Gear Review – Namco’s Gun-Con 3

Like both Time Crisis (Playstation, 1997) and its sequel (Playstation 2, 2001), Time Crisis 4 brings Namco’s classic franchise to the Playstation 3 with new mechanics, a fresh storyline and a brand new light gun.

The closest thing we’ve seen to a light gun this generation is Nintendo’s Wii Remote – the death of the arcade-type peripheral has been entirely attributed to the rise of High Definition (and other non-Cathode Ray Tube) televisions.

While the NES Zapper worked on primitive technology (where the game’s background and targets are changed to black and white respectively for a split second, and registered by the gun), light guns from the SNES Super Scope to the GunCon 2 relied exclusively on the slow refresh rate of a CRT TV. With the instantaneous pixel refresh on LCD, Plasma and DLP displays, Light Guns are rendered useless.

Not a problem for the Wii Remote, of course. Nintendo’s motion sensing controller communicates to the Wii through the sensor bar you place on top of your TV – the exact same design used in this latest iteration of the G-Con.
With the gun, you receive two Gamecube-Memory-Card sized blocks (containing three LEDs each) which are placed on your TV (without any instructions, I placed mine either side of the Wii sensor bar and the game calibrates fine). They also connect to your PS3 by a single USB cable so, unlike the Wii’s proprietary sensor bar cable, you can use cheap USB extenders if your PS3 isn’t right next your TV.
The sensor blocks have a particularly cumbersome design with weighted rubber straps that hang behind your TV – the unwieldy design is only contested by the NES Powerglove’s sensor arc. The protruding USB cables make certain that the two sensor blocks are never going to sit comfortably, especially on my curvy Samsung.

Once all is set up, the gun works well. In comparison to the G-Con 2, the new peripheral holds exactly the same way (with some grip studs on the handle, which may be annoying) with a responsive trigger.

The side-car analogue pad on the left of the gun renders the gun almost useless for south-paws, which should be taken into consideration. Outside of the (dreadful) FPS mode in TC4, the analogue stick is rarely used, but the buttons near it are used for duck and reload, so must be used in all modes. Left handed players will have to sit this one out; the G-Con 3 will either prove extremely uncomfortable or utterly unplayable for lefties.

The analogue sticks are the only majorly disappointing parts of the G-Con 3; the nipple-studs feel uncomfortably plasticy in comparison to the SixAxis or 360 Controller’s rubbery exterior, and kick back to neutral with a resoundingly harsh toy-like sound.

Despite this, the pumpkin orange gun is a perfectly fine evolution of the peripheral, and the extra hold provides comfort and stability.

Right now, the GunCon 3 works exclusively with Time Crisis 4: if you put any of the original Playstation 1 or PS2 titles in your PS3, they won’t recognise the device, making this new peripheral’s price much harder to justify. If Namco really wants the controller to sell, I should hope we see a strong push for a light gun re-insurgence including downloads of classic Time Crisis, Crisis Zone and Point Blank titles on the Playstation Store.

Right now the hefty £50-£60 (£69.99 RRP!) price tag on the G-Con and Time Crisis 4 (which we’ll review in full closer to release) is tough to swallow, but as soon as more GC3 compatible games come to Playstation 3 (House of the Dead 4 or Sega’s “2 SPICY” perhaps?), Namco’s pumpkin pistol will quickly become a must buy.