Final Fight 3

Review by GoDSmurF

After the success of its first two Final Fight games, Capcom decided to do another in an attempt to perfect the Final Fight Formula. Guy comes back to visit Mayor Haggar only to find out that there's a new gang tearing up the streets of Metro City. He, along with Haggar and two new Cody-type fighters, Dean and Lucia, will put an end to Metro City's violence once and for all...

Graphics 9/10

There's a three letter word comes to my mind when Final Fight 3 begun initially. That word starts and ends with W. Everything, literally everything, had a face-lift. There are more frames of animations now, more details in the characters, a LOT of more details in the background, and certainly a lot more colorful and more variety. Haggar's muscle-definitions are never so detailed while the baddies never looked nastier. The background now has a lot more variety now instead of the usual bricks and walls. What can I say? WoW. However, in the glory of the awesome graphics, apparently Capcom sacraficed for these graphics too. Now there are a lot more slow downs than ever before. In fact, during some of the later levels, one level's slow down can match the total of Final Fight and Final Fignt 2. But wow if you'll only look at those flexing muscles...

Sound & Music 8/10

The sound in the Final Fight series had always been a strong point. Never bad. This game too, features the sounds of typical Final Fight with more. The stereo now sounds more like stereo. The music is revamped to give gamers a more intense feeling. The smacks and grunts are made extra loud to emphasize the baddies' sufferings. Very well done indeed.

Gameplay/Fun Factor 9/10

Final Fight 3 features several great additions in terms of controls and gameplay. Now each fighter of Final Fight is injected with quarter-sliding motions reminicine of the Street Fighter games. At first it might seem like a bad idea, but tight controls made the moves easy to pull off and easier to use. Haggar also gained a new "finisher". His new finisher is so similar to Zangief's atomic piledriver that I can smell a lawsuit. Guy plays like, well, Guy. Dean shoots off electricity that could make a Raichu envious. Lucia is suspiciously like Cody's fighting style that she could well be his disciple. Other than those significant additions, there are now many objects in the background you'll be able to break now. After you break certain things in the background, new paths of the game are opened up for your exploration. It is quite possible one of the best features ever put in to a side-scrolling fighting game.

Conclusion/Overall 9.5/10

Well folks, as much as I would like to give Final Fight 3 a perfect 10, I simply just can't overlook the game's problem with slow-downs. It sometimes is down right annoying when you walk in to a room with your andrenaline pumping at an all time high, a terrible slow down occurs as you suddenly feel like you're moving in slow motion. Gone is the andrenaline, your quickened reflex, your desire to fight. But this is a very small problem on the grand picture of designs. This game is about as close to perfect as a 2D side-scrolling fighter could ever get. Go and get this game now...