A tribute to the battle network series, this game has solid gameplay, but you'll feel like you've been here before.
The mega man battle network series were some of my favorite handheld games of all time. When the series jumped to star force, I was pleased for the most part because the same basic battling concept carried over, but I've seen the standard mega man story four or five times over by this point. That said, on to the review.
Mega man star force 3 is, for the most part, identical to star force 2. There are minor changes, and the story is different, but if you enjoyed the first two of the series you can stop reading now - not much has changed.
Graphics:
The graphics in this title are actually very impressive. Stylistically, the game uses vibrant sprites in the normal world make the game nice to look at. Further, this presentation avoids the muddy 3D that most top-down NDS games attempt to some degree, providing excellent clarity. The battles use 3D graphics, but they manage to look nice, with clean textures covering well-animated models. The attacks look great, and the bosses are suitably intimidating. They even manage to retain the look of their sprite counterparts.
Sound:
There's nothing wrong with the sound, per se, but there's not much right with it, either. The music gets the job done, but it's monotonous and can get on your nerves after awhile. The sound effects in battle sound fine as well, but there's nothing particularly exciting about them. However, the game blissfully forgoes voice acting.
Gameplay:
There's not much to say here, which is one of the reasons why the game does so well in this category. The gameplay is refined, and extremely simple. You select chips, and use them on the enemy in the battle screen while moving yourself around the grid to avoid enemy attacks. The fact that you can arrange your own deck of chips adds a layer of complexity, though, and you'll have a great time finding the perfect combination of chips to use for a given situation. It is recycled from the previous games in the series, though; there isn't much that has changed.
Story:
A game's story is something that doesn't often find its way into a review unless it's particularly awful or excellent. If you aren't concerned about what the little people on your screen are saying, go ahead and ignore this section of the review. The story is not throw away by any means, but it's strictly mediocre. If you've played any of the 6 battle network games, or the two star force games before this one, you've heard it all before. Generic threat, about half a dozen elemental boss fights, climactic ending in which a suspicious character reveals himself. Same old, same old. If you're like me, though, and play these games because they're fun, or if you just don't care much about story, you won't notice.
So there you have it. I recommend that you rent this game. The story and sound will put some people off, but for those willing to put 20 to 40 hours into it, it's a fun experience.
As a disclaimer, yes, I did post this review to both versions of the game. I played black ace, but in my experience these games tend to be the exact same with few exceptions. If I'm wrong, though, please let me know.