Up there as one of the best Japan Studio titles
+ There's a LOT of depth to this game, from your character classes, to their weapons, to the status effects. It definitely is a fleshed out RPG more than a rhythm game. You can min-max stats, level up anything equippable, change the weather to your advantage, and gain new class skills the more you play. The best part about all of this is that it was never overwhelming, as it's pretty streamlined. And while all of this could be done in previous Patapon titles, it is on a whole other level in this title. It feels like the magnum opus of the series.
+ Uberheroes were a great addition, it was fun mixing and matching the one you play as, as they all have their own unique skills and special attack. They weren't all balanced the same, but it was still worthwhile trying all the different Uberheroes as their skills can transfer to other Uberheroes.
+ The gameplay is extremely addicting, it's the perfect "10 minute game" as the missions are pretty short but I found myself sinking hours in this game per play session since it's really fun to try to get rare drops to slowly better your army.
+ Can genuinely be tough at times. There is still some skill required as you can't just spam the attack chant, some bosses can 1-shot most of your units so you have to know when to defend, retreat, or jump and do this all on beat. I wouldn't say it's as hard as Patapon 2, as Patapon 3 is pretty forgiving if you input the wrong chant, but it still has its moments.
+ Cool soundtrack! The game sometimes plays a track in the background of missions and they are energetic as hell.
+ The bosses and enemies were unique, they pose different challenges and I like how they brought back some bosses from previous installments.
~ Can get VERY grindy, as is tradition in RPG games. Usually for every mission I would unlock later in the game, I would have to go back a few missions to grind for a while until I got either better equipment or new skills.
~ Tondenga Uberhero. He's all you need. He can pretty much solo entire missions if your stagger and crit rate is high enough. He is miles above any other Uberhero which is a double-edged sword, since while it is fun to finally be OP and see enemies get destroyed, it meant I have little reason to try out the other Uberheroes (aside from getting their skills so I can use them on Tondenga). I was using Yarida's Uberhero for the longest and then got stuck, so then I switched over to Tondenga, leveled him up a bit, and never switched to any other uberhero.
~ The leveling up system can be annoying. Essentially, you can level up only once per mission, no matter how underleveled you are. So to level up classes I was really low level on would be a massive chore, even if I took them to endgame missions.
- The mission loop is extremely repetitive, to the point where it never deviates from its formula. Usually you would go to a standard mission, then unlock an arena, then a tower where you have to do 3-5 floors without dying, and repeat this cycle until the end of the game. Granted, every mission was fun, but I wish they switched it up from the same formula
+ There's a LOT of depth to this game, from your character classes, to their weapons, to the status effects. It definitely is a fleshed out RPG more than a rhythm game. You can min-max stats, level up anything equippable, change the weather to your advantage, and gain new class skills the more you play. The best part about all of this is that it was never overwhelming, as it's pretty streamlined. And while all of this could be done in previous Patapon titles, it is on a whole other level in this title. It feels like the magnum opus of the series.
+ Uberheroes were a great addition, it was fun mixing and matching the one you play as, as they all have their own unique skills and special attack. They weren't all balanced the same, but it was still worthwhile trying all the different Uberheroes as their skills can transfer to other Uberheroes.
+ The gameplay is extremely addicting, it's the perfect "10 minute game" as the missions are pretty short but I found myself sinking hours in this game per play session since it's really fun to try to get rare drops to slowly better your army.
+ Can genuinely be tough at times. There is still some skill required as you can't just spam the attack chant, some bosses can 1-shot most of your units so you have to know when to defend, retreat, or jump and do this all on beat. I wouldn't say it's as hard as Patapon 2, as Patapon 3 is pretty forgiving if you input the wrong chant, but it still has its moments.
+ Cool soundtrack! The game sometimes plays a track in the background of missions and they are energetic as hell.
+ The bosses and enemies were unique, they pose different challenges and I like how they brought back some bosses from previous installments.
~ Can get VERY grindy, as is tradition in RPG games. Usually for every mission I would unlock later in the game, I would have to go back a few missions to grind for a while until I got either better equipment or new skills.
~ Tondenga Uberhero. He's all you need. He can pretty much solo entire missions if your stagger and crit rate is high enough. He is miles above any other Uberhero which is a double-edged sword, since while it is fun to finally be OP and see enemies get destroyed, it meant I have little reason to try out the other Uberheroes (aside from getting their skills so I can use them on Tondenga). I was using Yarida's Uberhero for the longest and then got stuck, so then I switched over to Tondenga, leveled him up a bit, and never switched to any other uberhero.
~ The leveling up system can be annoying. Essentially, you can level up only once per mission, no matter how underleveled you are. So to level up classes I was really low level on would be a massive chore, even if I took them to endgame missions.
- The mission loop is extremely repetitive, to the point where it never deviates from its formula. Usually you would go to a standard mission, then unlock an arena, then a tower where you have to do 3-5 floors without dying, and repeat this cycle until the end of the game. Granted, every mission was fun, but I wish they switched it up from the same formula