Time Crisis | Why I Love

gamesindustry.biz:

Why I Love is a series of guest editorials on GamesIndustry.biz intended to showcase the ways in which game developers appreciate each other's work. This entry was contributed by Sigtrap co-founders Gary Lloyd and Luke Thompson, who launched the Time Crisis-inspired Under Cover on Meta Quest earlier this month.

Arcade lightgun shooters give us a huge dose of nostalgia, taking us right back to the arcades of our youth where we would always make a beeline for those cabinets adorned with those chunky plastic guns.

Time Crisis was always the first choice. There was something about the physicality of holding the lightgun, the satisfying sound of that distinctive "clack" as you pulled the trigger and, of course, pumping the famous pedal that you use to duck in and out of cover to reload.

Time Crisis makes you feel like a badass. It's an over the top, late '80s/early '90s-action-flick-fuelled power fantasy that is fundamentally silly on so many levels, but something you are willing to suspend your disbelief for to play your role as the action hero. The pedal-driven reloads made it stand out from everything else and helped give the game an almost rhythmic feel, ducking in and out of cover and popping off shots with a sense of flow that no other lightgun shooter delivered.

Dated as the visuals may now appear, they have a visual identity that of their own. Indeed, it's an aesthetic we've seen developers return to in recent years, just as 16-bit-inspired pixel art enjoyed a revival once we got past the idea that it was passe. The 2D explosions, limited polygons, hard angles, texture sizes and old-school shadows all come together in a package which is incredibly nostalgic for us, but also feels appropriately colourful, brash and ostentatious for the Time Crisis series.

Time Crisis 1 was a fantastic game, but it did sometimes feel a bit unfair. It didn't telegraph which ranged enemy shots were going to damage you, so it felt a bit random. Time Crisis 2 is where the series