Welcome to VC Weekly, N-Europe's guide to the wonderful world of Nintendo's download service. Written by Sam C Gittins.

It's a one game instalment this time around with Sega deciding to release an installment from one of their flagship RPG series, it's not amazing but it'll do. Anyway enough from me and on with the erm... game!

Available for download this week we have...

• Phantasy Star III : Generations of Doom

Points: 800
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega
Released: 1991
System: Megadrive

So here it is, as many fans will no doubt know this is the weakest link in the Phantasy Star Chain; that's not to say it's a terrible game, it's just not as accomplished as the rest of it's brethren.

As Rhys, the crown prince of the Orakian kingdom of Landen, you are engaged to be married to Maia, a woman from a rival kingdom.But Maia is kidnapped on your wedding day, setting you on a quest filled with twists and turns that will reintroduce you to people and places from previous Phantasy Star games.

Indeed the main selling point of this game is the (much hyped at the time) Generations System which not only has you playing through as the main hero, making various choices along the way but also you play as the offspring of Rhys so there are multiple roles which you get the chance to assume.

This also opens up a string of sub storylines which vary depending entirely on which path you have chosen and while this does add potential replay value and longevity to the game, you will most likely only want to play through it once.

Aside from the unique generations system everything else is remarkably unchanged and in some places worryingly worse off; visuals are actually worse that it's predecessor with decent character models and sparsely integrated cut-scenes but drab environments, yes you get to revisit past locations from the earlier games but they seemed to have used that as an excuse to not put any effort into the aesthetics.

It sounds are pretty average too with some nice audible accompaniments which are otherwise frequently forgettable; the random encounters, travelling from place to place, all the basic elements of the series are here but it's just not as good as the rest. If you really need an RPG fix then you will certainly get it with this but for everyone else, you may as well wait for the phenomenal Phantasy Star IV which is surely just around the corner now.

Verdict : The phantasm of the Phantasy Star series, perfectly playable yet passive.

Thats it for another installment of VC Weekly which will return again soon. So until then, enjoy the rest of the week and Game On!

Sam Gittins
[email protected]

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