This game is
awesomeness confirmed
Picked Date Masamune (who greets you with "LONG TIME NO SEE!" at the select screen
) and went through his story on normal. People have been mentioning branching paths for other characters, but I didn't see anything for him. However, I was able to pick from several stages to play at a time, so maybe that's what changes your progression? When it was all over, I had cleared 8 stages out of 38 total. Each stage takes around 30-40 minutes to clear, and various gimmicks/hazards make their return from the previous games. The two levels I enjoyed the most were a battle against Maeda Toshiie and Matsu (it starts off in a small field; Matsu's not there and Toshiie will talk nonstop about food and how he's waiting for her to bring some more. She joins him and then as you fight them both, she will run and stop to give him riceballs. Then they retreat and have a picnic.
You have to take down their army, destroying their food stockpiles as fast as you can, since they will pop up and resupply an area if you linger in another long enough. Once you get them all, you can then take them down.) I also liked a stage against Tokugawa Ieyesu. At one point, you will start being chased by the huge, mech-like Honda Tadakatsu. After you take down a portion of his life, he retreats to an area in the center of the map and starts reigning down lightning bolts all over the place. It was awesome! The game's over-the-top nature is still in full effect, as are some comical cut scenes (one sub-boss walked into the "camera" and smacked his head; another couldn't draw his sword and used too much force, throwing it away
)
All the characters now have more moves available this time around. In Sengoku Basara 2, you only had two special attacks to use in-game. Now you have four (and they can be leveled up), and they are all available with different button combinations; no more switching between each one. You also will unlock three "super" moves. One can be used at a time. For Masamune, I unlocked a long-range energy ball attack that can be held and then released. It doesn't take any meter to use, but has a bit of a charge-up time to make up for it. The increase in moves, plus being able to power-up and use a musou attack makes each character feel more complete than in previous games. You also have a bodyguard that can be assigned and commanded to attack/defend depending on how you set him up. He can be leveled up as well. Weapons are found in-game and can be equipped with found or purchased attributes to strengthen their abilities.
There's only story and free modes this time around. Two players can play together and fight both the enemies and for the loot scattered throughout the game. SB3 runs at 60FPS in single player, with some frame rate drops (although no slowdown) here and there. It's also nice to finally have the characters' mouths moving when they speak. The game is nothing really stellar visually, but it runs nicely and has good animation. You'll face plenty of NPCs that you'll wish were playable - a number of them from SB2- as they clearly have all their own moves and abilities like the playable characters do. Guess Capcom is saving them for an inevitable expansion pack.
Going to try Magoichi next. He is now a she in this game and wields what appears to be a magnum, shotgun, and busts out a bazooka during her musou attack.
