It's more Point Blank. Again.

Going back to the well a third time does sort of run it dry a little bit. There's only so many variants of the same exact minigames I can play before the whole deal stops being novel. Point Blank 3 is still really good and worth playing, but it leaves me wondering if there wasn't more that could have been done with the format. More and more different games to run. Did we need a twentieth version of the "shoot the criminals, avoid the civilians" minigame, for instance? Could there have been room to explore minigames that explore the gun controller in contexts that aren't shooting? Could they have gone bigger, wackier, crazier and broken free of the constrains of a carnival shooting game that so tarp all three of these games?

I don't know. Ultimately I feel like the PB series was trapped by being arcade games. There's only so many kinds of minigames you can come up with if you still ultimately need to build toward a high score board. In a different, better world maybe we could have gotten a sequel on a home console that, free of that arcade high score constraint, could have explored wackier ideas. There's room for a Point Blank-type game to have become something like a true WarioWare type—the gun itself used as more of an abstract input much like button presses in WW.

Point Blank 3 is a fine arcade game, as fine as the rest of the series. But running the same structure three times in a row highlights its limitations. On playing the third, I can't help but think if there wasn't more they could have done with this concept. But, hey, "Point Blank, But A Little Different... Again" is good enough.

For my money, the second best of the Time Crisis series. It's more of the original, with all of its mechanics and visual presentation intact. The original time system is back, the combo system is back, the low-poly models with a focus on primary color-clad enemies is back. It's wonderful.

This game has limited credits with no free play mode (I think it's the only TC game without one?), so you'll be in for a challenge learning its levels and enemies until you're good enough to beat it within your set number of continues. I had a hell of a good time doing it. Unlike the other TCs, I couldn't fall back on a free play mode—for once I had to just, well, get better. And I exited my playthrough of Project Titan a way better player of Time Crisis than I entered.

In the arcade mode, this is just more Point Blank. Suffers a bit from the minigames all fitting within the same basic formats the original pioneered—you won't see much revolutionary here—but more Point Blank is still more Point Blank. A fun, rapid fire minigame collection that all GunCon aficionados should play.

Where this really takes a step back is in the "story mode". It's scaled back tremendously from PB1's RPG/adventure mode. Instead, here, you have four separate "amusement park rides" to explore. Each has a very basic meta game structure tying all the minigames together. You'll blindly make your weay through a labyrinth while encountering enemies (encounters play out as minigames), or travel through space shooting enemies (and any you miss lead to minigames), etc. The problem is that these meta games are far less compelling than PB1's adventure game structure. Here, the interactions are rather basic—the interactions at this meta level feel more like the cheap framing of an FMV game than the legitimately compelling adventure game of the original.

And the variety of minigames in this mode was rather lacking. It felt like every single game it threw my way was yet another rapid fire minigame where it's all about mashing the trigger as quickly as possible. While these games are important to have in a collection, it's tiring when it's the only type of game being thrown your way every 45 seconds.

Clearly they were scaling back the budget on these ports and didn't want to over-invest in a huge original mode like with the original, but something was lost in the process. I ended up trying this mode once and then quickly switched back to, and stuck to, arcade mode. You're better off skipping the "Amusement Park Mode" altogether.

WarioWare as a light-gun game. Hell, it's WarioWare almost a full decade before the first WarioWare. Just a rapid fire succession of short, wacky minigames all designed around your light-gun peripheral. You have 2 seconds to shoot the correct stuffed animal. You have 10 seconds to shoot as many criminal targets as you can, but don't hit the civilians! Shoot this car 50 times to blow it up like in Street Fighter. Shoot the meteors before they hit you! Over 70 variations of how to shoot at the screen in different, wild ways.

What makes Point Blank 1 special above all else, though, is the adventure mode they added to the home release. It's a full blown RPG/adventure game with an overworld to explore, NPCs to interact with, and the minigames functioning as its battle system. Accosted by an enemy in a "random battle"? You'll play one of the 70 minigames in Point Blank. Succeed and you'll gain some experience, money, and maybe even an item. Fail and you'll take some health damage.

It's a brilliant way to repackage and reuse the minigames in a new form for the home release. This adventure mode is one of the best things I've ever played with a light-gun and I wish there were a dozen more games like.

Played on a 13" JVC professional CRT via crtemudriver on my PC.

3D massocore platformer. Knowing what that means and whether you're into that or the aesthetic this is going for will really say everything you need to know about it. Checkpoints are aplenty as long as you're on one of the lower difficulties (and I'd recommend doing so for your first time) so the game never felt too unfair. Insanely punishing for sure, but always doable. Always felt like I was just a bit away from mastering whatever section I'd just died on.

Lets you put whatever MIDI track you want into the soundtrack, too, so feel free to beat this thing to the soothing sounds of Komm Susser Todd or whatever.

Played on a 13" JVC professional CRT via crtemudriver on my PC.

Cute, short throwback collect-a-thon platformer of the Banjo variety. Feels super authentic to the area in look, sound, and gameplay. Plays really well, which a lot of these throwback 3D platformers can struggle with. Cute little aesthetic and humor. It can be easy for throwback games to get lost in references to and recreations of "the classics", but Corn Kidz forges pretty much its own identity for tone, humor, setting. Never once felt like it was just presenting reskinned ideas from my childhood. Instead, it's its own thing inspired by, but not beholden to, the past.

The best 3D platformer Stephen King adaptation you'll ever play. Easy recommend for any fans of its inspirations. Will keep you fully entertained for about 4~ hours.

The OG and probably still the best to ever do it. There are many light gun games out there, but it really can't be overstated how much the cover system elevates TC over everything else. It makes gameplay just a little more dynamic and raises the skill ceiling just enough to make things feel less random.

The Special Mode added for PS1 is the single best TC campaign in the series. The way it changes your path depending on quality of play adds a ton of replay value and the different locales, from shopping malls to ammo warehouses, keep it visually fresh.

I really think something gets lost in the later games with the increased visual fidelity and bolted on extra mechanics. The simplicity of the visuals here means enemy placements are always immediately visible—you can't miss these simple polygonal models with their bright primary colors—where enemies in later games can get lost in the environment. And TC is at its best when it's just about pistols—no extra weapons and ammo counts to juggle. Just pure precision and speed. That's what it's about.