Time Crisis 4 for the PlayStation 3 promises "arcade action, next-gen graphics," and it delivers on both counts. Unfortunately, I found it to be a less-than-engaging game lacking key elements to really hold my interest. I figured it wasn't a good sign for a game that while playing I started thinking about what I wanted for dinner (in about four hours) or wondering if I'd forgotten about any good movies I may have received in the mail.

I mean, I was shooting bad guys. I like shooting bad guys. I wasn't even using a game pad with which to shoot them. I was holding the state-of-the-art (albeit orange-colored) Guncon 3, an arcade-style double-grip pistol-looking thing that I just pointed at the screen and blasted away with. But I discovered that the Guncon was part of what was getting in the way of my enjoyment of the game.

For starters, it's a hand-killer. After shooting for about 10 minutes, my fingers started to cramp, and the plastic molding of the grips made me want to stop and shake my hands every couple of minutes to get a break from the workout. I also found it difficult to find a comfortable position for my arms, since it certainly helps to aim while trying to kill guys.

My roommate (Monolysis) also played the game. She seemed to have a bit more fun than I, but she also reported that her hands were not happy with Guncon 3. Her hands are considerably smaller than mine. She says she thinks the developers made the same mistake with the Guncon as Microsoft did with the original Xbox controller: It's just too big for smaller hands.

Part of the problem is button placement. The button to load and switch weapons is at the top of the forward grip, and I found myself gripping tightly to the grip while trying to reload, aim and fire at the same time. It also would help if the same button didn't control reloading and changing weapons. It was very confusing trying to figure out if I was out of ammo and needed to change weapons or if I just needed to reload, all while trying to, you know, not "die."

But this game's problems don't stop with an arcade gun that's supposed to be more fun than it proves to be. There are plenty of things about Time Crisis 4 that conspired to make me want to go clip my fingernails for a good 20 minutes or so before figuring out my next entertainment move.

For one thing, the bad guys are so unrealistic it's laughable. I guess aiming the Guncon while your arms try their best not to give out makes any real precision shooting next to impossible, but the bad guys could at least try to make use of cover every now and then — instead of acting like the bad guys in a, well, bad action movie with a high body count.

While I'm on the subject of laughable, the voice acting in this game is hysterical. Or do I mean hysteria-inducing? I don't know. It made me want to cry. And not in a good way. It's so bad, it's hard to know whether it's supposed to be cheesy.

But I guess the game isn't all bad.

The 720p graphics do look nice on an HD set. In the opening scene of the arcade mode, a helicopter crashes into the airport in the middle of a battle, and things blow up. It's impressive. I like explosions.

And gameplay is more fun in story mode than arcade mode, which if you can get crosshairs to come up on screen, I couldn't figure out how. But in story mode, it plays more like a first-person shooter, and Monolysis seemed to think she may pick it up again some day to continue the story. Although, she may need to take some Dramamine first, since she also reported motion sickness from trying to manage the camera using the sensors instead of the toggle.

Time Crisis 4 is rated T for teens, and since I'm no spring chicken, I'd have to say that maybe all this arcade action might be more enjoyable for younger players.

Personally, I was disappointed that I had to work so hard trying to play this game. I was hoping for some good ol' hypnotic shoot-everything-in-sight dead to while away a few fun hours doing pretty much nothing important.

What I got was a sense of frustration and a sore hand. I just never got into the spirit of the thing. I'm not sold on whether the world is ready for arcade action meets HD technology. After all, the greatest graphics ever created for a game still would not make up for the fact that you're holding an orange plastic laser gun.

For me, Time Crisis 4 is another example of a great gaming idea that somehow went wrong in the execution. I can't say I'd recommend it for anyone who isn't absolutely jonesing for a shooter that employs a controller that's not a gamepad.