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Ninety-Nine Nights
By: Phantagram
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OMG
On: 2008-11-19Good but not great, Oh what the hell am I talking about this game is godly
Yawn...
On: 2008-01-16I have to admit that this game is impressive from a technological standpoint. Its truly amazing to see so many characters on screen at once with barely any slowdown. Theres a level of mayhem to this game thats quite enjoyable but it gets old kind of fast. The gimmick of being able to throw yourself headfirst into hundreds of charging enemies and dispatching all of them in explosive battles is fun for a bit but its all kind of repetitive. The controls are responsive but make no mistake, this game rewards button mashing like few others. Any combination of buttons will give you fancy results and combos ranging in the thousands. Graphics are pretty nice and the sound is well done also but the game seems to be lacking something due to its incredibly simple button mashing roots. The A.I. in this game is pretty bad. Its not uncommon to see enemy soldiers mingling about with your own soldiers who arent doing a thing to stop them. I also found that giving my squad orders seemed to be useless and ineffective due to the limited amount of choices I was given. Theres some character customization, limited to inventory management. The cut scenes are nice but the dubbed English is absolutely horrendous as expected. The story makes little sense and in the end, what youre left with is a game that is a button masher of the highest order thats little more than eye candy.
Great game!!!!!!!!!!
On: 2008-01-13My son absolutely loves this game, its one of his all time favorites! We were renting it from a local video store but apparently someone liked it enough not to return it and the amount of money we spent renting it every week, we should have just bought it so we did.
Cheap Fun
On: 2007-12-29This game is alright, the graphics are probably the best feature. They arent fully up to par with what can be done with the Xbox 360. This is just a game where your character has a sword and you go around and kill hordes of enemies. The gameplay is extremely repetitive but enjoyable in small doses.
Unmatch AI?..yeah right!
On: 2007-12-24In my opnion, the grpahics were great, so was the voice acting(It could of used a little work) But the AI? The AI is far from unmatched! Pong has better AI than Ninety-Nine Nights. No joke, your army of allies does no damage. Although the enemy Ai was was Ok I actually got damage from enemys.
Hope this helps:)
Strker117
Fun, but dear God, give me variety!!!
On: 2007-11-13I played the demo for this game, liked it, so I bought the full version.
I was actually pretty pleased:
The graphics were amazing. The faces of the characters could have used a little more work, but other than that everything was vibarent and colorful. Combo moves exploded on the screen and as many as 700 "enemies" would be on the screen at one time- each one equal in quality and detail. Detail is another big plus; with armor, each individual plate that makes up the armor can be seen individually, robes can be seen in all the layers they are worn in, capes flow mystically as the character runs around- its fantastic. The environments are beautiful too, sunsets, castles, forests, each one is finely detailed.
Gameplay- The gameplays pretty straightforward. Tap the x button to do a "standard" attack, the y button to do a "hard" attack, and mix the combinations to do combos, its your typical hack-n-slash. Whats nice about this game though, is that the button combinations are different for each charcter. For the first characters first move it could be: xxyx, but a different characters first move could be: xy(hold)xx. So, getting comfortable with each character is necessary. Also, some strategy as far as when to pick up items exist... but not alot. Health is basically your only concern; if you pick up all the health as you see it drop, youll be full at first, but when the boss battle comes by you wont have any backup. Some weapons can be picked up for power boosts, but as you grow levels (max being 9), having strong weapons become less and less critical.
Overall, this is a great game, thats fun to look at and is fun if youre looking to kill a few hours. But its the same exact thing every level- which can be very tiring. Also, a story is almost non-existant, or at least not very strong. But aside from those minor things, excellent game.
YES!
On: 2007-09-24I just got an xbox 360 at a garage sale for 200 and this was my very first game and i felt like i didnt need any other game. it is soo good!
Ninety-Nine Nights
On: 2007-09-03One of the orignal games for XBox 360, found it hear cheap and new, great deal. Arrived on time and has been fun playing.
Fast shipping, but the game itself isn't good
On: 2007-07-24It came fast, and everything was there. However the game itself isnt good. Its hard to beat, and when you die you have to start the level all over again. And you cant save the game in between. I wouldnt recommend it.
