I like the game. I do wish it wasn't so repetitive, but I like the option of purchasing different outfits and upgrading the weapons. The controls seem fairly responsive, the framerate never seems to stutter, and I haven't noticed texture tearing or any other glitches. The repeating level designs and enemy types are its biggest downfall. I didn't really mind her moving 'like a tank'. The game provided all the required moves needed to get through the game. Its a corridor shooter, always shooting in front of you, so not much of a need to have complicated moves.
Have all the ten people in the world who enjyed P.N.03 gathered here? :-D
There are some texture bugs, especially in dark areas... play and you'll see. However, while I fully agree that the rooms do repeat a little too often, it's not the white textures I'm against. In a shooter like it shouldn't matter if the whole game was white. What matters is the room design, what conditions it gives the player. In a narrow corridor you need to take care of the enemny fast because there's not much room for dodging - in a large room you can watch the enemies for some time before you decide how to attack them. This is especially true since there's a time based combo system in P.N.03.
The enemies aren't that repetetive either IMO. I think there are at least 15 types divided in the game's 11 stages. Plus, included in those 15 types are variations that requires slightly different strategies. For example, did you know that the scanning enemy makes more enemies appear in the next room if you let it scan Vanessa? More enemies means more points. Or that you can duck for the half circle laser attack that the standard drone does?
I remember that this game appeared about the same time as Viewtiful Joe. I bought both, but I admit it, I have still not finished VJoe. Why? Because the gameplay stinks, just as in Kamiya's Devil May Cry. VJoe, just like DMC, is a pure show off title with the only ambition to perform flashy effects and have cool scenarios. Because of that, the gameplay suffers. In DMC it suffers because of the camera, in VJoe... well, also because of the camera, at least part of. That is funny, because VJoe is a 2D title while P.N.03 is 3D. Now let me make an example out of this.
In P.N.03 Mikami chosed a behind the back camera which means the camera always is positioned behind Vanessa. This goes hand in hand with the tank controls, if you have a free camera that you can rotate and zoom with tank controls are not very intuitive. But with a fixed one they are. Likewise, free controlscheme would not had made sense with a fixed camera.
VJoe's camera is not fixed. It's zooming in and out with the sole purpose of showing off the action from as cool perspective as possible. This made me dislike the game because your overview of the action takes a serious hit when you don't see the enemies who are starting to attack you. You get confused and the feeling that "OK, I can take some hits from this mess, I still have more power than the enemy begin to spread through you.
But look at the critical response. VJoe was praised because of its coolness and (what?) great gameplay. They must have meant flashy gameplay which looked cool and made the player feel cool. It's like DMC or Sonic the Hedgehog in the early 90s, people only play them because of the cool factor. The choice of weird camera perspectives in DMC totally destroys the gameplay and the base design of Sonic stinks. Run through the course as blindingly fast as you can until you hit an enemy. That's a prime example of stupid challenge.
P.N.03 received heavy critisism for having bad controls. What bad controls? What exactly is bad about them? The problem here solely lies with the user. Her or she couldn't understand the basic game design, even though it really is as basic as it gets, and because of that they don't want to play it. Granted, you don't look cool when you play P.N.03. It's not DMC where you can bring over your pals and show a cool boss or a new weapon. Personally, I don't play for that reason.
As far as pure gameplay goes, P.N.03 almost reach the highs of games like Sin and Punishment, Ikaruga, Gradius (yes, the first one), R-TYPE and God Hand. The only thing that keeps it from the top of the mountain is that it becomes to easy once you have figured out the enemies' patterns. The Papillion challenge remains, but even that is too easy and doesn't give you something to chew for a long time like God Hand (also made by Mikami) and R-TYPE.
Topic: P.N.03 (Read 5438 times)
