Gradius III

"This is Gradius at it's best."

This is one of my all time favorite 2-D space shooters. Even if you may not be good at a space shooter game, this one is simple enough to pick up the controller and catch on really fast. You should enjoy this game very much.

Game Play 9

The best part of the space shooters is the game play. You can customize your space ship at the beginning of each credit, to the setting of your liking. As you go through levels you will find little power ups to help upgrade to get either speed up, bombs, a type of laser, shield or option, so you can have these little orange balls shoot the same thing you are. They are very helpful. In each level there are sections so if you were to die past a certain section then you will re start from there and not all the way over with the whole level. Another bonus feature is you can have another player to help you through each level. I think having 2 players is a good feature for space shooters in case you are not good; you can have a friend help you with your troubles.

Graphics 9

The graphics don't really matter in a game like this except for one reason when you are going through a level and some of the colors look the same and it is hard to see the enemies' bullets. Otherwise the game is very colorful and shouldn't be too hard to see what your doing. The environments are what really get your attention. Because if you don't know the environment well you might just run into the wall and kill yourself, and that would not be a good thing.

Sound 8

The sound is kind of stuffed in this game, or at leas the sound effects are. The lasers and other noises like that almost seem correct for a game like this but along with the other effects it seems clouded to tell what it is.

Controls 10

The controls couldn't be any better for this game. You have the general up down left right to move your ship around. And when shooting the enemy its not that hard, you have one button to shoot, which you can hold down if you wish, but I prefer to press it like crazy. Then when you get your upgrades you have another button to press that will choose whatever selection may be highlighted. But one thing is for sure, you might want to be careful on how many speed-ups you get. If you have to many of them and you don't have that good of reflexes you can run into the walls numerous amount of times. The controls are almost to simple to even need explaining. Even a baby could play this game.

Replay 10

This and other space shooters always have a great replay value. If you beat it on one mode, there are at least 3-5 other options you have yet to try out. Because each difficulty higher you go even the normal guys you will run into are crazy with their firing range. And the bosses can be extremely hard. If you are big into shooters I suggest this game for you, this along with the other shooters I have played have kept me coming back to play them more and more.

Overall Rating 9

Like I mentioned earlier this game is one of the best, and might I also suggest that you play the other Gradius titles you may be able to find. Even though the earlier ones aren't as good as this, I really had fun with Gradius IV or what at leas I played of it. So even if you may not be a space shooter fan I suggest you at least try this game, it should have you coming back for more. Even though it may get extremely annoying at times from all of the dying, the harder you try the better you will get at it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/15/04