Point Blank 3 offers plenty of replay value and entertaining stages for lack of a story mode.
Game Title: Point Blank 3
Platform: PlayStation
Developer: TOSE
Publisher: Namco
Genre: Light Gun Shooter
Age Rating: ELSPA: 11+, ESRB: T for Teen
Release Date: 21st December 2000 (Japan), 16th May 2001 (America), 2001 (Europe)
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Game Score: 7.5/10
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Summery:
Point Blank 3 offers plenty of replay value and entertaining stages for lack of a story mode.
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Namco has aimed their Light Guns at younger audiences for some time with the releases of Ghoul Panic and Rescue Shot. Following the release of Time Crisis Project Titan comes a Third Point Blank game that was out in Arcades back in 2000 till a year later it becomes available on the PlayStation platform.
While you could have fun blasting Don, Dan and anything else on the menu screens for amusement, Point Blank 3 has the standard Arcade Mode where you pick from available difficulty settings and play 16 random stages before getting a bonus stage for extra points or a life before playing the final stage to shoot all the fireworks in time. Practice has 4 levels to play while the other mode including the near impossible Insane difficulty has 16 random levels from about 87 of the game's levels available. While the arcade mode is very brief it's still as wacky and fun as the previous titles. Each stage in Point Blank 3 is categorized into 10 types of stages which involve either shooting Black & White Targets, Colour Targets, Cardboard Aliens or gangsters, taking targets out in a single bullet and enjoying some stages inspired by some Namco titles.
Each stage has a time limit and ask you to shoot down a required amount of targets before the time runs out. There are forbidden targets to avoid like cardboard civilians, other players colour, bombs and so on. Failing to qualify or shooting a forbidden target will take a life away and once your Lifes are used up it's Game Over and you can use a Continue to resume playing. After beating the game you are graded on your performance and highscore.
Many of the stages are challenging, some require you to aim carefully while another gets you to go all out spraying bullets to blast all targets on screen. One stage has you shooting highlighted pieces of a puzzle to uncover a picture, some require you to defend Dr Don and Dr Dan from danger and other stage have some matching or puzzle elements to the game as well. These stages are fun and challenge your reflexes, brain power and accuracy.
As for controllers you're best with the Namco gun for superior accuracy. Any third party Light Gun is inaccurate and the cursor on the control pad is very slow and not intuitive. You can use the Analog Sticks but there's no Mouse support.
Point Blank 3 has other modes outside of arcade. Oddly missing is the lack of a Story Mode, it could mean that the developers didn't plan it cause Point Blank 2's story mode was disappointing but dispute that there are still other modes that the game offers.
Versus Mode pits 2 players against each other to see who can earn the highest score within 16 stages, party modes like Tournament Mode and Team Battle but with no Turf Wars which very sad, and finally the Endurance Mode where you try to beat through all 87 Stages before you run out of Lives. Party Mode can be played up to 8 players and it can be played with either 2 controllers or just one controller. For Endurance, every 10 levels you'll get a bonus stage for a chance for an extra life or points.
Lastly there's the Training Mode where you can play a stage of your choosing or with another player which is really nice for two players to train together and compare their results.
Point Blank 3's graphics are nearly the same as the other games aside from Dr Dan and Don which have improved animations and the screen resolution is much better. Other then that the rest of the graphics are virtually the same with the 2D sprites, scaling technology, simple explosions when a target is hit and also the stage backgrounds are still decent. Soundtrack is cool with it's catchy charm, the sound effects like Don and Dan screams are funny but the track at the stage result screen gets annoying about a few times you hear it.
For what it's worth Point Blank 3 is missing a few modes which is a disappointment but however the fun and challenging stages that you'll have with the game still makes it worth your purchase unless you have the other 2 games. With the G-Con 45 controller it's a nice bargain but however in my opinion this is the weakest in the series due to the lack of Story Mode and Turf Wars.
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The Good Points:
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1. Over 87 Stages of Crazy Light Gun Action and they are still challenging and addictive
2. Party Modes are Crazy fun for 2 or more players
3. Training Mode for 2 Players
The Bad Points:
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1. No Story Mode or Turf Wars
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Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
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