I have created a lot of crazy programs for Crimson but I have not had much success bogging it down. The only thing I have done (repeatedly, because I am a little but stubborn and forgetful) that kills it is when I use an expression containing a dynamic tag based expression or user adjustable value as a data entry limit. Crimson will accept it and run it and then go into a reboot cycle that is hard to escape. For all the wide open power they give you, there is enough rope left to hang yourself.
I wrote that Truck Shooter video game in Crimson to explore the animation capability and finally got to see it on real hardware a few months ago. I admit there was alcohol involved during the creation and it still runs like a striped ape on a G12. I have a great deal of confidence in the Crimson engine to do what the emulator will do and have many applications in the field with complex (scripts) data sources and expressions.
I don't have any definitive numbers, but I would not hesitate to run a program "On tick" to handle things like the OP needs.
With all that said, I still might lean toward doing this in the PLC for the simple reason that all the documentation I have read seems to shy away from stating that "On Tick" equals exactly one second intervals. Experience tells me that it is exactly one second. Experience also tells me that it is not guaranteed to stay that way.