Darkstalkers 3

Pros • All the old favorite Darkstalkers are back • crazy animations • lots of moves • a bunch of cool new characters • great music	Cons • animation can get choppy • gameplay feels stale • sloppy sounds
Bottom Line Fans of Darkstalkers will probably be able to forgive the technical imperfections in this latest offering but ultimately the routine, even tedious, gameplay will ultimately turn this platter into another PSX dust collector. In many respects, the Darkstalkers franchise is Capcom's most artistically gratifying series. Filled with a collection of over-the-top cartoon monsters who have been brought to life with some of the zaniest animations ever designed for the videogame world, Darkstalkers has always been larger than life and ripe for worldwide success, which it has justly achieved. With Darkstalkers 3, Capcom has returned to deliver more of the same, good-natured, creepy fun associated with the previous two games. Unfortunately, next to Capcom's other recent PlayStation efforts, most notably Street Fighter Alpha 3, the gameplay of this latest Darkstalkers romp feels undernourished. It's not that DS3 is a bad game, it's just not innovative enough to really get excited about.

In many respects, the Darkstalkers franchise is Capcom's most artistically gratifying series. Filled with a collection of over-the-top cartoon monsters who have been brought to life with some of the zaniest animations ever designed for the videogame world, Darkstalkers has always been larger than life and ripe for worldwide success, which it has justly achieved.

Part of Darkstalkers' charm is that the campy nature of the games has turned out to be a great tongue-in-cheek poke at the super-serious, pseudo-cultish behavior associated with Street Fighter fanatics. After all, how seriously are we supposed to take a game that features a big, cute, abominable snowman that can open his mouth wider than the entire height of his body?

With Darkstalkers 3, Capcom has returned to deliver more of the same, good-natured, creepy fun associated with the previous two games. Unfortunately, next to Capcom's other recent PlayStation efforts, most notably Street Fighter Alpha 3, the gameplay of this latest Darkstalkers romp feels undernourished. It's not that DS3 is a bad game, it's just not innovative enough to really get excited about.

PLAY IT BLINDFOLDED

The major problem with Darkstalkers 3 is that the gameplay is just too darn derivative to excuse. The outlandish animated moves of the characters in the game are great and everything, but it's too easy to keep resorting to them. What you're left with is one giant cartoon hand slapping another. There's none of that patented back and forth, get in tight and jump away just in time, slap-happy addiction that you'll get from the Street Fighter games or even Capcom's own fantasy "Vs." games.

I found it odd but the thing that originally wowed me about Darkstalkers (the crazy animated attacks, for those not paying attention) had turned out to be the culprit in my new mystery; "The Case of the Disinterested Gamer." I just didn't feel connected to the fighting action in this game in the slightest. I really felt like I was just tapping buttons and pulling off quarter and half circle rotations on the D-pad to watch a slightly jerky cartoon creature feature. Yawn. Seen it before.

FIENDISH CAST

It's not as though Capcom didn't try to make a fun little game here. There are seven brand new playable characters, including a Little Red Riding Hood wannabe named B.B. Hood, who packs an arsenal that'll make wolves everywhere wet themselves. I enjoyed the bumble bee character, Q Bee, and the new baddie, Jedah, is menacing enough. Familiar favorites like the flaming, Pyron, the mummified, Anarkis, and the Frankenstein-ish, Victor, are all back for the ride. In all, there are 18 playables right off the bat and a host of hidden characters to earn as you go. You know the drill.

The visuals of Darkstalkers 3 are high quality but there is a discernable choppiness during some of the animations because of missing frames that couldn't make the transition from the arcade. The tiny details in the artwork and animation are terrific but at times there's simply too much happening on screen to care about.

The audio too, is a bit of a mess. The atmospheric, spooky techno music comes through loud and clear but the canned voice samples and combat sounds suffer greatly. It's pretty obvious that Capcom's technicians were still working out the kinks in the audio when this game was being put together, because SFA3 sounds so much better.

At least I can't complain about the control. The finesse of 2-D fighting was practically invented by Capcom. It'll take most of you seconds to learn some of Darkstalkers 3's best special moves. Don't be surprised, however, if those cute and wacky special moves start getting on your nerves seconds after that.

Fans of Darkstalkers will probably be able to forgive the technical imperfections in this latest offering. The game does come with nifty extras like a small gallery of production art images, as well as a cool character editing feature which will let you build up your Darkstalker's attributes and save the character to memory card for later use. However, seeing as I was once a hardcore Darkstalkers fan myself, I'm pretty sure that the routine, even tedious, gameplay will ultimately turn this platter into another one of your PSX dust collectors.

My recommendation? Stick with Darkstalkers/Vampire Savior anime instead.

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