You d think that Takara would ve gotten it right the third time. After the big success of Battle Arena Toshinden, the great BAT fighting series went from star to skunk in a matter of sequels. Didn't they ever learn that sequels are usually a disappointment?

Don t get me wrong, the game has a lot of improvements. Like Sega's Fighting Vipers, the levels possess walls and ceilings. This allows a player to pin an opponent up a against a wall or bounce someone off the ceiling. Either of these can result into some pretty nasty combos.

The graphics? Hmm... If you set Battle Arena Toshinden 3 next to the first one, the first BAT looks better. On the other hand, the power moves look extremely colorful and add a little excitement to the game. But overall, the game doesn t look too impressive.

Gameplay has somewhat been improved, but compared to games like Soul Blade and Tobal 2, this game just doesn t cut it. Even when the game moves at 60 fps, the game still plays choppy and tends to be unresponsive at times.

Perhaps i'm too nostalgic. After playing BAT 3, I had to turn it off and pop in the first BAT. This game started so many great ideas, it's painful to see such a popular fighting series take a downward spiral to being a bunch of crap.