I think this installment invites us to reconsider how we examine this series.

The fact is, Annoying Mouse Room 3 is not the most remarkable room put together by the mice, and perhaps it's focus on dazzling us with new things and all-too-clever subversions of the classic Annoying Mouse Room formula is somewhat misguided, but it is consistently entertaining in an almost effortless way, demonstrating that these mice have an almost singular grasp of the medium of rooms. Each block rotation is a delightful experience, and the mice themselves have never looked better.

The vocal parts of the fandom who uncritically champion the original Annoying Mouse Room, still looking for the complete thematic experience that wowed them so completely in that room will undoubtedly be disappointed, but after Annoying Mouse Room 2 disappointed me (look, don't @ me, the politics of that one are dire and basically inexcusable even if the elaborations of the core rotation loop are good. Don't know what the mice were thinking there), I found this a spectacular return to form.

My only major criticism is that while Annoying Mouse Room 3 delights in the moment to moment experience, it fails to really electrify intellectually, and if you asked me what it was saying, I'd probably just shrug. There's certainly elements that are potentially fascinating but I don't think there's enough to here to make a conclusive reading, so anything I might bring up is sheer speculation for Annoying Mouse Room 4. But I imagine the themes of the series will become far clearer with future intallments of Annoying Mouse Room, and honestly, the day we turn our noses up at a room that consistently delights and entertains as well as Annoying Mouse Room 3 is the day we officially lose our SOUL.