Yo-kai Watch 3

 3DS
User Score
8.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 91 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 79 out of 91
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 91
  3. Negative: 10 out of 91
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  1. ND-Bringer
    Aug 26, 2023
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Yo-Kai Watch Three is a mess. An interesting mess, but a mess nonetheless. In the third main series adventure, Nate moves to the beautiful country of Bbq. While back home the newest watch holder Hailey begins her own adventure assisting newcomer mascot, Usapyon. And on paper, it sounds like an entertaining adventure. Playing as two different heroes while exploring various new and familiar areas, collecting both Japanese and American themed spirits, referencing plenty of pop culture. Thematically, it's very entertaining.

    However much like Yo-Kai Watch Blasters, while it's visually impressive especially with the cutscene animations and the soundtrack is fantastic, even more so with the dubbed lyric songs. The actually gameplay is very hit and miss. Don't get me wrong, I love the new tile based battle system and the majority of the generation three Yo-Kai have really great designs and abilities. But I can't believe some of the design choices the developers made.

    Mirapo fast travel is incredibly limited in the first few chapters of the game. In order to unlock new levels you have to constantly switch back and forth between characters, making exploration feel limited. The stealth mini games besides Terror Time, feel pointless because you fight the bosses anyway at the end of the chapter. The Bada-Bing Tower level forces you to replay mini games and previous level themes, killing the tone. And the Tower of Zenlightenment is not only a sad replacement for the Infinite Inferno, but also bans saving and inventory healing, making the bosses feel unfair.

    And I haven't even gotten to the biggest eyesores, Blasters Treasure and Zombie Night. While I enjoy the new dungeon crawler elements, Blasters is still obnoxious as ever to control. One hand to attack, one hand to move, one hand to use the touch screen. What's that? You don't have three hands? Well too bad. And like before, even if you build a solid team, you're likely to get blisters on your fingers with the amount of attacking and dodging you'll be doing during boss fights. It's so repetitive.

    And then their's Zombie Night, a stealth survival game. And while the zombies are intimidating, their existence feels forced. Because there isn't any lore explaining why they're roaming around, why the player has to stop them, or why only two humans can exist in this dimension. I like creepy Yo-Kai Watch levels, but fighting the zombies with nothing but a one hit wonder hammer is really lame. I find it more entertaining to just let the zombies beat the crap out of Nate and dig into his invisible organs.

    In fact, I hate this mode so much that I actively avoid sleeping in Nate's bed. If I can't fight these zombies with my Yo-Kai friends, then I'm not fighting them at all. Though even then it's hard to enjoy the main story mode when every ten minutes a new mini game kicks me in the stomach. Yo-Kai Watch Two had lots of mini games as well, but the majority of those were optional. And any that were required to beat the game were incredibly easy. I will say that I'm glad that I can fight the Oni again during Terror Time, that's what I missed from the first game.

    Overall, this game has its moments, but there are way more misses than hits. When you see the fatal flaws like Sighborg-Y being apart of a brand new tribe where he is the only existing member. It's easy to realize that this third installment has more gimmicks than enjoyable levels. The adventure may look promising, but this ship runs on disappointment and pointless Jibanyan clones.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

4
#4 Best 3DS Game of 2019
2
#2 Most Discussed 3DS Game of 2019
5
#5 Most Shared 3DS Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 26 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 26
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 26
  3. Negative: 0 out of 26
  1. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Aug 28, 2019
    85
    Level-5 just seems to pile on too many extras and makes things feel cluttered. [Issue #39 – May/June 2019, p. 71]
  2. DarkStation
    Feb 28, 2019
    80
    Yo-kai Watch 3 is the ultimate edition of the series thus far. It may not have evolved much from 1 and 2, but its new Tactics Board combat system and novel American-inspired setting keep the game fresh. With two separate protagonists and storylines to tell, the game takes a massive 40+ hours to complete, not including the plethora of sidequests and full-fledged minigames. Unfortunately, the story drags for much of the first half, and the two towns may be too big for their own good. All things considered, this latest entry revived my fandom for Level-5’s hit series, and I wait with bated breath for what the Nintendo Switch’s Yo-kai Watch 4 has in store.
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  3. GameSpot
    Feb 15, 2019
    60
    There's not much to Yo-kai Watch 3, but there’s still a lot of charm to be found. The towns of Springdale and BBQ are both bright, pleasant places to be; the people in it are even more so. Visiting the world of Yo-kai Watch for the third time is a fun time, even though you’ll end up staying a lot longer than perhaps necessary.
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