Do you suffer from bendy reticules?

As you're probably already aware, Namco Bandai's arcade blaster Time Crisis: Razing Storm is available this week across North America, with the European release landing on the 3rd November.

The game - which features Razing Storm, Time Crisis 4 and Deadstorm Pirates - is one of the most eagerly-awaited PS Move releases of 2010, boasting a wide appeal thanks to its hardcore sensibilities and wand-waggling control system.

Unfortunately, it would appear that the game is undone by the technology of the PS Move system. Gaming site Kotaku has posted one of the first reviews online, and while it's generally positive, author Brian Crecente makes this worrying observation:

The targeting reticule has a bad habit of drifting out of sync with the controller, leading to a floating cross-hair that points to the side of the screen while you're pointing at the center. While this doesn't crop up much in the arcade versions of the game, the need to aim off screen to look around in the first-person story mode seems to exasperate this issue. Pointing off screen in the opposite direction seems to fix the problem, as if you're bending the targeting back in place.

It would appear that Sony's decision to use the PS Eye camera to track the movement of the PS Move wand controller results in unwelcome side-effects, and this evidence seems to lend credence to claims by some dissenters that light-gun style shooters won't function properly using the system.

Many assumed that because the Wii has seen so many successful arcade light gun conversions, the same would apply to the PS Move, but it has to be remembered that the Wii uses an IR pointer - in conjunction with the accelerometers within the Wii Remote - to track where you're actually pointing. Move, on the other hand, tracks the illuminated ball on top of the wand.

It's a little remiss of us to comment too much on this issue before our official review goes live in the next week or so, but suffice to say, the initial reaction on the web is rather disconcerting. We're no technical experts here at Movemodo, and it's highly likely that someone out there will be able to better explain Time Crisis: Razing Storm's control issues in more accurate detail, but it's a massive disappointment nonetheless and doesn't bode well for future light gun conversions.

Have you experienced any issues with Time Crisis: Razing Storm? Be sure to drop a comment below to let us know about it.

[source kotaku.com]