Some Console Light Gun Reviews

[DJ_Izumi]

I'm a big light gun fan and started collecting guns for systems and I thought I'd be nice and review some.

HAIS 100hz Light Gun for PlayStation and Xbox

This is a very ambigious title for a gun, I'm sorry, the packaging barely even said it was a made by HAIS.  This is a CRT gun however it looks EXACTLY like the LCD TopGun, it is the EXACT same plastic mold as the LCD TopGun.  Supports Guncon1, Guncon2, and Xbox, recoil switch on the bottom and it looks like a Beretta 92 FS so it'll be great to scare police with.  It is also crap.  We bought two to have a nice set, mostly for House Of The Dead III for Xbox.  One started to give us problems, magically disconnecting from the PS2 or Xbox and it got worse just from casual play in the living room.  Finally, it died.  So we had one left, an anime convention I staff was coming up and I wanted light guns for the video game room.  So we ordered a third to have a working pair agian and set them up at our convention.  Both guns were dead within 5hrs of non-stop use.  They couldn't be detected by the systems and one wouldn't even 'click' when you pulled the trigger.  They were utterly destroyed by arcade level gameplay.  Simply put, avoid these like the plague and I'm not touching another HAIS lightgun.


Intec Wireless Light Blaster For PlayStation & PlayStation II
http://www.videogameaction.com/inps2wiligun.html

Well, it's UGLY.  It's big.  It's bulky.  However these guns support 'Normal' gun mode which is what you need to play ARea 51 for PlayStation as it doesn't support Guncons.  The buttons for mode are soft touch, so every time you turn it on it defaults to Guncon2.  They autopower off if they go unused and make the console think the gun was disconnected.  We tried these for Point Blank in a video game room, they'd power down and confuse people, who didn't know they'd have to switch power off then on agian, THEN switch from Guncon2 to Guncon1.  Did I mention they were ugly?  They also don't work right for Normal mode, which disappoitned me.  If a single controller is connected, it works fine, if a second is, BOTH become BLIND to the TV.  This only happens in Normal mode, works fine for two guns in Guncon1 and Guncon2 mode.  I would also avoid this gun as it's uncomfortable and has multiple limitations making it woefully unsuitable for arcade style use or in a cab.


HipGear Light Gun
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h311/hodja451/guns/hipgun1.jpg

It's a coppery orange and not the best looking but it's a far cry better than the Intec Wireless Light Blaster.  It has recoil but it's unpleasent, offers a loud, hallow, plastic sound.  I'd call it distracting at best.  Normal, Guncon1 and Guncon2 and all work very nicely, however the C button on the bottom of the gun is a bit uncomfortable to use and the Dpad isn't so smooth to go for either.  I got this gun and a second coming (Found a mate for it at an EB 500km away and they're transfering it to a store near me) for Area 51 and PS1 game smostly.  ESPECIALLY Area 51, I have such fond memories of that game.   It's a bit heavy I feel it also has very good construction, it can SURVIVE hours and hours and hours of shooting your TV and it feels nice and solid in your hands.  It's autofire and autoreload functions actually work REALLY well, but of course, that's cheating.   I like the is gun, it lets me play Area 51 and is a good set for other games when I need some guns.  For third party, this is actually pretty good, it has a few flaws but nothing signifigant, it's basicly 'pretty good' but not spectactular.  If you can find this I suggest it if you can't find the real Namco guncons for PS1 or PS2 or need something for Justifier games like Area 51 and Project Horned Owl.

I also have some real Namco Guncon2s I could review and a Guncon1 I have incoming but I think I'll save thos till later, needless to say, Namco's own guns are actually pretty good.