Spectral Force 3 Game Review–Big Niche Fun For A Handful
Spectral Force 3 is a study in how games can be interesting but only on a niche level.
A turn-based strategy game for the Xbox 360, Spectral Force 3 does manage to put out some interesting gameplay, just not a whole lot of it.
Way off in the distance, in some place called Neverland (no, neither Peter Pan nor Michael Jackson will be showing up on this one), there are gods that rule in heaven, the dead go to the underworld below, and the rest of the land is constantly warred over by humans and demons and whatever else is handy. All this ceaseless conflict has made the perfect conditions for mercenaries to thrive, and we join one such unit, the Norius Mercenaries. Currently working for the Army of Flauster, the Norius Mercenaries will field a great many offers of employment from the humans and demons and seven–count ‘em, SEVEN–other races in play in the Neverland War. Thus, you’ll be able to decide the outcome of the war by always being in the right place at the right time for somebody, somewhere. You know that whole “for want of a nail the kingdom was lost” thing? That’s basically what this is, except now you’re going to try and steal that nail in advance, on a metaphorical level.
Like I said, it’s a turn-based strategy game, where you’ll move your characters around a field arranged like a grid. You’ll move your characters into position, have them perform attacks until they’ve killed whatever creature or soldier you’ve had them engage, and then repeat the process until the field is cleared of baddies. You can also direct some of your troops to pick up various treasure chests on the field that contain bonus items.
If you choose to be charitable, then you’ll get quite a bit of fun out of shuffling your units around on the field, and in exchange for this you’ll get plenty of great story development as you get to figure out, singlehandedly, what faction of the Neverland War you’re going to back. Support humans? Favor demons? Or maybe you want more of a coalition government on this planet. Whatever case you decide, that’s what you can work toward. There’s a certain sort of satisfaction to derive from the clear and present knowledge that what you do, as a tiny band of mercenaries, will have far-reaching effects across the entire planet.
You can, however, choose to be uncharitable and say that the repetitious gameplay (go here, smack that until either it’s dead or you are, find new enemy, repeat until bored out of your MIND) and lackluster graphics keep this thing from being anything even vaguely resembling a good game.
Most seem to be falling into the middle of these two extremes–I heard somebody say that this would’ve made a SWEET download on Xbox Live Arcade and I can’t say I disagree–so essentially, whether or not I can make a recommendation on this one comes down to your own particular circumstances as a gamer. Strategy buffs will be able to ignore the graphics and repetition and will instead get a huge fantastic gaming experience. Action and adventure buffs, however, and also shooter fans, will find this duller than dishwater and twice as unpalatable.