Customer Reviews

Iron Soldier 3: Game

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Iron Soldier 3 is THE REASON why I purchased a Nuon-enhanced DVD player in the first place. Why? Being a huge fan of the series on the Atari Jaguar, the first time I saw screenshots of this game I knew this was the version of IS that I had always envisioned and hoped for!

After waiting and waiting for months for a final production copy (which is still on the way we're told), VM Labs generously provided Nuon users with a free copy of the buggy/beta version of this epic game. Has the wait been worth it? The answer is a most definite YES!!

Few games released on next generation systems can hold my interest. With the exception of Shenmue for the Dreamcast and the titles on my Nuon such as Merlin Racing, Iron Soldier has been my most played game for the last few weeks. What makes the game so great? The way the game conveys the sense of actually piloting a mech is what has been the hallmark of the Iron Soldier series. The enhanced graphics, weapons and missions round out this incredible game. There's nothing better than walking around, stomping on tanks, shooting down helicopters and leveling wave after wave of buildings with a steady stream of rockets, cruise missiles, and gatling guns! The explosion effects are the best I've ever seen!

You must own this game!

Oh, and when the final version of the game does finally come out I will definitely buy it!

While this is not a perfect game, Iron Soldier 3 offers one of NUON's better gameplay experiences. Based on the long-standing series started on Atari's Jaguar and later continued on the Playstation, the NUON version of Iron Soldier 3 ups the visuals considerable over its PSOne counterpart, with a better framerate, better textures and nicer particle effects. On the downside, with no memory save feature, everything is handled via a code, which can make life a bit of a pain, not to mention the fact that saving settings and scores is impossible.

The truly sad thing is that the game was pulled from shelves almost as soon as it was released (some say it was a buggy program, though Eclipse denies it, while others think it had more to do with the events of 9/11, since you can topple skyscrapers in the game), so it's very rare (most available copies were commercial release discs deemed as DEMO's and handed out via a promotion over at the NUON DOME; retail cased copies are VERY RARE).

While this is not a perfect game, Iron Soldier 3 offers one of NUON's better gameplay experiences. Based on the long-standing series started on Atari's Jaguar and later continued on the Playstation, the NUON version of Iron Soldier 3 offers enhanced visuals from its PSOne counterpart and takes advantage of VM Labs' NUON Processor, found in the Toshiba SD2300, and Samsung's N501 & N2000. Gamers who take the plunge will be greeted by multiple gameplay modes (arcade, mission and multiplayer), some of NUON's better 3D graphics and some of the most effective surround sound effects in any game (Eclipse was a pioneer in this area, as the earlier Jaguar Iron Soldier games managed to also excel aurally).

While NUON titles have been few and far between since the platform's launch in 2000 (courtesy of Samsung's Extiva), this title, along with Jeff Minter's Tempest 3000 offer incentive enough for most gamers who really need a better DVD player to at least look into the NUON technology.

The now ill-fated NUON just couldn't get a break. Plagued with poor (or completely absent) marketing support and buggy software, the DVD-based player/game system hit the market with a huge and painfully silent THUD. For evidence of its demise, look no further than IRON SOLDIER 3. Once hyped as a big release for this little system, IS3 was on the market for less than a week before being yanked due to a rather significant software bug. All copies were recalled after it was discovered that the game would crash on certain NUON players. Despite a promise of a prompt re-issue, the cash-strapped VM LABS (owner of NUON) was in such poor financial shape that they simply could not afford to re-release the fixed version of the game! If you have managed to get your hands on a copy, then a nice bounty is to be had among the stubborn NUON diehards via eBay Auctions. Otherwise, this remains an aloof novelty item that is symbolic of the misguided NUON system itself. R.I.P. NUON.