Gradius III

"A fun game, but frustrating"

This is no doubt a fun game. But it is also can be a frustrating game. It also really doesn't have a story. But nothing can take away how fun it is the first time you play.

Gameplay- This is a fun game. The controls are very simple, but hard to master and hard to remember proper moves in tight situations. You have a wide range of destructive weapons, all of them very cool and helps a lot when facing the many monsters. The first screen you see is the main menu. From there you weapon selection screen where you can select the awesome and powerful weapons. You destroy as many enemies as you can until you get to the boss. You must kill the boss to go further. Most bosses are pretty difficult, which is a frustrating thing. Another frustrating thing is, that there are so many enemies on-screen at times and it's hard to dodge their missiles and them. But these are really the only annoying things in the game. Overall, it's fun, but frustrating.

Story- This game doesn't really have a story. Most things are unknown within the game. All I know is that your fighting a group of aliens and prevent the destruction of a planet. You are the role of the planet's star pilot.

Music and Sound- The music is excellent. They really bring out the danger in the game and seem to fit the music to the current level. The music is exiting, just like the game. Overall, the music is very good and fits the game perfectly.

The sound effects are also excellent. The weapons are matched perfectly with their sound. The sounds that an enemy makes are pretty good. Some of the sounds are really creepy. Combined with the music makes it really something cool. Overall, the sound effects fit perfectly with the game.

And finally music and sound effects together are excellent and fit in the game perfectly. Just like they should.

Overall- Great game. Very exciting and fast paced game. The gameplay is fun and excellent. The weapons and wide range of enemies make this game better. The sounds in the game are perfect and seem to fit nicely. There is only one flaw, that is the difficulty of this game. The enemies fill the screen at times and it's hard to dodge them and their flurry of bullets at times, but lay back on the good qualities of this game, and you'll soon feel fine. Since Super Nintendo games are cheap now, you should consider picking up this great game. Great job, Konami.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/12/02, Updated 10/12/02