Who cares for repitition
On: 2007-07-12I really like this game because who doesnt want to slay goblins and mages at will... i mean come on release your inner anger with this.
Maybe if the maps were bigger and you could train or something it would be better so you could learn better combos.
One of the 360's best games
On: 2007-04-23Ninety Nine Nights is EASILY one of the 360s best games. Id say its even better than Oblivion, because NNN currently has no DLC, which means you can actually play it without having to start completely over every 2 weeks when a new piece of horse armor is released on Xbox Live. Another huge plus is NO ONLINE MULTI-PLAYER, which means ITS A REAL GAME FOR REAL GAMERS. If you want to glorify socialism by playing online, play a computer game and stay off of real gamers consoles. Mainly Im giving it 5 stars because its NOT BORING, NOT REPETITIVE, AND VERY VERY GOOD, unlike what the buffoons at Gamefaqs are saying about it. Never trust a spoiled 13-year-old Gamefaq user when it comes to reviews.
Good, If It Had Been a Demo
On: 2007-04-19This game had a lot of promise. Decent graphics (though the mouth movements were a bit wonky), some amazing visuals, and an insanely gratifying fighting style. You fight hundreds of enemies at once, and the game makes you feel like a god as you slaughter hundreds upon hundreds of little minions.
The voice acting wasnt the greatest, but then, it didnt suck either.
The thing is, the game seems unfinished. You go through these half-hour levels, almost dying a few times, then have to fight two huge fights in a row. With NO SAVE POINTS. Redoing the same mission two or three times is fine, but after that, its just redundant. They REALLY needed save points with this game. After battling through hordes of goblins, a giant frog army, and dying just before I beat the Goblin King, I gave up...after trying about six times. Its just way too aggravating to put up with the huge levels. If youre someone who can deal with that, you still might like it.
The other annoyance is that the game provides you with armies. You get both right and left flanks, and you can choose whether you want heavy infantry, archers, etc. You can put them on attack or defense modes, but it doesnt matter - they do not help you whatsoever. Theyre pretty much decoys. I ended up having them always on defense, so I could hide in the middle of them. Then Id spiral around all the enemies, taking off those on the outside and working my way into the center so I wasnt attacked on all sides at once.
The epic battles are a wonderful idea. The storyline, or what I was able to get out of it, was quite weak, but still not horrible. After playing through the game once with one character, you could then go back and replay with about five other characters. You end up repeating a lot of the same stuff, just from the slightly altered viewpoint of the other character.
I just think this game was fun for awhile, but having no save points was a MAJOR FLAW...since I couldnt even stand to keep playing because, like I said, after your hundredth almost-beat-it-but-then-dying-right-at-the-end episode, its just aggravating.
Good concept, but in dire need of huge improvements. If you have a lot of patience or are amazingly gifted at NOT dying in games, rent it. But dont buy it before you try it first.
Good but repetitive
On: 2007-03-31Overall I liked this game. It has some cool moves. If you like button mashing, then this is ur game!
First xbox 360 game
On: 2007-03-07My wife and kids gave me a core Xbox 360 for Christmas along with this game. This game rocks. Its very pretty, and I love launching enemies through the air. I usually dont like straight "hack and slash" type games as my tastes tend more towards games like Civilization 4. However, this has become very addictive and stress reducing after a hard day at work and after the kids are in bed.
The graphics are incredible. My very first game system was a Sega Genesis, and its amazing how far games have come. N3 looks great on my 46" Samsung DLP.
Its been over two months, and Im still working my way through this. Ive opened up three characters with four to go. I imagined if I played a few hours every weekend, Id already be done with the game, but since I only play an hour or two a week, this is giving me a long period of fun.
finally a good game...
On: 2007-01-25this game is awsome! great graphics, easy control system, and very indepth story line.when i first looked at this game in best buy, i never thought id be playing an rpg like this. i mean, i never liked rpgs before so why now right? wrong! this game is awsome and i would recomend it for any fan of rpgs or non- rpg fans to. this game IS adicting and you will like it. but dont take my word for it, play for yourself. but i garentee youll love it to. it has verygood re-playability to its just plain fun.
Worth Every Penny!
