There was a time where you would go to the local arcade, or as a weekend trip with family and friends, and one of the first machines you would go to, would be the shoot-em-up cabinet.
The late nineties were full of them, from Jurassic Park games to ‘House of The Dead’, they all had different types of guns and modes, but there were two that stood out the most.
Point Blank and Time Crisis were the jewels in Namco’s arcade crown, and some would have left an arcade if they didn’t have at least one of these games lying around somewhere.
But with Half Life: Alyx defining what a VR game can be, thoughts have turned to what a Time Crisis remake could look like on the platform instead. Here’s why this should happen.
It’s About Time
The first Time Crisis was released back in 1995 in the arcades, and 1997 for the PlayStation. It had a pedal so you could hide and then stand to shoot at your enemies.
Other sequels would appear, notably the sequel in 2002 with its co-op mode on the PlayStation 2, and three other entries would appear, culminating in Time Crisis 5 in 2015, for arcades only.
Right now shoot-em-up games are at a lull, mainly because the genre has been left alone completely, but VR looks to have a future for it, and with Time Crisis.
Imagine an entry in VR, either on PlayStation 5 or Oculus, where you could freely stand or duck in one place, and using the ‘Move’ controller’ or something else, you can aim and shoot in this VR-Time Crisis world.
The Time is Now
Another factor to why the genre hasn’t seen a return, has also been in-part to the shootings that have occurred across the world, with policitized opinions taking a stand about how ‘video games are bad’, and this genre unfortunately bears the brunt of it.
But some forget just how fun the genre is, and most of all, that it’s not real. Playing a rebooted Time Crisis in VR could also open up other modes, such as online-play. Being in a room with someone else in a VR-environment for co-op mode could work really well; not being in the way of one another, and having a full view to shoot the enemies and any bonus items.
There’s already been unofficial-efforts to emulate this, such as EmuVR. A fantastic use of VR, where you’re in a nineties-bedroom, and you can pick up games and peripherals to load up the title you want. The below video gives a great idea in using the first Time Crisis game on the PlayStation.
The time is now for a new Time Crisis to appear in VR. We have the technology, we have the space. We haven’t even gone into how a ‘Point Blank VR’ game could work too, but the idea of being in a Time Crisis world in VR, with a friend who may be hundreds of miles away, is a tempting proposition.
READ MORE: Best Headset Deals to play Half Life: Alyx.
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