Right away, as I started playing this FPS based on Men In Black: The Series from Infogrames, I was rocketed back to 1997, when Psygnosis released an often overlooked title, Codename: Tenka. Tenka was one of, if not THE first PS game of its type, a fully 3D FPS of real quality. Really, when I played it back in '97 or '98, it seemed very cool. So now, bringing us back to the modern day, what's it like to see a game that feels all too similar to the FPS titles from 4 or 5 years ago? Well, if the quality is there, it's there. And, Crashdown plays the MIB theme well enough to make this fun to watch, even if the technical quality isn't dazzling. As a PSone owner, you'll find that to really fill out the bill for FPS titles, you may have to go back to the late 1990's, and if you've already played all of the oldies (Tenka, Descent, Doom, Disruptor, etc.) you'll be happy enough to see another entry in the Hall of FPS.

The music and voices (with only some slight complaints about the voice-acting) come right out of the TV series, and the visuals at least nod to the style of the show. It's not like we're talking Gamecube or PS2, where processing power lets developers clone the look of the show exactly. Runecraft, the developer, did a good job of mixing in CG cut-scenes that advance the story, and there's definitely that 'MIB' feeling throughout the game. Character is always half the fun of playing FPS games, and playing both agents with all their neat weaponry is sure to please even the most casual fan of Men In Black: The Series.

After some quick training to illustrate the weapons you'll use and the techniques to use them, Crashdown jumps right into the action. The missions begin in small, loosely populated levels, but get harder and bigger with time. You'll end up shooting your way through over 25 levels before it's over. In training, you work through several types of weapons, but will typically be given only one as you begin a stage. Hidden weapons or items you take from aliens are scattered through levels, and often play a part in solving puzzles and progressing in the game. Mission objectives are clear and even small levels are broken up into 3 or 4 objectives, meaning that you won't be wandering around lost wondering what to do next.

Comparing the style of play to previous entries in the FPS category, Crashdown isn't venturing into new territory. It covers the usual areas thoroughly, such as puzzles involving key-cards that you steal from zapped aliens, puzzles involving hot-buttons like sensors or cameras that you shoot to move forward, and the various switches and levers that make up standard door puzzles. Plenty of ugly aliens will get in your way, and over a dozen varieties will be found in the course of your game. The quickest way to ruin a FPS is to include dumb enemies or have the same handful of enemies show up again and again. Crashdown does well in presenting a mixed bag. Aliens that attack you on the ground, flying aliens, aliens hanging from the wall, aliens that dodge your shots and shoot back at you... The list goes on, but trust that you'll have some challenging moments and more than a few surprises as you're bushwhacked by lurking aliens. Choosing what items you have at any given time is simple, and we all know how FPS people like to pick their poison in terms of working with different weapons. Since this IS the MIB world, weapons are usually just recharged, so ammo dumps or clips are replaced by recharge stations. Health powerups work the same way, and big, colorful icons clue you in to where you need to go to refuel. Crashdown doesn't limit you to just one or two weapons, but the amount of pickups in any one level seemed sparse. Replay value is hurt when you can't go back through and try beating the game with something like a knife or grenades. Luckily, cheat codes can be found in some levels and entered to activate special modes, so replay doesn't take too much of a hit.

Instead of giving a range of difficulty options, Crashdown offers an experience that most veteran FPS gamers will breeze through, but then gives you some metrics to improve by. At the end of each level, you see the scores for accuracy and stats on shots fired, etc. If you're the perfectionist, you may play through to improve your ranking, but don't be let down if the whole thing seems a little too easy. Cautious players can go through the first half of the game without a scratch on 'em, and even the incautious won't find too many enemies that don't go down like a big man on ball bearings. Bosses are challenging, but infrequent. Usually, you'll spend more time consulting the map and figuring out how to resolve mission objectives than you will taking down end-level bosses or nests of aggressive aliens.

Probably the biggest difference between this and the FPS games of yore would be that control feels tight as tight can be. Going up ladders and moving around obstacles is smooth and analog works well, if a little slow at times. You can't do too much to change the analog settings, and a range of choices for control only affect the mapping of buttons to actions. Obvious toggles like inverted aim and auto-crouch are there, along with auto-aim and vibration. Controlling actions in the game through analog sets motion on the left stick with the right stick controlling camera motion up and down along with strafe stepping left and right. A quick push on the R2 button changes the left stick to let you look in all directions without moving, ideal for times when you need to focus on targeting without any moving around. You can choose to control left-right motion on the shoulder buttons, and your crouch is controlled on a shoulder button also. An action button is used for switches and things you can't shoot or blow up, but otherwise it's slag 'till the slaggin's done!

PS2: Most of the textures that seem rough and show their polygons on a PSone are smoothed out nicely when running this on a PS2 in Fast & Smooth mode. Load times in each level are negligible, due probably to the small size of each level. But, the faster loading makes a difference in the CG loading and time between levels.

The FPS fans who haven't yet moved up to PS2 will definitely want to score a copy of Crashdown if only for a weekend rental to enjoy playing Agents K and J. It would have been nice to see some kind of multiplayer mode, even just some 2-Player access to a handful of levels. Be ready to take a trip down memory lane with these graphics, but we would have been astounded back then to see everything moving so smoothly and controlling as nice. Rough edges and slowdown hurt the performance in areas, but if you don't mind a bumpy ride, there are lots of nice design touches, fun weapons and cool enemies lying in wait before you polish this game off. Favorite touch: Using the flash device to erase people's memory after they see you in action. If only I had one of these for the days I take a 2 hour lunch at work...