Review:
After 2 long years of waiting, Nihon Falcom sought to please eager fans with the next installment of Adol's adventures. Y's III: Wanderer's from Y's tried to recapture the magic of it's predecessor while striving into new territory. Not unlike Nintendo's notable foray into the action RPG market, Y's III was a departure from the original in both style and execution. Going from an overhead perspective to that of a side scrolling adventure, Y's III seemed to follow The Legend of Zelda's approach to gameplay quite closely. How successful was Nihon Falcom's semi classic pseudo sequel's sincerest form of flattery? Let's find out.... 

Graphics: 7/10 

While Y's III was an improvement over some of the utilitarian sprites of Y's Books I & II with larger, more animated character renditions. The backgrounds they inhabited ranged from pretty to slipshod. Upon beginning the game, Adol and his male companion Dogi (it's purely platonic...Really!) arrive at the mining town of Tigre. A town cast into darkness and mired by uninspiring architecture and the choppiest dual scrolling this side of the Master System. While Adol makes his way through a host of environments, most of them subterranean, the graphics are particularly dark, dank and awash in more tones of sepia and burnt sienna than last year's blockbuster "Traffic". While there are some areas in which the backgrounds show some signs of life, running waterfalls etc., it's hard to enjoy the scenery when it's independent planar scrolling is jarring enough to make an epileptic lose his lunch. The character animation also needs attention. While far more animated than it's predecessor, Y's III manages to make the character animation jar as much as the dual scrolling. The anime cinematics had a major overhaul as there is far more animation overall, and the direction is superb. The one drawback is that Falcom's selection of paintings in the opening cinematic is highly irregular, Adol is portrayed as a husky blonde of Harlequin ilk (perhaps the glorification of his legend?). Thankfully, once the intro gets into full swing, Adol is depicted as the red-headed adventuresome youth we all know and love. Overall, Y's III's graphics were an improvement over the amazing Y's Book I & II, but for a game produced 2 years after the fact, it almost falls flat on it's face when compared to other RPG's being released at that time. 

Sound: 8/10

Redbook Audio lives....MIDI can sulk in it's low-bitrate corner for ad-infinitum. While nowhere near as powerful and moving as Y's Books I & II, the acoustic performance of Y's III is admirable. While some may say the soundtrack is mired by one too many electric guitar riffs, the soundtrack complements the action quite well, especially during boss fights. Those who despise Satriani-eque melodies may want to stay way because Y's III is guitar-iffic. The music during the more pedestrian portions of the game are place holder and completely forgettable. The sound effects have also been given a fairly significant upgrade from Y's previous incarnation, as there are considerably more samples for weapon usage, spells and monster madness. You'll be jamming to the grinding axe as you cut a swath of destruction through the denizens of darkness that populate the catacombs of Y's III.  While the score of the game is fast paced, effective and of very good quality, it's the lack of variety in the musical selections that bring the rating down a notch.
 

Gameplay: 7/10

No more Milli-Vanilli chest bashing...Hurrah!! Hurrah!!. Y's III's gameplay is highly reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. You jump, and slash, and jump again. While the control is smoother than the famed NES game, the player cannot help but feel that the character sprite is "pasted" onto the background. This is incredibly apparent when Adol jumps... higher than anyone in the NBA mind you. He also has the ability, not unlike Kid Icarus, to float when he jumps, allowing for acrobatics heretofore untold in most games. That's right... Adol can fly in all directions, jumping straight into the air, curving to the far left then to the far right even before he lands, while holding the stiffest of jumping animation frames. The secret is holding the jump button down :p. But fooling aside, this aerial hijinks is not only funny, it's a necessity. Some of the platforming expected in the game requires grace of angelic proportions. While nowhere near as infuriating as some action games (Ninja Gaiden...), Y's III expects gamers to float through the air, with the greatest of ease, which Adol does quite easily. The only real problem is with a simple jump onto a small platform. Gamers will stare in wonder as Adol goes floating by the platform, careening to his untimely demise with the slightest press of a button. But, how can one complain when you finally have full control over your character, something this series needed badly.

Voice Acting: 5/10

What happened.... where did all the voice talent go? This...this...is....so Sega CD!!?!?!? While not quite as nauseating as "Night Trap" for Sega's disc spinner, the voice acting in Y's III is truly sub par. The main character has the advantage of being the strong silent type, but the other NPC's aren't so fortunate. the voice acting ranges from passable to laughable. If you can stand the "love interest" sounding like Sally from Accounting, then you may not mind the acting as much as I did. Sorry Falcom.... Hudson Soft USA recruited from the car pool for this one...
 

Storyline: 6/10

The village of Tigre as well as the surrounding lands are threatened by the demon Demanicus (ohhh... how original...) and it's up to our valiant youth the free them from their bonds of suffering. Pretty basic stuff, but with not much variety and no sidequests.  The story is told in script that is at times imaginative but overall dry and unpolished. The localization of much of the dialog is obviously rushed and much of the conversations seemed contrived and forced. Y's III pulls the adventurer through it's ho-hum tale by the nose with little fanfare.

It's hard not to be critical of Y's III, as it had much to live up to. While a fairly good game on it's own merits, it's a bit of a disappointment coming from such a proud pedigree. With the evolution of games on the established 16-bit systems, Y's III was hard pressed to compete with some of the emerging RPG franchises of the time. It succeeded in bringing more action elements where none had existed before, and that makes the game quite notable, but not enough to stand on a pedestal. In closing, Y's III is a good, not great, game and a fairly enjoyable distraction. Those expecting the "second coming" of Falcom's dynasty would have to wait until Y's IV for the true successor to the throne.
 
 

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