On: 2007-01-04This game was really fun. Worth every penny I payed for it. Sadly i found that it was kinda short. It makes up for it with good replay value and beautifal graphics. One issue some may have is that it has the same game play style as Dynasty Warriors. Control one person and destroy an entire army while your guys dont do to much. The enemy tends to attack you far more often then anything else and that can be a bit frustrating. But I still loved the game and hope more purchase it. One note though, if you want a game with a twisting and hard to guess story line, just walk away now.Once you play it with one character, you can pretty much guess what will happen as you play the rest.
Great Game, But Know What You're Getting Into
On: 2006-12-09There have been some bad reviews of this game but I think theyre because people dont understand what theyre getting into. This game isnt Oblivion; it isnt incredibly deep. It is a "button-masher," plain and simple. Its essentially the same as Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, if you like that kind of game. (The only reason MUA has gotten so much hype and bette reviews is because of the comic book fandom, IMHO.)
The game is a lot of fun despite it being repetitive. Instead of having 4 high-powered characters mashing down on one or two opponents, you have one (with backup which basically just helps hold the line) and youre slaughtering 50+ fiends at once. If youve seen LOTR (who hasnt?), youre essentially like Sauron in the first scene, hacking away at enemies and sending them flying with a few swipes of your sword (or other weapon depending on the character). I still havent grown tired of charging into a battalion of baddies and launching them into the air and hacking my way through. There isnt any slowdown which is impressive when there are that many fiends on screen at once.
The graphics are gorgeous, I might add. This is the perfect game if you just want to sit down, not worry about how much magicka you have (or whatever else), and just slash away. Its a great "in-between classes" game for us fellow college students. It is repetitive (what "button-masher" isnt), but there are several characters to unlock, each with his or her own weapon and way of dispensing enemies, so that adds replay value to the game.
As long as you know what youre getting into with this game, ignore all of the bad hype. Its a lot of fun and I reccommend it.
An Attempt to Lure the Asian Audiences by MicroSoft
On: 2006-11-19Ninety Nine Nights is a brand new hack `n slash action beat em up game developed by Q Entertainment; the company responsible for the popular portable titles: Meteos and Lumines, along with Phantagram, the developers of the critically acclaimed Kingdom Under Fire series on the original Xbox, which Ninety Nine Nights unsurprisingly resembles.
It is difficult to talk about Ninety Nine Nights without mentioning the long lasting Dynasty Warriors series. While Ninety Nine Nights doesnt have the strategic elements that Dynasty Warriors so prominently featured in its latest rendition, it is apparent almost immediately that the storylines are much more inspired, and accompanied by some truly awesome looking cut-scenes. The strength of the fantasy humans vs. goblins storyline helps inspire players to play through the game.
Ninety Nine Nights allows you to play as 7 different characters, each of which feature their own unique storylines. Some stories such as Inphyy and Aspharr campaigns cross over, meaning you may end up playing the same missions twice but from a different perspective and with slightly different objectives. Other Characters - such as the rugged mercenary Myifees story - are completely independent.
Each characters storyline includes around 6 missions lasting roughly 20 minutes each. At the start of every mission you will be given a choice of two groups of soldiers to follow you into battle, these can include swordsmen, archers and axmen. You can then command these soldiers as they engage the enemy. But make no mistake, it is you who will be doing most of the fighting, as your army serves as more of a distraction while you slice up your foes.
The Fighting system in Ninety Nine Nights is relatively basic, but rather fun at the same time. You will find your character pulling-off these insane one thousand hit combos on gigantic groups of enemies. The combo system mostly involves pressing X and Y in the direction of nearby enemies, but as basic as it sounds it can be surprisingly enjoyable thanks to the satisfying sight of watching your enemies fly across the terrain as a result of your deadly blows. Ninety Nine Nights also features an RPG style levelling up system which helps give a little more depth to the mindless hack `n slash gameplay. As you play, your character levels up and gains bigger and better combos, providing an important incentive for doing the best you can. Sadly few of the campaigns are expansive enough to make the most of the level up feature as they can often be completed within a couple of hours. Thankfully, as you progress through the missions they get more difficult, meaning you may decide to go back and play previous levels to increase your characters abilities. You can also pick up new items andweapons on the battlefield, which subsequently changes stats such as attack range, power and speed, but doesnt effect the style each character fights with.
