The story in Time Crisis serves the usual purpose of establishing friend from foe and the reasons thereof. In the PS2 version, it also introduces a playable female character, Alicia Winston. Her Rescue Mission mode reveals exclusive plot information and has its own sniper feature, where players can zoom on to enemies in a parallel mode to the main story. Further differences to the arcade version include an updated Crisis Mission Mode from the second game with new mission objectives.

Also new to Time Crisis 3 is the ability to change weapons from the hand gun to shotgun, machine gun and grenades. Ammunition for these new weapons can be obtained by shooting yellow-uniformed soldiers (more hits equals more ammo), which pop up frequently throughout the story mode. Other soldiers, again in their own colours, include grenadiers, aqualung special corps, snipers and the standard fodder. Most soldiers go down with a single shot but will yield higher score combos for multiple hits. Points are also awarded for no-miss streaks.

Time Crisis 3 retains the i.Link mode to allow arcade style two-player cooperative action. Splitscreen mode is still available, but like using a DualShock 2 instead of a light gun, it is just not the same.

The weapon of choice for Time Crisis and indeed any light gun game on PS2 has to be Namco's own G-con 2. Utilising a rebalanced mould and more useful button layout, the only shortcomings are its rather short USB lead, though this is easily extended with any old USB extention cord.

The real problem with the G-con is two-fold. Light gun games on PS2 have always been few and far between, and never really that compelling as far as replayability goes. The other problem is just as weighty. Fatigue soon sets in even for a veteran like this one-time national representative. It ¡s not hard to see why Nintendo, the inventors of the light gun, went for long rifle models from their very first, skeet gallery shotguns onward.

Resident Evil: Dead Aim spared a thought for gamers' arms by mixing shooting sections with roaming play via the G-con 2's D-pad. Even for such a long game, the balance ensured physical fatigue never became an issue.

Time Crisis, on the other hand, is all about hands-in-the-air action. Even the brief interludes keep you on the edge because you don't really know just when to get ready for the action, especially the first time through. At least you can pause at will, but fully quitting the game in story mode leaves you without the ability to resume at the point you left off, nor at the beginning of a stage.

As for the action itself, gameplay is again exemplary. A silly story didn't stop us loving Soul Calibur 2, or Freak Out, Space Channel 5 or any of the equally quirky Japanese releases on PS2. To such games, story is almost irrelevant, and to this end you never finish any of them.

This latest version demonstrates the same painstaking craftsmanship in delivering a game on rails that could never work as well any other way. Time Crisis 3 excels in everything from managing ammo supplies and the balance of weapons, to enemy routines, and naturally the time limit on the game. There are ways to unlock cheats such as infinite ammo, but at least you have to earn them. The only real problem with the game is player fatigue, and this is the single area where the game is unbalanced. You can pause at any time for a rest, but this goes against the fast-paced nature of the game and soon leads to the end of your interest in the session. There is no practical way to rest your hands while shooting since it is necessary to move your aim right across the screen to hit the expertly placed enemies.