I don't have too much to say here that wasn't already covered in my reviews for the first two Final Fights. I still don't care much for any of these games, but Final Fight 3 is easily the best of the bunch and does make some key improvements over Final Fight 2
More characters allows for more variety and moveset versatility, which is somewhat wasted on enemies that are too dumb to live. Still, it feels like you can do more here than you could in the last two games, one major innovation being the inclusion of dash attacks that add some much needed pep to Final Fight's otherwise sluggish gameplay. You can also perform supers like you would in a fighting game with its own dedicated meter, which is fun but I am also just terrible at executing them. That is, at least, a skill issue.
There are multiple routes to take through the game's six levels, which results in different boss fights and endings. This gives the game some good replay value and encourages you to try out other characters on subsequent playthroughs. More linear beat-em-ups can sometimes be hard for me to come back to, as a character with a different moveset can be fun enough to mess around with, but progression remains mostly the same. So hey, nice job, Final Fight! You finally have something good going for you other than Mike Haggar!
All that said, the improvements Final Fight 3 makes to the formula never quite feel fully baked, not even by 1995 standards, but it is nice that Capcom decided that they should make some attempt to innovate on these games. It could have just done with a little more polish, but perhaps I'm also just being a bit too harsh consider how much the first two games sold me off of Final Fight.
More characters allows for more variety and moveset versatility, which is somewhat wasted on enemies that are too dumb to live. Still, it feels like you can do more here than you could in the last two games, one major innovation being the inclusion of dash attacks that add some much needed pep to Final Fight's otherwise sluggish gameplay. You can also perform supers like you would in a fighting game with its own dedicated meter, which is fun but I am also just terrible at executing them. That is, at least, a skill issue.
There are multiple routes to take through the game's six levels, which results in different boss fights and endings. This gives the game some good replay value and encourages you to try out other characters on subsequent playthroughs. More linear beat-em-ups can sometimes be hard for me to come back to, as a character with a different moveset can be fun enough to mess around with, but progression remains mostly the same. So hey, nice job, Final Fight! You finally have something good going for you other than Mike Haggar!
All that said, the improvements Final Fight 3 makes to the formula never quite feel fully baked, not even by 1995 standards, but it is nice that Capcom decided that they should make some attempt to innovate on these games. It could have just done with a little more polish, but perhaps I'm also just being a bit too harsh consider how much the first two games sold me off of Final Fight.