Battle Arena Toshinden 3

"Get the hint! Sequels are supposed to include imrpovement!!!"

Battle Arean Toshinden helped to launch the Play Station to a higher ground with supposedly revolutionary visuals and some intense game play. To give the series credit, it did do that with the first BAT, but it's done nothing but slowly slide down the hill of mediocrity in a hard face slide into the ground! With each sequel, they've managed to add new characters, and different battle grounds, but they haven't improved on the overall game play mechanics, and has actually turned the whole series down on it's face. Taking out Uranus and Master, the two bosses from the second installment, they've been replaced with currently unselectable bosses such as Sho and the very cheap Vermillion, both additions that do nothing but create more of a cheese factor and overall bring the fun of the game down!

-Game Play 3/10-

You thrown into the mix one on one against the computer in a best two out of three fight to where you use your character's skills to the maximum ability and try to make it from start to finish without getting too badly beat in the process. While it sounds easy, the disappointment here is that it IS easy! If you select certain characters, you can zip straight to the end, and not have to really do a damned thing but hit a projectile over and over and keep your opponent across the screen! Add this in with the disappointing play modes, and the lack of actual special moves that are worth using in a battle, and you're looking at a major disappointment over the very first BAT!

-Control 3/10-

Unresponsive and sluggish, it almost makes you wonder if you're playing the Saturn version of this title, or if you're actually controlling a supposedly superior game made for a superior system! The in battle special moves come off with great difficulty, even though you'll only need one or two to get yourself through the matches that you're faced with. You'll find that combinations, unless your fingers are fast enough, you'll find that you leave yourself open for an ass kicking of great proportions, and your blocking really doesn't have much effect against a fast projectile user!

-Visuals 3/10-

Disappointing to say the least, the pointed and rather polygonal characters make their way back to the PSX without much more than a whimper of change in their visual appearance! While some of the characters have undergone a slightly unique change in their attire and even their attitude, you'll notice that the backgrounds are really the only thing that make any impact and show change from the first game at all! With breaking characters, slow down on the screen with too much is going on, and a ton of camera angle problems, you'll find yourself looking at something that is less satisfactory than you'd want for a good fighting game.

-Audio 3/10-

Again, nothing has really been tuned up here, and the music sound like something out of a bad kung fu action flick! The music is totally mismatched from the game itself, and you really have nothing more than the constant grunts or groans and battle cries, the sound will go off and more than likely, you will too having been reduced to listening to this kind of garbage!

-Overall 3/10-

Battle Arena Toshinden 3 is a pile of crispy fried crap that gets the rating it does simply because it's three dimensional, and if it weren't for that fact, then it would receive a one for un-originality and absolutely nothing in terms of upgrades or improvements! With some luck, you'll find enjoyment in either BAT 2 or BAT 4, but this low grade fighting game isn't worth the disc it's printed on!

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 10/04/01, Updated 10/04/01