Graphically Ninety Nine Nights can be very impressive in places. The thing which stands out most prominently is the epic amount of enemies on-screen at one time. A large battle often involves a few hundred well crafted characters, and looks very impressive indeed. Also, the cut-scenes are well animated and very pretty to watch. Sadly some things are less impressive, such as the annoyingly over the top distance blur and the occasionally choppy frame-rate.
On another note, the sound in Ninety Nine Nights wont win any awards. The character voices all sound particularly low quality and even crackly in places. The battle sounds are also rather comical. Unfortunately the music for the most part isnt much better either, and although there are some memorable pieces, most of the in game music will have you reaching for the custom soundtracks in no time.
Ninety Nine Nights is an interesting addition to the hack `n slash action genre, but it could have been a whole lot better. Aside from the basic RPG elements and decent storylines, Ninety Nine Nights remains a shallow game with little to make it stand out. However, fans of the Dynasty Warriors series who could do without the strategy elements in favour of a stronger storyline may want to check this game out.
Amazing graphics just don't cut it
On: 2006-11-07After playing this game I kinda sat back and was WOW. Amazing. So I started playing it and the graphics are amazing and the control are easy to learn. And than 3 hours into it and a very long mission about an hour long I die. Normally thats fine. But this hour long mission I had to start over and over again from the beginning. There isnt enough save locations to really enjoy this game if you have other things to do. Please developers people do have lives. Also its a lot of the same stuff over and over again. Its a 100% hack and slash game. Its has some fun areas but at the same time it gets boring fast. I say rent it. If you like it buy it.
Amazing and Just Plain Awesome
On: 2006-10-27Since there seem to be many reviews, I will be brief.
I love Japanese culture in general, and I think that Japanese games are overall amazing (probably because they all happen to be fantasy related)! The game is just great, I love the characters, the plot, and the gameplay. The graphics really show what the 360 can do.
Better than Dynasty warriors. Better than almost all other xbox 360 games.
On: 2006-10-24BUY this game right now. Even before u read. Its that fun...omg. after its in ur cart u can read ahead.
Ill be brief about this 1. I rented it and bought it the next day. Its different from dynasty warriors and is the funnest game on my 360 right now. I could play this game forever and do the campaigns over and over again. It has the replayability of Super Smash Bros if u want a comparison. And this ISNT a multiplayer game!
The graphics rank among the best the 360 has to offer and the gameplay is awesome. The controls are surpsingly simple and you could jump into the game and pull off 500 kill combos within 2 mins. Id prefer to make the controls a bit more complex for combos even, as ive pulled off some moves I think i should have to work harder for. Youll love to watch.
Framerate stays fast throughout the entire game. Only a couple times have I pushed too far and its slowed for a few seconds. This is usually when Im using a special (orb) spark and everyone in the area dies. Youll love those. I use these when theres like a million enemies so the lag is very rare; like twice since ive owned it. If only the 360 could output more than 60fps... The levels are fun and of average length, although if u want a good rank and wanna kill everyone it can take a half an hour or more if ur a novice or a wimp. Remember some levels are longer than others. Aggressiveness and good tactics will save your life and ur time.
As for no saves....I DONT CARE AT ALL. When ur good the levels take between 5 and 20 mins. You shouldnt die....if u die u need to practice more. HP is abundant with all the items and the way u can use them. I never die. And if i die i just play again. After levels u can save. Its so fun you and (Ill) wanna play levels over and over again anyways. Itd be different if levels were 30-60 mins. Plz, these ppl are such whiners. They play, and are doin good then die and cry about it when they were (almost therre!)...lol. You ppl standby in halo. Go get an rpg and save every minute if u need to take the pressure off. I actually push to the end of a level even if im tired, and it does take up hours fast. If u know u cant save......get better and you wont have too!!!!! In this game you can bestow massive army ownage.
I love the music. Very nice and suits the mood. It changes with the pace of battle, which always pumps me up in this and halo. Very, very similar to Halo. Wow its good. If u dont care about music, its still good enough. Now I own the soundtracks to both games.
This game deserves a much better reputation and advertisements, ppl just dont know about it. Me and my friends do though. Will you?
