Ninety-Nine Nights

"An exceptional experience!... While it lasts"

N3:Ninety-Nine Nights is a game like many others in which you are one character and take on hundreds of enemies. The difference this time? Hundreds has become thousand. Using the full power of the 360, Ninety-Nine Nights can handle more enemies on screen at one time than any other game (at the time of writing) of it's kind. Battles really do feel epic, especially with the amazing combo system which can lead up to well over 3000+ combo's. One of the most spectacular things for me, is seeing 1000 Goblins march from a massive distance of which you can see them coming from the point of where they are just a shadow in the background, all the way to the point where they are up close and hacking away.

Graphics: Now one would of thought that with so many enemies, the graphics surely is being harmed. Not true. The graphics are some of the best I've ever seen in game, and definitely an improvement on the graphics of things such as dynasty warriors and samurai warriors.

People tell me that a game shouldn't be judged on the graphics, but being the way I am, I don't enjoy games with bad graphics, no matter how good the gameplay. Sometimes I even think I'm only playing games for their visual appeal and this is probably why I love this game so much.

The environment is extremely well rendered and very detailed. Dead bodies will be there for ages soaking in their own blood. The upset with this is the horrible invisible walls of doom. Didn't they eliminate this kind of thing back in the PS2 days? I thought they used visible barricades to stop you moving to places you're not supposed to now? Well it's not too much of an upset, because you spend about 15 seconds exploring, before you're launched into another mindless horde of enemies. Oh how glorious.

Obviously, being a Hack 'n Smash game, you can't expect enemies to look individual from one another, but this is remedied by a variety of different races. Starting with Orcs and Goblins, moving on to Pwucks (Frog men) and Gewgs (Lizard men) and further moving on to Arphann (Dark Elves) and the dreaded Army of the Night. Arguably more races could of been includes, but the variety is fine as it is.

Sound: Some people go for the music during the start screen, but I can't stand it. It's not the worst, but it's that holy sounding church singing. Luckily, you only have to listen to it while you're loading or starting a new game (Or going to the tutorial, library, etc).

The in game music is excellent for a while, but two thing let it down:

a) It's always the same. Gets very repetitive. or it would do, but
b) You never get a chance to hear it with all the slashing, banging and screaming going on.

The sound effects are okay. Nothing above the standard "Slice" sound and other weapon associated sound, but it's all good.

The voices are a but of a let down. Nothing worse than hearing Tyurru or Inphyy whining about something, with their amateurly dubbed voices. Although I definitely can stand their voices, but they don't sound professional. I laughed at a moment when Aspharr was yelling about something. He was supposed to be sad and it sounded more like he was being strangled. (I won't say when to avoid spoilers).

Gameplay: The main point. The meat of the meal. The filling of the pie. The size of a 15cm ruler. Wait what? Yes it's true. The game lasts a very short amount of time unless you try to S-Rank every mission.

There is a choice of 7 Characters (One of them being secret). You start with just Inphyy and unlock characters such as Aspharr and Myifee. it isn't long before you've done all of the characters and done of their mission + the secret final mission. S-Ranking can be difficult and there are definitely some levels that will keep you busy long enough to make this game last a few days, but it will still only last for so long before you're done with it.

The camera and movement is perfect. The only issue with movement is how slow all the characters (aside from one) move, which is overcome by dashing all over the place. And besides, you won't notice the movement issues in more levels, because you'll be fighting for the majority.

The fighting system is ace and one of the best I've seen in a game. in fact, it is the best in my honest opinion. Obviously others will differ. The combo's are part of the epicness, because there's nothing better than weakening yourself just to see a 5000+ combo or a certain character who can get an easy 10000+ Combo! Also the feeling of being super, without feeling super is great. Yes, you can take out 1000's of enemies by yourself, but you'll know when you've been hit and you don't take enemies out in one hit.

The orb system isn't unique, but it's implemented in a unique way. You have two bars for super attacks. One is filled by collecting orbs, the other is filled by collecting orbs which are obtained by using the other super attack. Confused yet?

The bosses are less of a challenge and more of an annoyance in many cases, because they wouldn't be hard, but they are. they are hard, because especially with the bigger enemies, they can only be attacked (by you, which is generally the only significant damage unless you have a helper) when they aren't attacking someone themselves, or someone else is attacking them. Really annoying when there's a hail of arrows hitting them, doing next to no damage and preventing you from killing them. However, this isn't so noticable, because generally your forces will be fighting opponent forces, while leaving you to handle the boss.

One final, quite major annoyance is the lack of a checkpoint system. That's right. You just went through a long windy level, taking out two hard bosses already and collected the best items in the game, but then you get caught off guard by some wizards or archers, just as the boss starts beating down on you. Bam. You have to start all over again, losing any items you collect, any experience you gained, any enemies you killed, etc. This isn't a problem as much as you'd of thought though, because with *most* characters, you won't be dying too often.

Polish: The game does have a feeling of incompleteness and a rushed job is evident. One type of boss, which occurs quite often in the game has an issue, when you kill it, the spoils it drops will be "inside" if it, where you have to try and clip them when jumping over them, or wait for the dead body to disappear. Okay, that's not to bad right? I mean, hey, so what if you have to wait half a minute to get some decent spoils? Well the problem is, when the boss is the last thing you have to kills before the level ends, then your stuck. As I said though, this only occurs with one type of boss and this type of boss is only twice or so the last thing that you have to kill.

On the issue of items being hard to get, sometimes a cutscene will happen before you get them, and sometime they magically disappear during the cutscene.

Once again, on the issue of cutscenes, you may be in battle with a 1500 combo with lots more to go, but nope. A cutscene happens, killing your combo and making you open to free attack when the cutscene has ended.

Overall: Despite some of the issues, This is a great game and definitely worth a buy and if your determined not to buy it, at least a rent. The gameplay is fun, the graphics are astounding and it will be a good laugh whatever the circumstance.

Graphics: 10
Sound: 4
Gameplay: 7
Polish: 5
Overall: 7

Buy or rent? Buy, despite shortness.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/20/07