Boo Hoo No More Mother 3.

[leene_chan]

I finished the game late last night. My play time was a little over 30 hours. I wish it had been longer...

I played this game every day from when it arrived in the mail. I'm not sure how long it was compared to Mother 2 (because that game has no clock) but it felt like it blew by fast. I admit I was obsessed!

And here's my rundown:

Gameplay: It was a traditional turn-based RPG with a twist. Sometimes doing combo attacks in time with the battle music was tricky but when it worked I could do a lot of damage and it was fun! Other than that there weren't any frills but the game was easy to get in to. There were many save points and I literally could pick up the game, play it for five minutes and put it down, then pick it up again. There weren't many puzzles to solve. The boss battles were challenging but I didn't have to fanatically level-grind like I did in the first two games. I finished the game at level 64 and died four times but not against the last boss. For me this was the perfect little handheld game but it was much too short! I'll give it a 9 for gameplay because while the battle system in the first two games was a drag the music-timed attack system in Mother 3 was a joy for this Pop'N Music fan.

Characters: Well fleshed-out little character sprites! Of the main characters Duster probably received the most development (which was probably why he was my favorite!) but because the first three chapters have different main characters you have the opportunity to even hear the silent hero speak. It was odd that of the lead party only two speak after Chapter 4--because Lucas is mute and Boney is a dog--but considering that in the first two games none of the characters speak more than a few lines Mother 3 had a phenomenal amount of character interaction. I'll give it a 9 for characters because even the old men had their touching moments but I wish Kumatora's backstory hadn't been discussed only in exposition by a character at the end of the game.

Music: Great. I didn't believe I'd ever hear good music in a Mother game! Because of the music theme it must've been important but thank you, thank you for giving this game good music! A 10. The sound player is a nice touch but I'd still like to buy the soundtrack.

Graphics: Stylized. I know a lot of people complained that it didn't have much better graphics than Mother 2 but the character sprites animated well and the backgrounds were colorful. I'll give it an 8 for graphics because even though they were simple and cartoonish everything looked crisp, not grainy.

Story: What a depressing story! I liked the Chapter system because I didn't use a FAQ and it was a surprise to see who the next main character would be. Unlike in Mother 2 there weren't many goofy bits but it was more faithful to the bittersweet spirit of the original Mother. (Which by the way I will finish one of these days.) I like dark stories that cost me sleep and I'll give the story a 10. I considered it to be an antidote to all the gimmicky, contrived stories in recent RPGs. The ending was sad but after I viewed the whole thing (by scrolling to the left on the black screen) I thought it was quite satisfying. Too bad I plugged my name in as "chinchin" at the beginning of the game, it really spoiled the mood! ^o^

Fun Factor: I worshipped this game and now that it's over I'm going to sink into depression. I'll give it a 10 and hope that I'll love again.

My Overall Score: 9.3. Because I'll never give a game a 10. Never.