Another week and another review of a Garten of Banban game. Picked up alongside Garten of Banban II and IV, I have (as of typing) just this moment completed the third game in the series; Garten of Banban III. As always, unavoidable spoilers to follow.
After taking yet another downward elevator, you end up on yet another testing floor. You learn pretty soon that this is the last floor that was still in use when the event happened (where the staff and children of a kindergarten mysteriously vanished). It is here that you encounter the goliath sized psychic jelly fish monster; Stinger Flynn, perhaps the creature that is responsible for the missing children and the outbreak of the creatures.
Like I said in my last review, this follows the Poppy Playtime formula by having each instalment be larger than the last. My final play time for this third chapter was about two hours, I'm sure that included the many times I died. This time around there are four main areas, each accessed via a horizontal lift that travels over a vast chasm. It follows the by now familiar format of searching out key cards to open further doors into the complex. Stinger Flynn was an interesting antagonist, I particularly liked the trippy dream sequences you fall into when he psychically connects with you. It was fun to see the non-sentient objects from the second game make a new appearance here. There are the usual drone based puzzles where you have to press switches, including one that takes place as a boss fight against a two headed turtle. The beach cannon puzzle from last time around returns, the only difference here is that you are playing as Stinger Flynn in a flashback sequence, of which there were two, neither of which was particularly exciting . The text on the wall is again written really badly from what appeared to be MS Paint, this led to some annoyances with later puzzles simply for not being able to make out what the primitive looking diagrams were meant to represent. Best puzzle came towards the end, an escape room one where you have to keep resetting the room's look, so that your attempts at escape are not noticed by a patrolling creature. Another memorable one had you performing an operation on a creature, while balancing spinning plates (so to speak) as you did so.
I enjoyed playing this chapter, but I wouldn't say it was as jump scare filled as last time. In fact, while there are jump scares, not a single one made me actually jump. The main antagonist is the mostly static jelly fish, but the teacher creature, Jumbo Josh, and Banban all make returning appearances, as do the birds. The obligatory chase sequence this time around involves you riding on the back of a bird, that was different, if a little messy with how it controlled. The lore comes more from what Stinger Flynn tells you than files found around the place, though they too feature. I actually managed to play a found videotape, but it wasn't very impressive at all.
The game leads up to a fun end, but again, not a very memorable actual exit to the game.
Garten of Banban III was more of the same, it was neither better or worse than the second game, perhaps, with the jump scares not landing, and a few noticeable glitches, this was slightly worse thinking about it. Still, I again finished my playtime wanting to see what was next. I'm sure it will be underwhelming in a design way, but the thought of getting to see an unused floor of the mammoth underground complex has me intrigued.
SCORE:
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