Lands of Lore III

The Good
There were a number of innovations that should have made the game better (but they didn't, necessarily). The familiar you can choose, the guilds you can choose. The obstacle course in the warriors' guild was really cool. The pharmacopoeia system is interesting, although, like LOL2, it is rather expansive and the inventory capacity is not. The cutscenes, the hallmark of Westwood games, were nicely rendered, although Dawn just looked stupid. What happened to hottie Dawn from LOL 1 and especially 2? You get to eat rat meat of the giant walking rats you kill, if you like that kind of thing.

The music was pretty good. The score was done by David Arkenstone, again. Not as good as LOL2, but good.

The Bad
It will be necessary to compare this game to LOL2, as that is the point of view I come from. A parallel between LOL 2 and 3 would be between Star Control 2 and Star Control 3.

Where to start? The storyline. Let me sum up the game: The draracle from LOL2 has left this world, leaving Jakel to watch things. Jakel was the annoying ghosty-guy from LOL2.

You go into some NOD base toward the end. Kind of dumb. Let's just turn the last half of the game into an advertisement for our successful C&C franchise, shall we? I have no problem with capitalism and product placement if it does not distract from the game. This did distract from the game.

The graphics are better in a technical sense from LOL2, but there is little worth looking at. There is no video capture that really endured me to LOL2 and the C&C games. The resolution may be higher in this game, but it just wasn't made with the love and creativity, the way LOL 1 and 2 were. Some of the scenery and buildings were nice, but the NPCs and enemies just looked like poo.

Like LOL2, fighting was entirely non-fun. This is a point that maybe they should have improved upon. There was no noticeable improvement in the "3-D" engine. Also like LOL2, you get to enjoy hours of disk-swapping fun!

The Bottom Line
There are some interesting things to see, but this is a game strictly for fans of the other LOL games, if just to satisfy your curiosity. It's not very good. It certainly seemed to drive the stake into the series' heart. I don't blame the writers, developers, and other talent. I expect it has more to do with lack of resources and other upper-level decisions.

It's hard to make a really good, memorable game. Westwood just didn't do it this time.