G'aim'e Ultimate

There are explosions and gunfire everywhere. I'm crouching behind a couple of obviously extremely sturdy wooden crates with my partner, while around five riot-clad enemies fire their load of hot lead in our direction. We are completely safe. But... the evil enemy has no idea that their time is coming, because with a press of the foot pedal, I stand up and fire off an entire magazine, watching two of the enemies collapse before firing the last shot into a gas cylinder behind them - resulting in a huge explosion.

Light gun games were a phenomenon that has tragically almost completely disappeared from the gaming world, with Dreamcast being the last console to offer genuine CRT-based light guns as official first-party accessories. Since then, we have been relegated to third-party solutions with increasingly poor support, and today the concept can be considered dead and buried.

Part of the explanation is technology. The old technology didn't work with flat-screen TVs and there were no good alternatives, and now that there are really good motion-sensitive gadgets, it's as if the market has completely forgotten about light gun games and, what's more, given up on odd plastic accessories. And this is where G'aim'e comes in.

A small miniature console with a handful of built-in light gun games, including Time Crisis, complete with accompanying pedal, which, at least in theory, allows us to recreate the feeling of classic arcades at home in our living rooms. The unit and light guns are neatly packaged in a box and feel solid (even though the console is almost weightless), with colourful details where I particularly like the bright orange cables.

Connecting everything is tremendously easy, although one might question the choice to explain how to do it on the TV when I start the unit. I don't need to know where to plug in the HDMI cable, because if I didn't know, I wouldn't have had any picture and wouldn't have been able to get the video on how to connect it. A minor detail, though.

Your controllers need to be calibrated before you can start playing, which you do by shooting at targets on the television, and it also explains how far away you should be depending on the size of the television, and you are asked to clear away any objects that could interfere with shooting in various ways. I find it a very simple and straightforward solution.

Of the four games included, the aforementioned Time Crisis is the obvious crowd-pleaser, but Point Blank, Steel Gunner and Steel Gunner 2 are also included when you feel like a bit of variety. You start the game in question by shooting at them, and then you have a button to insert coins into the unit and a button to, for example, restart the title or go back to the menu to select a new game.

So... back to the shooting in the introduction. Time Crisis is the game I've spent the most time with, and it's still a really entertaining gem that shows what an exciting and varied genre this can be. Point Blank feels more like filler and hasn't aged particularly well, but while I initially mourned the fact that there are no newer Time Crisis games, both Steel Gunner titles quickly became favourites. I've spent more time with each of them than with Time Crisis during the review period, simply because they're so cool, action-packed and stylish.

But how well does the shooting work? Pretty well, actually. I'd say better than expected, considering that this is the kind of product that rarely tends to be that impressive. The pistols film the screen and act based on what they see (so no extra accessories are required on or under the screen), but I'm still a little bothered by the fact that I don't seem to be shooting at exactly the same spot even though I'm holding the pistol as still as I can with my elbows against a wall. The precision is therefore adequate, but not quite where I would like it to be.

Furthermore, I think it deteriorates and improves depending on the lighting at home, where I don't really understand what affects the result. Having the sun shining on the TV obviously affects it, but too dark doesn't seem to be optimal either. I don't have any major problems, but again, it's not perfect.

To sum up, I think this is a superb package for anyone who has missed light gun games. The fact that it comes with two pistols also means that the games reach their full potential. The technology may not be quite where I would like it to be, but at the same time it is good enough to have fun, even if I wish that a console manufacturer with more money could further develop the concept to perfection.