Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom

"The black sheep of the PS series isn't that bad"

There has been a lot said about PS3, and admittedly it is the weak game in the series. Sega tried to impliment a new storyline while also giving the game a new look. The premise behind the game is awesome and the way that you can determine who you play as by choosing yourself a foxy wife is really neat. Generations is a good idea that almost came off, but failed in the long run.
Why so bad? Well, first off all the battles are boring, with bad music, and the encounter rate is annoyingly high. Plus the enemies are not much to look at. This is huge and takes a lot away from an otherwise good game. The graphics are not bad, but you tend to move very slow. Sega opted for a less cartoony look for a more serious one and it falls just short. Finally, the mazes are littered with enemies and wrought with dead ends. This can make the game extremely unfun to play.

Graphics=8.5 The face shots are very well done; the girls are all pretty (even the robots!). The world itself has pretty nice visuals and the towns have a nice look to them. The enemies are a little bland, but the scrolling effects on the dungeons kind of makes up for that.

Storyline=9.8 In theory, a great idea! You play through generations of heroes as the world begins a slow decay. No silly women to rescue, no real evil meenie to conquer. Just good gameplay.

Sound=7.0 Average music, with nothing notable. In fact the battle music stinks and gets really annoying, especially because you get ambushed every few feet.

Gameplay=5.8 Your characters move painfully slow, which sucks because of the frequency of enemy encounters. It can really wear your patience thin.

Challenge=7.4 Not really hard, but an extremely boring game to play through. It takes a lot of patience and time to actually reach your third generation, then to finish the game off.

Overall=6.4 A game with huge potential that never delivered. Sega ammended this with a very good sequel in Phantasy Star 4. If you are a collector, this is a good game to pick up. Don't judge the series by this one game.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 02/07/00, Updated 02/07/00