Despite the fact that Time Crisis 2 is a port of an aging arcade game, it definitely looks very sharp on the PS2. The environments are detailed, if not particularly colourful, and the enemy and character models are well-detailed. It's not pushing the PS2 to its limits, but it's definitely well beyond the Time Crisis games on the original PSX. You'll be impressed with the sharpness of the visuals, and the cutscenes are quite well-done, but you've seen better as well.

The same goes for the sound. The music is the same thumping stuff you heard in the original game, and while it fits the game very well--of course, that could be from having heard it through three generations of the game--it's nothing particularly spectacular. The sound effects, on the other hand, are very good. The shots are good, the explosions are nice, and the general enemy chatter is convincing. Unfortunately, most of the bosses sound like morons, which is a shame. Spotty voice acting can be forgiven for old games, though . . . almost. Still, it's a fun game to turn up so you can hear the bullets whizzing past.

Time Crisis 2 both offers a lot of gameplay and not much at all. Any lightgunner should be able to make it through the main game within a few hours of starting to play it--as you get further and further into the game, you gain more credits to use, letting you get even further--and, some would say, that's the end of the game. But there's enough extra stuff packed into the game to keep real gamers satisfied for a long time, and the main game's entertaining enough to come back and play over and over. Add in a solid two-player mode and you've got another game to go along with your copies of Point Blank.

The storyline is typical Save The World stuff--evil corporation, deadly satellites, and only two agents who can save the world. In a big change from the original game, both agents are playing at the same time, with the second player either being controlled by another human or the computer. This makes for an interesting challenge, as you lose points if you shoot your partner, and there are many times when you're firing towards each other.

The game is broken up into three sections, each with three sub-sections. There are two paths in each level, one for each player, and in the single-player game you can go on either depending on certain things that you shoot. Once you beat those nine sections, the main game is effectively over.

In a brilliant move, though, Namco packed in tons of extra stuff. Beating the game completely unlocks a new Crisis Training mode, which has more gameplay than even the main game, putting you into a series of engagements and requiring you to be very precise and quick with your gunplay. There are also three other subgames that are available, and you can unlock new modes in those as well. The skeet shooting minigame is entertaining, as is 'Quick and Crash', which requires you to be fast and precise with your gun. While none of this is as 'deep' as the main game--and the main game isn't particularly deep itself--it's definitely going to add a number of hours to your gameplay clock. Of course, purists would say that the main game itself should be longer, but this is a port of an arcade game, and making arcade games too long is tantamount to money loss.

The game supports two ways to do two-player mode in the main game. In one, there are basically two screens on your TV, one for each player. They're small if you don't have a big TV, but it definitely works. The other way is to use an iLink cable and hook two PS2s with two TVs together and play just like the arcade. Neat.

You can configure the difficulty level as you like, changing how well the various enemies shoot, but the default difficulty setting is quite nice for people who have never played this particular game. Of course, veterans will want to jack the difficulty up to Very Hard, so that they might actually be challenged. Anyone can pick up and play the game, though, and since it starts to award you extra credits as you try the arcade mode, eventually even the worst player should be able to tough their way through the game. They may never unlock the nifty secret that you get when you don't continue at all, but . . .

Time Crisis 2 supports both the GunCon2 and the original GunCon, and both work very well. It supports a Dual Shock as well, but I won't even talk about that--the game is neutered if you don't play with a light gun. I love the GunCon2, and its precision beats even that of the original GunCon, which is hard to believe. You can't fault gun accuracy in this game, unless your TV sucks. The menus are easy enough to understand and navigate, even with the gun, and the game's loading times are visible but not overlong. You won't be left sitting twiddling your thumbs as the levels load for too long.

People who think gun games are too short for their own good just don't understand the genre. You can't have a three-hour gun game, because your arm would be killing you afterwards. Time Crisis 2 offers hours and hours of gameplay nonetheless, in the form of separate challenges and a main game worth playing through over and over. Anyone who's into the genre owes it to themselves to pick up a GunCon2 and Time Crisis 2--it's got more bang for the buck than just about any other game in the genre. And it's a hell of a lot of fun.