Gradius III

"I have been reviewing a lot of Super Nintendo games by Konami lately"

OPENING STATEMENT
Gradius III is one of those Super Nintendo games that was really popular back in the day, but was kind of forgotten about as time went by. In time, especially in recent times, the R-Type series has come past Konami’s Gradius series to the forefront of the space shooting sub-genre. But, with the release of Konami’s compilation of Gradius III and Gradius IV for the PlayStation 2, interest in the Gradius series has rekindled, and I felt now was the best time there ever was to review Gradius III for the Super Nintendo.

GAMEPLAY--9
Gradius III is certainly not a mindless space shooting game. More so than in other space shooters, you must plan your attacks out, and learn the best place to snipe oncoming enemies from, before they can snipe you. If you do not plan ahead, and you just come out with guns blazing, do not expect your time in Gradius III to last long. You will probably be shot down within the first two minutes of play.

The enemies rarely come at you one at a time. They usually come at you in formations. You must learn the key to defeating each of these formations individually to succeed in Gradius III. Some of these formations remain unchanged as they fly across the screen, from right to left, east to west. Other formations spin, move up or down, north or south, zig-zag or basically change in any way imaginable. These formations are what make Gradius III such an interesting game, and a game that needs so much strategy.

Perhaps the most innovative feature, and the feature that requires the most strategic thinking on your part, is the ability you have, if you wish to have it, to, before each stage, and whenever you first start in Multiplayer Mode, to enter the Edit Mode and create yourself the best space ship that you can. There are many different choices for each of the numerous categories, so you will not be limited in your creativity too much. Do you want a force field or a generic shield? Do you want the second stream of bullets to fire due north or due west when you earn it? These choices, and many, many more choices, are all up to you.

GRAPHICS--9
Gradius III outshines Super R-Type in yet another aspect. The graphics in Gradius III are light years ahead of Super R-Type in absolutely every aspect. First of all, the graphics in Gradius III are not actually animated, but the fact that the stars are different colors and that they are not in a set pattern like they are in Super R-Type makes the backgrounds much more interesting. Instead of a repetitive, primitive background, you instead get a background that changes throughout each entire stage.

The enemies are also designed a lot better. In Super R-Type, the enemies looked like flying pink ducks, and floating statues. In Gradius III your opponents are clearly defined, high tech, flying disc robots, which, all though they sound stupid are a formidable foe. Besides these highly dangerous flying disc robots, you will face a multitude of enemy space crafts in all of their splendor and glory in their various shapes and sizes.

MUSIC--9
SOUND--8
Gradius III may present the best overall audio experience of any of Konami’s Super Nintendo games. The music, sounds like some of the fairly futuristic electronic guitar instrumental songs from the late eighties. And as much as I hate guitar rock, the whimsical qualities of Gradius III’s music kept me from detesting it. The electronic guitar adds a feeling of adventuring into the future as well, a feeling that Konami most certainly wanted to get across for Gradius III.

The sound effects are the best that I have heard in any of Konami’s Super Nintendo games. The shooting sounds kind of like lasers, especially the lasers from the James Bond flick Moonraker. The biggest downside is that pretty much no matter what weapon that you are using, the weapon always sounds like those Moonraker lasers. The explosions do not sound like explosions. But, I like the sound that these explosions make better, especially in a game like Gradius III. These explosions present the sound of a ship vaporizing or something of the like.

CONTROL--8
Gradius III’s controls are actually quite well done. In what seems to be the norm in the action genre on the Super Nintendo, ‘B’ and ‘Y’ are your forms of attacking. ‘B’ operates your normal machine gun, while ‘Y,’ depending on your power-up level that you are at, operates the power-up, or secondary weapon. In a move that I still do not understand, and probably never will understand ‘A’ and ‘X’ are useless. The rest of the buttons have the usual functions that you would expect, right down to ‘Start’ pausing the action, which can give you a much needed breather, especially in the hectic later levels. Luckily, your space ship is very responsive, and it responds to all of your commands almost instantly. Even better, Gradius III seems to have a built-in overcompensation blocker, so you cannot overcompensate while moving your space ship all that much.

FUN--9
Gradius III is more fun than Super R-Type in absolutely every aspect. First of all, the Single Player Mode is much more involving, and finding the perfect space ship combination is much more fun, than the Single Player Mode in Super R-Type. The levels are actually interesting and different, unlike some of the repetitiveness that you will see in Gradius III’s main competition. And the multiplayer capabilities are certainly more fun than Super R-Type’s nonexistent multiplayer capabilities, even if Konami did not include a Deathmatch Mode, which is something that I would have enjoyed very much. Even though it is not a Deathmatch Mode, the Multiplayer Mode that Konami included, which is very similar to the Super Mario Brothers series’s Multiplayer in it’s alternating between the two players style, is still very fun and it is an excellent addition to Gradius III.

CHALLENGE--HIGH
Super R-Type was difficult, but Gradius III is much more difficult than Irem’s space shooter. The enemies actually seem to have the artificial intelligence of another human, especially when it comes to shooting at you. The enemies seem to be able to snipe you from places you never would have thought possible. And finding the perfect combination of weaponry and the like for your space ship is difficult and time consuming, but, when you have done it, having the perfect space ship for you really pays off.

REPLAY VALUE--MEDIUM TO HIGH
Gradius III becomes a novelty game much slower than many Super Nintendo games. When ever you have friends over, be it for casual, small periods of play on the Super Nintendo, or twelve hour long Super Nintendo marathons, Gradius III is a game that will be used more often than it is not. Gradius III actually has almost as good replay value in the Single Player Mode, due to the customization offered on your space ship. Chances are you will experiment repeatedly until you find the perfect combination. In the Multiplayer Mode, however, you will play again and again, even long after you have found the perfect combination.

PROS
*You can customize your space ships.
*Unlike it’s main competition, Super R-Type, comes with multiplayer capabilities.
*The backgrounds really provide much needed visual distraction when no action is going on.

CONS
*Perhaps there is too much time with no action going on.
*Probably a bit too difficult.
*Not all that much has changed from Gradius II.

CLOSING STATEMENT
I would recommend buying Gradius III, or Gradius IV for that matter, over Super R-Type any day. Why, you ask? Gradius III presents a more complete package, and, most importantly, especially to me, multiplayer capabilities. The fact that you can customize your space ship just adds to the Gradius III column. Konami has another winner on their hands.

OVERALL--8

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/08/00, Updated 07/18/01