Review Batrice 2/5 · Mar 7, 2020
Surprising nobody, this game is janky and weird and a stepping stone to Mikami's offerings in the future. The thing I'm weirded out by is that everybody credits Vanquish as PN03's estranged child when the mecahnics feel more like a (much much much jankier) version of God Hand's.
Aesthetically, sure, it feels more in line with vanquish with its clinical …
Surprising nobody, this game is janky and weird and a stepping stone to Mikami's offerings in the future. The thing I'm weirded out by is that everybody credits Vanquish as PN03's estranged child when the mecahnics feel more like a (much much much jankier) version of God Hand's.
Aesthetically, sure, it feels more in line with vanquish with its clinical white environments and mediocre techno (sorry takada) but the ranged shooting is entirely different (and a lot worse), being more about positioning and dodging from spot to spot, with you being rooted to the ground when attacking and unable to attack while dodging and jumping, while vanquish is all about ridiculous amounts of movement. Both offer cover shooting (sort of, in PN03's case, there's terrain that lets enemies miss you but then makes you easy pickings for other firing angles) and then eschews it once you show mastery of its mechanics, but the controls, the dodging being split into backstepping, side-to-side swaying, and a flashy duck, the overtly arcadey presentation, this feels much more like God Hand than it does Vanquish.
Unless you're fascinated by the Capcom Five and its failure like I am or you're a scholar of Mikami's post-RE games, I would recommend you skip this one and just play God Hand or Vanquish instead. They're so much more fun than this janky mess.