Endgame

Pros • Partially destructible environments • Adds to a not very populated genre on the PS2 • Separate mini-game extends gameplay • Good looking graphics	Cons • Some skimping on the production values • Hate that every level is timed, though it does keep the pace frantic • No way to save your progress • Load times
Bottom Line With the genre being so small on the PS2, any light gun game is sweet mercy to the gamer with an itchy trigger finger. I enjoy light gun shooters in the arcade, but I fail to see why home console light gun games must follow in the same "no save" footsteps as their arcade siblings. A light gun is a really cool peripheral, but unfortunately the gameplay you get to use it for is always limited. Why can't the industry create light gun games with really meaty gameplay? Why can't we have some depth? Repeating the same levels over and over again to slowly progress each time may keep you reaching into your pocket for quarters in the arcade, but it spells boredom in your livingroom. Endgame does a little to try and alleviate the problems of the genre by adding some story, destructible environments, and an accompanying mini-game, but it doesn't go nearly far enough.

There aren't a lot of light gun games these days, and so with few peers to be judged against, Endgame stands a pretty good chance of satisfying fans of the genre. As well as having the virtue of being one of the rare, it's also a solid game, though quite similar to Time Crisis.

There is the basis of a story here and there are some cut scenes to advance the plot. You're playing Jade Cornell and you've just received an urgent call from your friend Tyler warning you to get out of your house because "they" are coming for you. Turns out that "they" are the company that you and Tyler work for--EuroDream Technologies. Tyler has discovered that they are planning to include a mind control technology with the latest version of their virtual reality software and now the company has realized that he's been snooping. You must save the kidnapped Tyler and stop EuroDream while company hitmen chase you down. It's an intriguing plot but it functions mainly as a frame to hang the levels on.

Like all light gun games, there is no way to save your progress. It is difficult enough to require many tries however and that's where the hours of gameplay come from. One nice addition is the Hypermode, which will kick in if you're playing extremely well. Hypermode will throw a few new enemies your way.

You duck and reload at the same time, but there's not a ton of strategy to ducking because the bad guys have appalling aim and only about one shot in ten or fifteen would even hit you if stood still in front of them. When one of them does manage to get a good shoot off, you'll be warned by a red glow so if you duck fast enough you'll avoid it.

The environments are somewhat interactive--pictures will fall off of walls, and some items can be destroyed or moved by shooting them. Some of the enemies carry bullet-proof shields, so you'll have to time your shots to hit when they're vulnerable.

While the time limits on each section keep the pace of the game hopping, I sometimes found it frustrating since running out of time ended my games far more often than losing lives. Once you let the time run down to the emergency point (an alarm begins to sound at ten seconds), there seems to be no way to keep ahead. The time you are rewarded with for offing a wave of bad guys is minimal and to make matters worse, the time clock runs down while you watch the animated intro to the level during which you can't shoot at all.

If you get frustrated with the main gameplay, you can have a go at the included mini-game, called Mighty Joe Jupiter (supposedly Jade's favorite game). There are several episodes and training modes to play through and you'll be shooting aliens instead of human bad guys. It's not as much fun as the main game, but it does give you a little extra gameplay, which is a nice touch.

Completing the game will open up some new options, like an arcade mode with scores, a two gun mode, mirror mode, etc. And successively defeating the game will give you access to new guns and eventually allow you to play the entire game in Hypermode.

Though the in-game graphics and animated cut-scenes are quite nice in Endgame, the game is not entirely polished. For example, when you die Jade should fall to the ground, but only the first half of her fall is animated so she starts to fall and then freezes in mid-air. And you'll pay for the good looking graphics in load times, which are lengthy enough to interrupt the flow of the action.

It's very possible to play Endgame with the PS2 controller, aiming with the left thumbstick, but trust me when I say that you only want to get this game if you've got a light gun. You loose precision and most of the visceral thrill without one. If you've got the gun you're obviously a big shooter fan, so go ahead and at least rent this one.

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