THE BAD:
- Simplistic character development
- Bad plot
- Repetitive
- No checkpoints!
SUMMARY:
I bought N3 because I was bored and had some cash to spare - unfortunately I hadn't tried the demo beforehand, otherwise I'd have left it on the shelf.
It's not a bad game, I did enjoy playing it for a short time, but it quickly becomes repetitive. Despite being able to choose between a number of playable characters (who are unlocked as you progress through their stories) each missions tends to be very similar - wander around the level with your two guard units, kill anything you see, and end up fighting against some manner of boss creature.
The generic enemies are far too easy to kill, and the boss enemies are generally able to hit you with the force of a rhino. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind hard enemies - quite the contrary in fact, I do enjoy a challenge - but when you couple the boss fights with my next point, you find a problem...
My biggest annoyance with this game is the lack of checkpoints or the ability to save during a mission. Most missions can easily be completed within half an hour, but to get the higher rankings (and thereby unlock the best items and weapons) you need to take your time and kill pretty much everything on the level. Spending an hour getting your kill count up into the thousands only to die from an unlucky hit by the final boss can be frustrating to say the least. Why should we be forced to spend another hour repeating what we've just done? Surely a checkpoint or save system would be a much better design.
All in all, N3 seems like it would be a fun rental game, but it's definitely not worth the £49.99 I spent on it. Which is why I'll be taking it back to the store tomorrow.
