P.N. 03

"Action Sci-Fi w/ A Hot Chick To Boot?"

P.N. 03 (Project Number 3) is a game with pretty much no plot, no story, no reason. It starts out with you, Vanessa G. Schneider, a brunette barbie doll, asked by some secret "client" to begin a raid out of nowhere on a technologically innovative company, C.A.M.S. C.A.M.S. also seems to have quite an obsession for German named robots. Ok, ok, I take it back, it does have a reason: to make your client happy.

Graphics: 8/10

I really like the way the graphics for this game are handled. The look is very futuristic and the robots all have individual designs and cool little defense mechanisms. Vanessa herself is very...detailed. Need I say more? The palm shots look fine, but the real graphical test is the energy drive; the coolest looking thing on the game. Vanessa inherits these skills with points (explained later) and uses them to destroy more than one monster at once. They look absolutely gorgeous. Some of the energy drives are blast radius oriented, meaning they extend outward from Vanessa and only affect short range distances; others, however are very distance oriented and have a small blast radius after impact, making it possible to demolish five, maybe six enemies at once. The levels also have a futuristic feel, but they are very, very, VERY repetitive. Level eight has the same basic room layout as level four. Not much of a change.

Controls: 5/10

Simple, to the point. Exactly how it should be for a game like this. A couple of problems really drag this area down, however. Certain times when you jump you will either 1) overjump the obstacle or 2) jump on it, land, and then fall off for no apparent reason. Really annoying when trying to string a long combo together. Other than that, palm shot, three-button energy drives, and dodging skills have exactly the right amount of buttons in my opinion. The automatic lock on mechanism for this game can also be a pain, because it locks on to the first monster in its range; however, often times in the game a monster will pop up out of the ground right in front of you, forcing you to dodge it or move your thumb way out of position to change targets. An automatic locking on the closest enemy would have made it a lot better.

Sound: 9/10

I love the music in this game. It really adds to the jist of the game. I like to call it mellow techno. It's the kind of music you might listen to while making a pornographic film (sorry gamefaqs) or maybe working out in the gym? It's hard to give you an idea of what it sounds like if you haven't actually heard it yet. Just know that it sounds really good, but there needs to be more tracks. I also like the explosion effects. Accurately depicting what a robot might sound like after exploding is a tough thing to do, and this game nails it in my opinion. The sounds are all around a great part of the game.

Gameplay: 4/10

The game really fails here. The lack of a sincere plot, good rewards, and challenging enemies really make this game dive. Hard. Basically, you're objective throughout the game (besides beating every level) is to try to combo as many enemies in a row as possible, without taking damage. With each enemy you kill, you get a little extra time to your combo timer, which is a little clock that counts down after every enemy you kill. As long as you kill an enemy within that time, you get another combo enemy. The more enemies you combo, the higher points you get. You get bonus points after beating a room for 1) Defeating all the enemies 2) Comboing as much as possible 3) Taking no damage 4) Beating it as quickly as possible. The highest single room score possible is 2450 points. You use points to buy upgrades. You can purchase new suits, energy drives, or attributes for your current suit. That's the entire game in a nutshell. It may sound like a lot up front, but it gets repetitive early, and you find out quickly that the only thing you're playing for is the secret thong suit you get for beating the game with every suit possible.

The game's worth a rent, but only buy it if you're really into it.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 09/05/04