"This is one of the best saturn RPGs !"

Shining Force 3.... The third game in the shining series finally appears on the Saturn. Is it as good as the previous two, or have Camelot lost their touch?

Graphics:
Being one of the last games for the saturn, the graphics will obviously be some of the best seen on the machine. The game kicks off with an excellent full screen rendered video... This doesn't have all that much to do with the story line, but shows of some amazing effects, and showcases the main characters. When you start the game proper, you'll notice that the towns are all fully 3D. you can rotate the camera, and even select the view distance, from a choice of 3. The graphics are very colourful and eye catching, but the best is yet to come. Enter the first battle, and as always it uses the same engine used in the towns. When you attack an enemy, it changes. You get a 3D view of your character and the enemy you're attacking. This looks similar to 3D fighting games. your character delivers the attack, or casts the spell, then its back to the battlefield. The graphics weren't too amazing, but later on, when you learn special attacks and spells, the one on one scene becomes much more action packed with lighting effects and effects to rival FFVII.

Sound:
Quite poosibly the weakest area of the game. There are some catchy tunes, and when your characters attack, they all have their own battle cries, as do the enemies. These range from Dantares' 'Prepare to die' to Grace's 'This is without any remorse' They all sound very nice. However, the biggest complaint is the sounds in the towns.. There are no bacground effects, such as birds chirping, or fires burning, making the towns feel slightly 'dead'. Also, when characters speak to you, you don't get any samples, as you did in Panzer dragoon saga.. Sure it would've probably increased the size of the game to 2 or 3 discs, but it would've been worth it.

Playability:
What can i say... The classic shining Force gameplay remains, but the programmers have added brilliant new features without spoiling the balance of play. The most notable of these being the friendship option. When your 2 of your characters attack the same enemy, teaming up to get a kill, they become friendly with each other. what this means is that in future battles, those characters recieve stats boosts if they stand next to each other. Another great feature is the special attacks. Each character can learn 3 special attacks, and then get a fourth one trhough use of a special weapon. Some characters can have different fourth attacks depending on the weapon. Also, most characters can be equipped with a different class of weapon, allowing them to learn more special attacks. This really is a treat for strategic gamers. Do you give Dantares (one of the main characters) a lance, or a spear, which does less damage, but allows him to attack from range? And then there is the synchronity system. This probably won't be important for UK gamers, because only this game has been released. However, in Japan, they have released a second and third part to the game, where you play through the same adventure but from a different characters point of view. This means you'll go to diferent places and fight different enemies, and sometimes meet with the other party. The best thing though, is the connections... In this game (Part one) there are many points where you can make a decison, such as saving a character, or letting them die. In Part 2, if you saved a character rom part 1, he may fight against your party or join you. Lastability:
Massive. There are 30 battles to complete, and even when you have, there are still loads of different items to find. There is still Mithril, as you remember it from Force 2, meaning there are loads of secret weapons to make. There are also 6 secret characters to find, along with the 14 who will join your party anyway. This allows for much variation, as you can only put 12 characters into battle at 1 time. There are loads of spells to learn, and rods and wands that give you secret spells, unleashing some of the games amazing graphical efects. It will take the average gamer 40 hours to finish, but then you'll want to play it again, using diferent weapons on characters to get different attacks.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99