P.N. 03

Awhile back, Capcom announced a handful of Gamecube only titles. The first to make it to the US was P.N.03 (which stands for Product Number 03). P.N.03 takes place in some robot manufacturing plant that the main character, Vanessa, has been hired to take out. P.N.03 features lots of shooting action, full of dodging and stylish dance moves. You’re probably thinking “Dancing?!” Vanessa can perform energy moves that deal massive damage to her enemies, and these energy attacks are triggered by different dance moves she does. It’s actually pretty cool.

As you play through each level, you are rewarded with points. These points can be used to purchase more continues, more suits for Vanessa, or to power up the suits she has. Each suit has different stats that help in certain levels, such as power of blaster, defense, amount of health, and the power of your energy moves. You can spend points to level up these aspects of the suits, or even unlock an all new energy attack unique to that suit. This point system seems cool at first, but later on in the game it becomes insanely expensive to purchase or build up new suits and it just becomes annoying trying to save up the points needed.

Each level is made up of a certain number of rooms. After each room you are rated on your performance. You can earn extra points by building up combos, which happens when you kill one enemy quick enough after the last. Between levels you can spend points, save, proceed to the next level, or play a training mission.

Training missions are an important part of P.N.03. If you don’t play the training missions, you’ll never save up enough points for new suits. Also, it’s a great way to get used to the controls, since you don’t use up a continue if you die in a training mission. You have multiple chances to leave training missions while playing one, but if you wait until all rooms are explored you earn more points.  

The controls are very basic. You have a button that shoots, a button to dodge left or right, duck, jump, and a 180 degree turn. Although the controls are simple, they aren’t very reactive at all. There were many times where I needed to dodge a missile or a beam and the dodge didn’t register when I hit the button…resulting in death. Also, some of the robots later in the game move fast and smooth, but trying to avoid them is difficult since Vanessa doesn’t move the same way. She’s a bit slow and clunky, making otherwise intense battles just plain frustrating.

The sound effects are great. Laser sounds and explosions are believable, and the soundtrack fits the mood and setting of the game. If you let Vanessa sit she’ll even tap her foot to the music, and a lot of her moves seem to match the beat even if by chance.

The graphics are great, but unfortunately most of the levels take place inside of drab, boring robot bases. Every once in awhile you’re treated to outdoor levels that look great, but overall the levels look the same as the last. Vanessa really shows off excellent graphics and animations, which proves that the rest of the game could have done the same. Even the enemies are very similar, and the only real difference is the difference in difficulty.

Overall, P.N.03 is a mindless shooter. The downside is that it’s not even a good mindless shooter. There is so much potential, but user unfriendly controls hinder the level of enjoyment one can have. Also drab environments, repetitive enemies, and an extremely weak heroine add to the frustration but aren’t as much of a concern. I think if the controls were better, it wouldn’t be such a hard game and it would be more enjoyable. I still had fun with the first half of this game, and I definitely recommend a rental.

Gameplay: 5.5
The majority of the game is made up of shooting and dodging; with the rest being laser-dodging. I wouldn’t have a problem if controlling the heroine wasn’t so difficult. I loved the amount of unlockable items, though. There’s a plethora of suits and power ups for Vanessa, which make the training missions not only good for practice, but also for collecting points to spend.  

Graphics: 6
Vanessa looks and moves great, and a lot of the outdoor environments look amazing…but most of this game is repeats of the same hall over and over. All the indoor scenes are textured with plain grays, which is understandable being in a robot plant of sorts. After awhile, though, it gets really boring to see the same textures and colors.

Sound: 9
The soundtrack is P.N.03’s strong point in my opinion. It may just be that I like the genre, but the music is made up of fast techno beats that really fit the setting of the game. Plus, the way Vanessa moves to the music almost perfectly is really cool.

Difficulty: Hard
This game is just plain frustrating. At first the enemies aren’t too difficult, but then they seem invincible. The only way to remedy this is to buy a new suit…which takes hours of replaying the same levels over and over to save enough points to purchase one. On top of the bad controls, it’s easy stop playing.

Concept: 7
I love the concept of stylish shooting and dodging. P.N.03 even reminded me a little of Gungrave for the PS2; simple shooting and dodging action with a lot of style. Unfortunately the unresponsive controls and insane power of your enemies ruined the formula. There were lots of things I liked about this game, it just wasn’t very playable.

Overall: 5.8
I really like the shooting mixed with timed dodging. Also, the style Vanessa adds with her dance moves is one of the biggest draws, but poor controls and overpowered enemies bog this title down. Maybe the enemies seem harder because the controls are bad, but something needs fixing. P.N.03 definitely lacks, but it is fun for a little bit. My advice is to rent it and see what you think.