As a big fan of arcade-style shooters of pretty much every kind, I’m very mindful of the fact that the eShop is packed with a load of greatness. Of course, when there’s so much quality to choose from, it allows the average gamer to then be pretty discerning if they’re not committed to simply buying everything, so every detail can matter, especially when most of these titles have their own distinct strengths and weaknesses. 

With all of this in mind, Psyvariar 3 is just an odd bird to me. Having never played any of its predecessors, and having no sense of legacy, all I can relate is my impression loading it up the first time, and that’s general bafflement. I suppose if I was a writer in charge of coming up with lore for a game I’d put my all into it, but the opening seriously over-long crawl explaining what feels like the entire universe that’s a backdrop for the action, just made me sad. Knowing most people will never read it, that it will be immediately forgotten since there’s no reason to hang onto even its most minor details, and that it contributes absolutely nothing to appreciating this arcade shooter more or less, makes its presence plain bizarre.

The thing is, since you could just skip over it and get to the action, that could well have been a forgotten footnote, overshadowed by great play. The problem is that’s only partially true though, as while the shooting action is pretty solid (even if not perhaps unique) the gorgeous but very active background movement was something I found to be a consistent distraction. In some spots it’s really strange too, as the backgrounds can feel pretty disconnected from what’s happening, moving at what feels like different rates of speed, and to a small degree it would sometimes give me a headache. The problem is, if you hit the wall the same way I did, there’s really nothing here that justifies sticking with the game, given the level of competition out there. The buzz system rewarding you for close calls is nice, as are the various modes that will let you make your runs bite-sized on up to as long as you can manage, but for me I just couldn’t get past the overall visual experience that may be attractive, but not great for accurate play.