Reader Reviews

Star Review: Suikoden III (PS2)

by itamae

Whenever Konami releases a game in Europe these days the usual suspects start moaning "And what about Suikoden III?" like Stadler and Waldorf from the Muppet Show. And while this may just be a Pavlovian reaction to the seeming unwillingness of Japanese producers to satiate our hunger for role-playing games of the saucer-eyed kind, I've battled my way through the US version of the game to give you an impression of what we are actually missing.

So what about Suikoden III then? The first thing you'll notice is that the game is split into chapters this time, with three protagonists to choose from at the beginning. Picking either female knight Chris, freelance mercenary Geddoe or Hugo, son of the Karaya clan leader, will give you a different perspective on the epic story which sets off on the brink of war between the Federation of Zexen and the free tribes of the Grasslands. As different as their motivations may be, it is up to our three unlikely heroes to settle this impending conflict before the land is ravaged by the opposing armies, all the while hunting down the Flame Champion, a mysterious figure who is said to possess the power of the True Runes.

Chances are that if you're still reading this you've played (and probably enjoyed) at least one of the previous games in the series, and you'll be pleased to hear that at its core the third Suikoden is very similar to its predecessors. While the role-playing element of the game once again boils down to the tried and tested formula of 'talk to everyone, then talk to them again', it is the little differences that make the Suikoden series stand out from the crowd. There is the combat for example, which mostly takes place in traditional random encounters with nice details like the flee command which changes to let go when your enemies are too weak, but occasionally you get to fight one-on-one duels or command larger troops in strategic battles. Although none of these tasks is really challenging, it is a welcome diversion from the repetitive (but thankfully infrequent) random skirmishes. And of course you get to manage your own castle again which grows bigger and busier as more and more of the 108 recruitable characters join your entourage.

Now before you run off to your local import games dealer let's have a look at the downsides of the game, and sadly there are lots on offer. The most obvious letdown is the lacklustre presentation, with low polygon characters who limp inelegantly through their featureless surroundings. Add to that a soundtrack which is so exceptionally bad that it makes you want to burn down the in-game music menu and sprinkle the ashes with holy water and you will have to admit that Final Fantasy this definitely is not. Furthermore the game suffers from balancing problems, with long cut-scenes often followed by extremely hard fights, or the queer fact that there seems to be no correlation whatsoever between difficulty and reward of a battle. And while most of the time the story is an epic tale of cold war, political intrigues and treacherous opponents unrivalled by other games of the genre, in the last chapter this plot is completely dropped in favour of a bog-standard 'pretty guys versus the world' affair.