Players are shown four missions in each grouping, and may attempt them in any order; they usually have only three lives for the entire game, but this may depend on the cabinet settings.
Point Blank 3 and DS ranks numerous aspects of a player's performance such as concentration, accuracy, judgement etc., and then presents them with an overall letter grade.
[3] The game was re-created in 1999 as Point Blank 2, adding more mini-stages and replacing "Very Hard" difficulty with "Insane" - and the game was once again re-worked in 2001 as Point Blank 3, being only released for the arcades in Japan and for the PlayStation worldwide, and featured cameos from other Namco properties, such as Rick Taylor from Splatterhouse, Klonoa, Mappy, and Pooka and Fygar from Dig Dug.
[4] Next Generation was less impressed with the quest mode, commenting that "It's nice to know that Namco wants to add value to the overall package, but it seems a bit forced, and players will tire of it well before they're finished."
"[6] GameSpot summed up, "Namco's managed to capture and apply the addictive elements of puzzle and shooting games, creating a title that is so enjoyable and difficult to put down you won't be bothered by the audiovisual shortcomings.