Hands On: It’s No GunCon, But I’m Having a Blast with Time Crisis’ PS5 Gyro Controls

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I’ll be brutally honest, I was a Virtua Cop guy growing up.

I really enjoyed playing Time Crisis at the arcade, but I never owned the game itself. I had the Virtua Gun for my SEGA Saturn, and that’s what I spent most of my time playing as a kid – blasting enemies in that on-rails shooter.

I recently purchased a GunCon and the game Time Crisis on eBay and played through the story mode multiple times. Even now, it’s a classic, and it’s definitely most enjoyable when played with the official Namco GunCon controller.

It was always going to be a challenge for Implicit Conversions to bring their expertise to the PS5, especially since the game needs to be easy for all players to pick up and enjoy. While the original controls using the d-pad are available, they aren’t very user-friendly.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that this version uses the DualSense controller’s motion sensor, which effectively recreates the feel of using a light gun.

Okay, let’s be real – it doesn’t quite feel like a light gun. It’s more like pointing with a cursor, but I still like that I have to physically move around to aim, which gives you that classic feeling of actually aiming at the screen.

By default, the game controls are set so the pedal controls R1 and the trigger controls Circle, though you can customize these settings. Getting headshots, especially on distant targets, feels satisfying and accurate.

The DualSense controller’s motion sensors aren’t flawless and can gradually become inaccurate. However, a helpful feature lets you press the Triangle button to quickly reset your aim.

While the PlayStation version of this game isn’t quite as feature-rich as the original arcade game, it makes up for it with added levels that significantly increase the amount of gameplay.

The game automatically uses the better NTSC version, but you can switch to the older PAL version if you prefer. Be warned, though – the PAL version runs noticeably slower and might remind you of frustrating experiences from when you first played it. Honestly, it’s probably best to stick with NTSC.

As we noted before, the biggest downside is the lack of Trophy support. While this doesn’t ruin the experience – it’s still a fantastic game – it’s disappointing that Bandai Namco didn’t add them to make this port even better.

After trying out the new motion controls in Time Crisis, I really hope other light gun games like Point Blank and Resident Evil: Dead Aim get similar updates. It would be great to experience the other Time Crisis games with this new technology too.

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2026-05-19 22:07