It's a good decade now since Playstation owners first hooked a G-Con gun controller up to their console for the finest light gun gaming experience that you could enjoy in your home. The fast, frenetic, action-packed and short delight that was Time Crisis is rightly regarded as a bit of a classic.

Fast forward to 2008 and Time Crisis 4 is showing a few signs of the times. Firstly there's the gun. Given that original light gun technology relied on a CRT screen, there's been a change here. To set the controller up you now need to position sensors - à la Nintendo Wii - at either end of your telly.

This means that it'll work fine with an LCD TV (up to 50 inches in size claims the box, although we tested it on a 52-inch display and it worked fine). The gun's also now a bright orange colour, with added controls on it. It's as if they've gone the extra mile to make sure everybody knows it's a fake.

What, staggeringly, hasn't been changed is that you still need to connect the whole thing up via wires. The sensors require a USB port and the gun itself - with its 2.5-metre cord - also needs one. If you have a 40GB Playstation and want to buy yourself a second gun, you're going to have to fork out for a USB hub too.

But why has Sony done this? It was the same with the updating of SingStar, where the game was crying out for wireless mics. But no, wired they were, with a vague promise of a wireless option being available in the future. It's not good enough, certainly when you're charging £60 for the privilege.

The game itself is very much in the Time Crisis style of old. This is a good thing, as while the graphics absolutely glisten - and the game does look glorious - the gameplay is just as you remember it. Fast shooting, enemies coming out from behind implausible cover, finite ammo, pickups, bonuses and cheesy dialogue all return, and the game is tremendous fun for it.

You can play the arcade mode (with variable difficulty levels of your choosing) which is where the gold is. It's not too long, but has eminent replay value and is Time Crisis at its finest. The story mode is a bit of a shambles, though, adding in first-person shooter elements with puzzling results.

Criminally, though, especially considering the asking price, the game is still way too short. It's a grand, concentrated blast of pure arcade gaming, but it's over far too quickly considering you're £60 down for the privilege.

Not a great debut for the franchise on the PS3 then, sadly. The core game is fine, but the clunky gun and the odd story mode really don't help. Perhaps Namco Bandai could take a leaf out of Sega's book with the House of the Dead compilation on Wii, and bundle together all the old Time Crisis games in one pack instead? That'd be far more like it...

Great at what it does best, but the package isn't good value, the wires are inelegant and the added mode is little fun. Not good enough considering the asking price.