Spectral Force 3 for Xbox 360 Reviews by Gamers

Hmm, first thing you will notice about this game is the lack of anything flashy. Its too bad the strategy is fun and solid, just having some dramatic camera coulda done this game wonders.

There are 40 unlockable characters, I got about 75% of them. It was fun finding out which characters are the strongest.

Unfortunately the tutorial is majorly lacking. You have three different gages that build up during the course of a battle, each do different things.... I still don't really know what one of them does and the other two are not well explained, in fact, the FG gage I don't even know what the acronym stands for.

Anyhow that a side, you start to get a feel for things and battles can be very challenging, but fast enough that losing is ok because it doesn't take much time to get back at it and beat the level that just killed you.

The story is blah. You play mercenaries with no allegiance to anyone and no real motivation for to fight all the battles you do. You play some altruistic-do-the-right- thing- always character in story scenes, but then you turn around and wipe out the good factions without a peep. Much of the story doesn't really make sense.

Still for strategy fans its a game worth playing. I was happy I got it.

SF3 is a turn-based strategy RPG following a band of mercenaries who take on a variety of missions for warring kingdoms while in pursuit of a mysterious boy and the demons that follow him. The gameplay is linear. There isn't a world map for free roaming, only a headquarters menu that allows you to select missions from a list, sell/buy equipment, and view party member stats.

New missions appear in the menu as you progress, triggered by the completion of others, the passage of time, new recruits, etc. The missions you choose effect the kingdoms at war, strengthening or weakening their forces. With the exception of mildly cinematic special moves, cut scenes are limited to still images behind a dialogue box accompanied by decent voice acting.

Pros: Each mission has its own conditions that must be met (e.g; survive for 15 turns) - a nice change from just killing everything in sight. Strategy does make a difference and the achievements are simple.

Cons: Throughout the game, you can recruit up to 20 party members by encountering them during special missions, but the classes are repetitive and the characters aren't diverse enough to matter which 6 you battle with. Some missions force you to use specific party members, which is a pain when the ones chosen aren't strong enough to complete them.

The battle system lacks automated options, so really long battles are a dragged out chore. Some missions toss you into a second half as soon as they're completed, limiting your preparation, and the game randomly forces you to choose a specific mission by blocking all others, so if you aren't strong enough to beat it, you can't progress. The equipment slot system is limiting as well.

SF3 is a good long term rental for passing the time quietly an hour or so each day in between playing other games, but if you want excitement, anticipation, variety, rich graphics, and a deep story, this isn't for you. It's "no frills" without the substance to back up its simplicity.