Reviewed by Ben Lee

This review contains some big spoilers.

Alternate Vlarion 2 ended on a dramatic note as Dask could not control the sudden immensely strong dark powers. Alternate Vlarion 3 continues where AV2 left off, with more of the story revealed than ever before in the Vlarion series. We pick up from the roof of the Megoda Hospital where after Kramer was defeated, Lance introduces himself (again). It's less of a dramatic entrance, but hey, what do you expect when Dask easily defeated that Vlarion? After a couple of familiar explanations about Lance's homeland, we start to dig in deeper on why the changes happened. This is all assisted with better animations in general. If you want an example, look at the Megoda Hospital explosion. All I can say is "...wow...".

One of the most interesting things in Echo of Time is seeing how much the characters have changed. Dask appears more care-free and acts like he doesn't give much a damn about anything (from what you first see, anyway), while Stacey is more worried, concerned, and anxious instead of being supportive, yet she still has the strength to hold all her emotions together and to not become a liability. Brian acts like a natural leader, as you'd expect, instead of the dangerous betrayer, but Trevor, for some reason, felt like he made more of a major role. All he really did in the original Vlarion series was to try to crack up jokes to calm the group down, but this time round, he seems to act a lot more responsible. It is also interesting to see the different ways they act because of one small event change and the character development has been done really really well.

Dask and Brian have gone different routes and you wonder how it is going to finish. Coincidentally (or maybe even intentionally) it is as if they have switched places. Dask is now the outsider, while Brian is leading the group to defend against the Vlarion threat. Of course, this is completely the opposite in the original Vlarion series, with Dask being the leader and Brian acting as the outsider. It is fascinating that because of one small change to one person's personality, the outcome has effectively turned upside-down. It was also interesting to see how Brian shapes up as a leader compared to Dask. Brian is more natural in leading, I feel, as he is more confident, whereas Dask, although perhaps more wise, did not really feel comfortable at all times. But it all boils down to the final result, and Dask has shown that he is good enough a leader by stopping the Vlarions and winning the war. Can Brian do the same?

Bit by bit, Brian leads the group to complete various familiar battles, with some new changes. And that may include a missing character... Have I said too much? But there was a part where I really softened up. Yep, the conversation between Dask and Stacey towards the end. The music was great and the words they exchanged were just so...right. It was so touching and the connection they both had in the original four Vlarion movies seems to appear here too, but to a lesser extent. I hope this is tied up in Alternate Vlarion 4 really well.

The battle animations are far more impressive than what you saw in the first couple of Vlarion movies. Aaron has obviously improved as the years have gone by, and there are a couple of examples in Alternate Vlarion 3 which shows his improvement. In the battle against Dark Dask at the end of the movie, moves like Dark Ultima are beautiful to watch compared to earlier moves like Ice 1 in Vlarion 1. The amount of work put in is huge, and if everything else was as impressive as that, this movie would score in the high 90s for sure. For the moment though, with a couple of rather still scenes, I'll admit that this movie can still be improved on.

But with the end approaching faster and faster, Alternate 3 is a great base for the finale, exceeding my expectations. Alternate Vlarion 4 promises to be a movie which you will remember for a long long time. The conclusion to the Vlarion series is bound to tie up all the loose ends in a dramatic fashion. But for now, we only have Echo of Time to treasure. In time, we will know all the answers...until then, we'll have to wait. I wonder, can we mess around with time like the Aragiye Bug? You know, just to make Aaron work a little bit harder on Alternate Vlarion 4?

Score: 92/100