Game Info
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Developer: SNK
Publisher: SNK
Year of Release: 1989

Game Review & Impressions
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The third game in the Ikari Warriors franchise is a bit of an oddity, and a disappointing one at that.

Ikari III retains the top-down view, but eschews guns and grenades for fists and feet, resulting in a weird beat 'em up that looks and plays an awful lot like SNKs other brawler, P.O.W. In fact, many of the enemies are of an identical design, as are the punching and kicking animations, all redrawn for the three-quarters top-down view.

Unfortunately, this is where the similarities end. While P.O.W. was a decent enough brawler, Ikari III is anything but. The game uses some kind of damage lockout system that renders certain enemies immune to damage for several frames after being hit, and the fact you can only take a couple of hits before dying makes the game ludicrously difficult. The flying kick offers some measure of protection by rendering the player immune to damage whilst airborne, but having to spam this move all the time makes things very boring indeed.

In another nod to P.O.W. it's possible to pick up knives and an assault rifle (with limited ammo) from defeated enemies. You'll definitely want to hang on to these for as long as possible, especially during the final level, which features a very strict time limit.

In a nutshell, Ikari III is a top-down version of P.O.W. with fancier graphics, but awful gameplay. I was thoroughly disappointed with this, and find it difficult to recommend.

Information & Trivia
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Video Notes
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Related Longplays & Videos
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Chapters
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