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Mostly for fans of the series

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Monkey Punch's Lupin III has been a cultural icon in Japan for decades, so it only follows that with TV series', movies, action figures, etc. existing, video games would only make sense. While this is hardly the first Lupin video game, it's one of the first to hit American shores. The localization of this game comes on the heels of the modest success of the TV series that showed up on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block a few years back. Thus, the voices in this game use the same cast as the show. The voices turn out to be the game's strongest point; the main cast truly seemed to enjoy their roles. I wish the same could be said for the supporting cast, but that's the least of this game's problems.

The core of the game has you controlling Lupin as he performs his daring heists. In general, Lupin is placed in enemy territory, where he's tasked with finding his latest treasure. You're required to sneak through these areas with a minimum of noise, and this is done through a combination of straight sneaking and also employing Lupin's famous array of disguises, which allow you to move through occupied areas. This is the best part of the gameplay: finding the right disguise for the right occasion, and bluffing your way past the guards. In addition, there's a wealth of puzzles to be solved as you progress of varying kinds. These puzzles are largely well-done, including a rather cute minigame with Lupin's femme fatale, Fujiko.

The weakest part of this game is found once you get found out: the combat engine. Enemies are, for lack of a better term, pretty stupid. If you get spotted, all you really need to do is turn a corner or enter a different room, and your pursuers will give up, entirely. Really cheapens the importance of the sneaking aspect.

Further, the actual combat is pretty clunky. Lupin has a basic shooting attack, and can switch between first and third-person view while doing so, neither of which is easy to control, but it's not a real issue in beating the game, given the low-level AI.

There are also situations in the game where you are allowed to control Lupin's two cohorts, Daisuke Jigen, the marksman, or Goemon Ishikawa, the swordfighter. These scenes do break up the Lupin-time, but tend to suffer the same awkwardness that the rest of the combat does.

The graphics and sound department can be described as average. Nothing particularly stands out, but there are no serious issues, either. Fans of the Lupin series will recognize Lupin's classic theme song featured in this game.

The story is actually standard fare for Lupin movies and TV specials: Lupin's looking for a treasure, Zenigata's trying to stop him, and a bigger plot is unearthed beneath it all.

So, all in all, fans of Lupin may enjoy this outing. As a game, it's sub par, but as a Lupin experience, it's decent.

Mostly for fans, but could be enjoyed by all

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: February 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is a game really for fans only, and, for fans, it's wonderful. For casual game-playing fans of the spy/third (Ha! Pun!) person shooter sort genre, you'll probably want to check out a different title. Lupin the Third: The Treasure of the Sorcerer King has its pros and cons and the pros mostly outweigh the cons. The concept is superb, but the execution can sometimes leave some to be desired.

The sound and graphics are great. The opening animation ALONE is almost worth buying - fully CGI, the Lupin theme playing as Lupin speeds away in his Mercedes, Jigen assembles his gun and shoots at the screen, Fujiko sexes it up, and Goemon ... heh, you'll see. The music is very much in the Lupin-vein, but there is a noticeable lack of the theme in the game - you hear it only once during play that I can recall. I was kind of hoping it would be the Boss battle theme, but whatever. The music itself is jazzy, so it works. The only bad about the visuals is that the in-game cutscenes can look goofy at points, trying to mimic fully animated actions when the avatars can only be so limber, but all-in-all its acceptable.

The gameplay is where we have the most problems. "Lupin" is kind of ambivalent as to what it wants to be. Early levels are very stealth centered. You use disguises that are very, very fun. The disguises allow you to pass by guards and such, who you have to perform an action for to assuage their fears. After putting the guard at ease, you have the chance to perform the cleverest option of the game: pickpocketing. There's a gauge and at the right moment, you press a button and you pick the pocket. The items stolen usually serve no purpose other than for collection and the odd health pack, but it's still fun. Later on, the game takes on a more familiar "find your way around the maze and kill stuff" phase. Some interesting boss battles, but that's all that's markedly different. Obviously, when you're running around ninjas and stone golems, there's no need for stealth, so the disguises become moot, which is a shame. Despite not being able to push, pull, etc, it was still cool.

There are also chances to play as Goemon, your trusty swordsman, and Jigen the armory-with-legs. These provide a nice break, but they don't happen often enough and are unequal - there is only one mission in which you get to play as both of them. The other times, it's one or the other. They both have their pluses and minuses over Lupin, but again, the variety is the most fun.

Now then, the cons. No, not Lupin and the crew, I mean the bad stuff. First, I mentioned the gameplay is ambivalent. This means that you have very little practice with the battle maneuvers for when it comes time to fight, because, since Lupin is a gentleman thief, he doesn't kill "good guy". This means that when you're discovered in disguise, you have to either use a "sleep-gun" which emits a spray (so it's nothing like shooting the .38) or a frying pan (which is funny as hell to use) to knock out the guards. Again, it's Lupin-ish, but you have no chance to practice with the gun, which is a terrible system. You can more-or-less "blind-fire" (shooting where Lupin's third-person hand is) with two buttons, but to first person shoot you have to:
Press and hold L1 to bring up the first-person view (in which you cannot move)
Press and hold R1 to bring up the "Use" option
Toggle the crosshairs with the L3 joystick
Press Sqaure to fire

Considering you have to use this against enemies who can run at you at no less than 650,000 mph and do lots of damage, the later levels consist of the player shrieking and running away from the stone monsters hurling fireballs, in order to find a place to fire where one can get out of the way quickly. This gets annoying very quickly.

That's my first major gripe. The second is with the puzzles. Again these are the early levels. I like puzzles, I really do. But the items to solve the puzzles are infuriatingly placed. I spent about an hour running around a 3-level mansion looking for a key two-pixels in size. Fuuuun.

Those are the only huge problems. Zenigata isn't in it much, but he's fun when he is. He's the only formidable Generic Enemy: instead of grabbing and holding you, he judo tosses you. And again, Pops isn't in the latter half of the game. Ah well. (Note: he doesn't find it funny when you put on the Zenigata disguise and parade around in front of him).

The plot is good, an average Lupin story: "Hey, there's some treasure, a little sexy-cute girl is helping you, and oh, yes, the bad guy dabbles in the occult". The MAJOR problem:

*Minor Spoiler*

You never actually get the treasure. I don't mean LUPIN doesn't, I mean it's Boss Battle, Cutscene, End. Maybe I'm being picky, but after fighting demon stone lions, I want to manually Lupin walk over and make him swan dive Scrooge McDuck-style into gold doubloons. And where was the "Groping Fuji-cakes" mini-game? Heck, where was Fujiko? She was hardly in it.

*Spoiler Ends*

Overall, a superb game. The replay value is moderate: whether or not it's more or less fun depends on whether or not you'll like having an idea on how to solve the puzzles. If you're a Lupin fan, pick it post-haste, but be prepared to be frustrated as there isn't a guide just yet. If you're not a Lupin fan, firstly, either pass on this item for now or rent it first. Secondly, and most importantly, go rent "The Castle of Cagliostro". It's a Lupin film done by the guy who did "Spirited Away." You'll enjoy, I guarantee.

Great game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: February 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

For those who are Lupin fans and even those who aren't, this is a great game. The voiceovers from the same people who make the cartoon are excellent. However, you must have quite a decent amount of patience to play this game. Some of the puzzles take hours to figure out. Overall great game, worth the money.

Pros:

- Play as Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon
- Fantastic soundtrack and voices
- Very good graphics
- Lupin's impossible feats and antics
- Fun and addictive gameplay

Cons:

- Camera is horrible in some situations
- Typical "treasure in the castle" Lupin plot
- No invert aiming options available

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