Fuga: Melodies of Steel 3 Review (HidesHisFace)
A beautiful ending to a criminally underrated series.
Fuga 3 finishes the trilogy in a spectacular manner.
One again, it is a direct sequel - and even though the game contains the summary of the previous two games, I highly recommend getting the other two for the complete experience.
The reason for this is simple - summary of the plot is one thing - but the game massively relies on interactions between the lovable cast of characters, and you do not want to miss on that.
You want to understand why these children stick with one another, and what's the better way than to spend time with them, right? See their struggles, their joys, their tears and smiles.
This is, once again the game that pulls your heartstrings pretty much from the start, and after that the tension just keeps rising.
The plot contunues pretty much exactly where the second game ended - you are on a resque mission to save a beloved friend - a mission that quickly turns into much more desperate struggle.
The twists and turns in the story are now greater than ever - especially when certain episodic characters you'd swear were subtle nods to the creative team, or 4th wall breakers turn out to be crucial - but in a good way. It all makes sense and all the pieces fall into their places.
The story has multiple bad ending points this time around - multiple places where you can mess up really badly. The series' trademark cannon retains its feature from the second game, taking the decision out of your hands if you mess up.
And since the game does a wonderful job at making you love and want to care for those kids... You have a massive incentive to do well again, no matter what.
As far as mechanics go - the core is identical to Fuga 1 and 2, with more quality of life features added. You can auto assign certain tasks - no more planting the vegetables on by one! And you have some more options to upgrade the tank.
The combat itself remains largely unchanged, but it received the addition of a very smooth combo system which rewards you for exploiting the enemy weaknesses and incentivises you to often swap the character compositions.
The final addition are the support characters. Beyond your base crew, you have a nice cast of friendlies who tag along and can, on occasion throw in an attack of their own and provide you with plethora of useful effects - from full-team armour reduction and other debuffs to some very substantial buffs for your own characters - like getting a full uninterrupted turn with everyone.
In any case - it is a worthy culmination of an underrated trilogy.
Should you give it a go? Absolutely.