, Miller disables Kantaris' car, forcing it to crash. In one of these scenarios, if Miller doesn't intervene soon enough, Kantaris escapes and the mission is aborted. (Canonically, the spin-off game Time Crisis: Project Titan takes place after the mission fails).