Phantasy Star Online III is a turn based strategic game in which the weapons, shields, magic & monsters of the PSO universe are summoned from the cards in your deck and into the battle arena.

The game has two set battle styles, Heros & Arkz. Heros use weapons and shields in battle, while ArkZ use all the Phantasy Star monsters to take on opponents.

There are various game modes, from "Story Mode" & "Free Battle" mode offline to Online "Free Battle" & "League Games". Upon succesful completion of any battle you are given a rank, the better the rank the more cards you will be rewarded with, but even a loss will gain you an extra 3 cards.

Your characters can still level on C.A.R.D, the level seems to effect the quality of cards you receive as reward following battles and goes upto 999. You receive EXP after a battle, but if you lose a fight you also lose some EXP.