New to the Xbox 360 is a button mashing event with flair, style and more enemies than you could even begin to count on one screen at one time. Ninety-Nine Nights is a game in the vein of Dynasty Warriors, exclusive to the Xbox 360. With the increase of power that the Xbox 360 brings over the last generation of hardware you can make games like Ninety-Nine Nights (N3), but all the power under the hood of the 360 won’t help turn a mediocre game into a star. So, does N3 succeed where so many others have failed, or does it add nothing new to the genre?
Ninety-Nine Nights revolves around two central characters, Inphyy and Aspharr two half-siblings who’s father has been killed by Goblins. These two siblings rise through the ranks of the military and one day during a Goblin attack they find out that something bigger is happening. In order to save their nation, they must act and act quickly to smash the Goblin uprising. Each of the six remaining unlockable characters has their own story to play through, and each character has distinctive attacks and weapons that power up as they level up throughout the game.
First off the sound in Ninety-Nine Nights is pretty good, though the score is fairly solid, the voice acting is rather weak. Sound effects could have probably used some more work as well. The music has a semi-epic feel, but doesn’t really convey the feel of the game when you’re ready to be flanked by a hundred orcs with a major grudge. The game could use some work in the audio section, but you’ll have to be satisfied with the work they dedicated to the graphics instead of the music in the game.
The most impressive thing about N3 is that they manage to have hundreds of enemy creatures on the screen at once with little to no slow down to affect your game play. While there may not be much variation between the enemies, you’ll probably forget about all of that because you’re too busy trying to clear the screen of all of them. Overall, the graphics in N3 are really high quality, but you’ll regret that they spent so much time polishing the visuals and so little time with the camera and game play.
Speaking of the game play, the majority of it consists of pressing the “X†button followed by the “Y†button. To call this a button masher would be very appropriate. Though you have access to a move list from the pause menu there’s no reason to really give it a once over because the game simply doesn’t require you to apply certain moves to certain enemies. Whereas some other similar games have enemies that are resistant to specific attacks forcing you to change up your strategy and learn some of the more complex moves the game offers you, N3 doesn’t do so, and in turn brings down the game play to a level that gives this the feel of nothing more than a weekends worth of playtime, especially when there isn’t more than a handful of levels. While it certainly can be fun for longer than that, there’s just nothing special to differentiate this game from any other game in the genre.
Yes, the game is pretty simple to play and yes, there isn’t much in the way of strategy in this game, but if you’re a huge fan of the genre, your choices are pretty limited, so that does make this a viable option. There is some replay to be had in this game. There are six unlockable characters to play with, various weapons to be had and dozens of items to make your journey that much easier. It may not be as long as one might like, but it’s probably a good choice for a rental. It’s a shame that they couldn’t get the camera to pan back just a tad further because that would’ve solved all the camera issues. Aside from that, the lack of enemy variety is also a stain on the game, but more so than that if they had implemented even a little bit of AI, this game could be so much better. Lastly, a smaller gripe, the map could have been more useful to show where you’ve been and maybe where you need to go because sometimes you’re left completely in the dark as to where you need to go. Despite the sheer numbers that the enemy has over you and your small groups of worthless soldiers, they rarely hit you, so there’s very few occasions when you feel threatened. Sure, the game looks really great and has some of the most impressive FMV’s seen on the system to date, but it lacks in nearly every other aspect of the game, and not only that, but no co-operative play or online play makes this a game that most should pass up on purchasing, and renting at most.
Final Verdict
If they decide to make a sequel to Ninety-Nine Nights, let’s hope they add some much needed features because this could be a very good game (for what it is anyway), but as it is, I can’t recommend anything more than a rental. Save your money and wait for the next game to come along because this game just leaves too much to be desired.
Score
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