Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 3: Kowareyuku Machi to Kanojo no Uta

Gameplay

Players can choose to play as a boy (Naoki Kōsaka) or a girl (Rina Makimura), both of whom start the game trapped in a bus an underground tunnel after a large earthquake. Survivors the player can encounter include Saki Honjō, a nurse turned amateur musician, and Ayami Hazuki, a high school girl. The two player characters have slightly different attributes, which affect gameplay: Naoki is physically strong and self-confident, but becomes stressed more easily, while Rina is physically weak but has a calmer personality, which causes her stress levels to rise more slowly.

During Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 3, the thirst and body temperature meter has been replaced by a stress meter. The meter rises after engaging in angry conversations and witnessing/experiencing various traumatic incidents. The player can choose from several responses during conversations, allowing them to choose how to behave towards fellow survivors. These responses allow the player to control the character's personality, and also have occasional effects on the character, such as lowering or raising their stress levels. High stress will affect the character's movements, causing them to have trouble walking. The character's health meter will drop during hazardous situations, such as touching fire or remaining in the vicinity of a gas leak. The character's status bars can be replenished or reduced by consuming food and medicine, or completely restored by resting on a bench, which also allows the player to save the game.

A number of different outfits and compasses can be collected during the game.

2-4 players can play cooperatively via ad hoc connection, unlike the first two games, which were only single player.

Story

Leaving his home for a new life in a Megalopolis as a university student is a dream come true for Naoki (or Rina, if the player chooses to play the game as a girl). However, the dream soon turns into a nightmare when an earthquake strikes and destroys the city, leaving Naoki/Rina trapped in a tunnel. Now they must survive the catastrophe using wit, physical prowess and luck, rescue other survivors trapped in the debris and run to find reinforcements, or any sort of help. During the game, the player gets to interact with their two female companions, the relationship between them affecting the ending. Hazuki is held at gunpoint on the edge of a skyscraper by her half brother, Yoichi, as he reveals his plan for revenge over the murder of his beloved daughter. He's then attacked by the player as Saki distracts him. The building is suddenly hit by waves, causing Hazuki to lose balance. The player can then opt to save her or let her die. Letting her die will lead to a neutral bad end. Saving her will also lead to a bad end if the player has negative or neutral relationships with both characters, the player dying along with Hazuki. Having positive relationships with either will save both Hazuki and the player, leading to a good end in which the player supports Saki in her singing career or stays with Hazuki to insure her happiness. There is also bad endings gained by abandoning your companions to escape alone or sacrificing yourself during cutscene choices.

Main characters

In the game, the player may choose between 2 main characters:

19 years old, a university student on his way to Central Island.

18 years old, a university student on her way to Central Island.

Supporting characters

A 22-year-old nurse who aspires to be a musician. She formerly dated a member of the band she was in, but the two argued and broke up after she quit to become a nurse. Saki later learns that her boyfriend also quit the band to follow in his father's footsteps, taking over his father's factory. She becomes caught in the earthquake while trying to leave the island, after deciding to pursue her dream, and is rescued by the protagonist after becoming trapped under a car. She then tags along with the main character throughout their journey to escape the island. It is possible to trigger the "bad" ending of the game early on, if the player chooses to ride the JSDF rescue helicopter and leave Saki behind. Her songs are performed by Mai Iida.

A shy high schoolgirl whom the main character and Saki rescue at a ruined hotel. She is the only daughter of Daigo Hazuki, one of the island's developers. It is revealed that Ayami is actually the half-sister of Keisuke Hikawa, and the daughter of Morita and Hazuki's former wife. Ishizawa attempts to kill her after discovering that her father has already escaped from the island, in an act of revenge, and she bears the brunt of the survivors' anger after a television broadcast in which her father denies responsibility for the incident. She will not sit on the bench with the main character, and there are very few opportunities to interact directly with her.

A mysterious man investigating Hazuki and Morita, and the island's destruction, whom the main character encounters frequently. He always carries a pistol, and is at first thought to be Morita's murderer. He is later revealed to be the former fiancé of Keiko Ishizawa, and Ayami's half-brother. He cooperates with Yōichi Ishizawa in his plan to kill Morita and Hazuki. His true feelings towards Keiko, whom he became engaged to as part of the plan to exact revenge, are unknown.

A reporter collecting information regarding the rumored suicide at Central Island, and the construction work by Hazuki and Morita, who also becomes caught up in the disaster. She also appeared in the previous game, Raw Danger!.

A teacher at a local high school. Three of Natsumi's students are detained by thugs upon reaching the Eastern Ward Evacuation Center and she is sent to find food in exchange for their freedom, but an aftershock leaves her stranded in a nearby warehouse until the main character saves her. The main character can also choose not to help her, in which case she dies, resulting in the thugs never releasing her students. Natsumi has appeared in every game in the series so far.

Head of the Central Island City Hospital. Acted as a father figure of sorts to Saki and encouraged her to pursue her dream of being a singer. When the quake occurred he did not evacuate, opting instead to stay in a hospital room with his dying wife.

President of Hazuki Construction Corp., one of the developers of Central Island. In order to get planning permission for the island he offered his wife and substantial amounts of money to Morita, who had ties with the government. During this time, Morita and Hazuki's wife conceived Ayami, who was treated as Hazuki's daughter. He escapes the island soon after the quake. A press conference televised two days after the incident, in which he denies any and all responsibility for the disaster, angers the Eastern Ward Evacuation Center survivors to the point that they try to mob his daughter Ayami.

Chief of the Morita Group, one of the developers of Central Island. He knew of dangerous faults which made the island unsuitable to build, but covered them up with Hazuki and attempted to silence Yōichi Ishizawa. When he and Hazuki learn that Ishizawa's daughter is secretly working for them they conspire to murder her, making her death look like a suicide. He survives the earthquake early on but is later killed, presumably by Hikawa, though it is later discovered that he was murdered by Ishizawa in an act of revenge.

A geologist bribed by Hazuki and Morita to cover up environmental faults hindering the island's launch years ago. He was expelled from society after continuing to draw attention to the island's dangers. His daughter Keiko was engaged to Hikawa and rumored to have committed suicide, but Ishizawa believes that the two developers are responsible for her death. He kills Morita in an act of revenge. Knowing that Hazuki had already escaped the island he attempts to kill his daughter Ayami, so that Hazuki will experience the same pain at losing a daughter that Ishizawa himself did.

The only daughter of Yōichi Ishizawa, and Hikawa's fiancée. She worked as a secretary for Hazuki Construction, sneaking in using her mother's maiden name. Her death was reported to be a suicide after she was supposedly discovered committing embezzlement of the company's funds. It is later revealed that she was in fact murdered by Morita and Hazuki after she entered the company and learned the truth, when they discovered her true identity.

Reception