It’s always a risk to bring out a game that uses something other than a standard controller. While we’re starting to be more accepting as consumers and more adventerous as developers in trying out extra peripherals (like Guitar Hero or Scene-It) they’re still for the most part stuck on the sideline.

It’s a high price point up front for a controller that will probably only operate 1 or (if you’re lucky) 2 games. But lightguns have been around in one for or another since the very beginning, all the way back to Ralph Baer’s first prototype (of course it also had a lever or two).

The technology to make them work is pretty simple, so it goes that there’s been a lightgun released for just about every system. Namco’s Time Crisis series has pretty much become the defacto gun game, with more than a few successful arcade machines and home ports. But the times they are a’changin’. You see now that we’re moving into the HD the whole idea about how the guns work needs to be re-thought. The Guncon 3 is the result of that, and while not as simple as plug and play guns of old, it’s pretty easy to set up and get going.

Basically you have two LED sensors that go on top of your television, similar to the Wii sensor bar and it gets plugged into a USB port on the PS3. You gun connects to another USB port.

The Guncon 3 is a helluva lot different than other light guns, as this one has 2 analog sticks and 6 buttons on it. If that sounds like a lot, it is. It’s really too much to be honest and it would’ve been better had they trimmed some of it down. It’s also sadly configured in a way that intended for right-handed people only, and definitely made the game harder for me to play as a lefty. This is because the gun requires two hands on it at all times, and there’s only one way to grip it… right hand on the trigger. So aiming with your right arm is your only choice, which sucks for those of us that prefer the left. I run into similar problems sometimes when dealing with some DS games.

But enough about that, how’s the game? Well if you’re a Time Crisis fan, you’re in luck. The game is a fantastic representation of the series, and a good example of how to do a gun game on a console. Simple, arcade action is the name of the day, with only a few things you need to do besides shoot everything. There are a few different weapons to shuffle though (Pistol, shotgun, machine gun, etc) and certain portions of the game where you have to hold back an invading group of bad guys. During these sections you use the analog stick to look left and right to defend your position.

In addition to the arcade mode there’s also a new FPS mode added in, where you use the two analog sticks to look and move and then fire at the screen with the lightgun. This is where I ran into serious problems with the Guncon3. The controller was built for righties and no matter how hard I tried just could not get used to the control scheme. I got frustrated to the point where I went back into the arcade mode just so I could shoot something.

So that’s what we’re left with, an arcade port that kicks ass and an FPS mode that should’ve been left on the cutting room floor. Maybe it’s better for right-handed people, but I’d have no way of knowing. Not to mention it’s irresponsible to not make the game accessible to both.