If turn-based strategy RPG sounds like the kind of thing that you could play for hours and hours without getting bored, Spectral Force 3 has quite the challenge for you. The game tells the story of a band of mercenaries in the midst of a war between a handful of nations and an underworld army. Though the game opens with an anime-style cut scene, visually reminiscent of eighties favorite Voltron, it quickly drops it in favor of bland text-based clips. The fighters-for-hire aspect of your team plays into the lengthy mission list, but the story bits come so infrequently you are likely to forget all about it. The mid-mission screens occasionally show a map graphic and subsequent battles happening, but they do a poor job of explaining how it affects your squad or the story.
The game sticks to the age-old turn-based-strategy mechanics, adding nothing new to the genre standards. The awkward in-battle menu system makes for some confusion until you get used to just how many button presses it really requires to 'end' the turn of each character, with your healer requiring an additional one. Still, the inability to equip items or change equipment during battle is the most frustrating aspect of gameplay; followed closely by your healer's inability to heal himself. It is not all bad news, as the on-screen display showing your chances of landing a hit on the opponent is definitely a useful tool and the gameplay itself works well.
Though your characters level up quickly enough, the slow appearance of new items, weapons, and characters makes this quite the chore to get through. It artificially extends the life of the repetitive title, providing the very definition of 'grinding'. Things do not get nearly interesting enough until you reach a point where you have more characters than battle slots, which takes quite some time. The battle maps themselves are uninspired, with the occasional obstacle and slightly varied height of the land. Moving your characters around the map is easy and forgivable, since the game's clunky presentation takes an extra button press to lock in your move. It makes it easy to keep your healer within range at all times. Enemies always outnumber you and frequently much stronger to boot, so getting them in the right spot to make effective attacks is crucial. Actual battle is done in the standard turn-based system, with no active blocking or attacks. It feels ancient, but effective.
A combo system adds a layer of strategy to how you actually attack your enemies. Determining the best way to max out each character's combo meter, to inflict the most damage, is key. Each of the three levels of attacks takes up a certain amount of 'Action Points'. Figuring out the right order and number of each hit is important to your success in battle. Each character also has a special power attack, but the most interesting piece of battle is team collaboration. At various points in battle, you have the chance to use 'assist', getting one bonus hit from another teammate in range of the enemy, or 'teamwork', where you select another member and get an entire series-worth of moves out of them in the middle of your turn. Better yet, using the two options fills up your 'rush meter', which unlocks 'battle formation'; lining up your entire team for one massive shot each on your enemy. It is incredibly effective for taking down tougher baddies.
Between battles, you can take the items you found off enemies and treasure chests to the 'smithy', or blacksmith for those who do not want to give me a cutesy nickname, and have him craft new weapons, armor, and items; granted you give him a little gold along with the ingredients. The game gives you the chance to ask the smithy to upgrade your weapons, but you never actually equip weapons, leaving you stuck with exactly what the game provides. There are ten territories, each with their own set of missions available, but they come off as overly repetitive after a while. There is plenty to do for folks who get hooked on the game's antiquated style, but with how slowly the game offers up new items, attacks, and gameplay wrinkles there are not many gamers that will see this through to its conclusion. Most of the battles are thankfully short, but as the mission levels increase, it becomes more frequent to see hour-plus battles.
The sound and graphics are definitely sub-par, but nothing worth avoiding the game over. The look of the game is definitely aged at this point, and the graphics do not come close to what the system is capable of. The bland, blocky text, in the menus is perhaps a bigger visual offender than the graphics. Sonically, the score is up to the task of delivering the kind of varied, wistful fantasy themes you expect and the voice acting is surprisingly solid given the cheesy dialogue. The in-battle sound effects are not quite as solid, with some incredibly bland thuds and clanging metal sounds.
The achievement point set is one of the more frustrating yet. Though they mostly focus on just completing the game, you are likely to go over ten hours in before sniffing a single one. The non-story focused achievements are even more hardcore, with most of them appearing unreachable until the near conclusion of the game. Once you finally receive your first achievement, they do begin to flow a little more regularly. While far too many titles are of the 'fun while they last' variety, Spectral Force 3 is the complete opposite; far outlasting the fun. It feels like an unfortunate chore to make it through this slowly grinding, repetitive title.