If there was a 2 player system link or online mode where u could anhilliate each others armies or do co-op; then i would cry...OMG would i cry.... (thinks about it)....*tear*
Now......burn ur copy of dynasty warriors now. DO IT!! NOW!!!
Awesome
On: 2006-10-17Hack and Slash.... no better combination. This game has great graphics and storyline. I loved playing all the characters, a must play.
Long Levels Without Save Points = Persistent Annoyance
by: ethanallen95 On: 2006-09-19
This is pretty decent game, not great but good. I would say that its a good start. This game has better graphics, smarter AI, and battle field tactics than any of the Dynasty Warriors games. Infact the Dynasty Warriors game for the 360 was an embarassment to Dynasty Warriors fans like myself. DONT GET DYNASTY WARRIORS EMPIRES FOR THE 360!!!! Anyway Ninety-Nine Nights drops the ball in a few places namely that the levels are long without save points, when you are fighting bosses who are impossibly difficult to pounce you end up having to start the entire level over again. This is a serious show stopper on the replay side. At least the game should have a difficulty gauge. That would be smart. Also, the blocking scheme for the characters is not real good depending on your character. Otherwise a decent game not great but good.
Ninety nine nights review
On: 2006-09-13Nintey-nine nights is a 3rd person hack n slash at its best. It makes a tribute to the dynasty warriors franchise, but creates something new in the genre, lasting appeal. There are a total of 7 playable characters each entirely different, having weaknesses and strengths. My first impressions of playing the game was basically dynasty warriors on steroids. A hack n slash where u can kill over 1000 units at one time. Something this game has, that not many other games have, is an amazing story line. The main story line is about a fight over a orb, that possesses the power to rule over the entire human race, and give ultimate power for those who posses it. Humans on one side, goblins on the other. It is one story line being played through 7 different ways, from each characters prospective. For example, the first player you get is Inphy. She is a hard and strong individual, who has always wanted to prove to her brother Aspharr, that she has the strength and will to be a leader of the army. She fights for the sole purpose of destroying the orb, and killing the leader of the goblins in order to stop him from getting the orb. Another character you can play as is Gwingvatt, a white goblin who fights for one purpose, to get revenge on the humans for killing his brother. An amazing story line being followed by the best soundtrack I have heard in a video game really makes this game an experience. The fighting system is easy to pick up. X being attack, Y being strong attack, A being jump, and B being orb attack. But again, it is still a button mashing hack n slash. One thing that stood out is no Checkpoint system. Some missions can last about 45 minutes. If you are near the end of a mission, and end up dieing, you must restart the entire mission over from the beginning. This was extremely irritating on account of boss battles being hard, and sometimes can be extremely stupid. There was a time I was fighting a huge goblin boss, and I was dealing very little damage to him with my attacks, and he unleashed a 4 hit combo that took away almost all of my health. Now imagine this, towards the end of a mission, and the boss kills you. Now you must restart the entire mission over again. Another huge part is the AI of your teammates. You can tell your units to attack, defend, or wait behind while you go attack alone. This works fine, I have had no problems with them listening to me. I have seen many times, during a huge battle, my team mates as well as basic enemy units, just move around and not swing there sword. This is normal in hack n slashes. Now lets say every unit were to attack and kill there unit they are fighting. Would that really make it more fun for the player? The point of this game is for us, the player, to kick the crap out of hundreds of units at one time, and enjoy a more in depth hank n slash, while building it around an awesome story line. The game delivers both these areas. Is the game perfect? No, far from it. But it is incredibly fun and has a high replay value.
Graphics : Pretty Decent, nothing spectacular, but nothing bad. The amount of units on the screen is incredible, and the draw distance is the best I have seen.
Gameplay : Very easy to pick up. Simple X, and Y cominations, mixed in with blocks, and dashes, make it a deeper hack n slash then lets say dynasty warriors.
Sound : Voice overs are pretty bad. I watched the trailer to this game, and the Japanese voice overs were amazing. Now they put it over in English which sounds no where as good as the Japanese Voice overs. Outside of that, the soundtrack is the best music score I have ever heard in a video game. The music seems to fit the stage it is put in, as well and working perfectly with characters personalities.
Replay Value : High. I have beaten the game with every character, and still go back numorous times to replay missions over. This game will last a long time.
Overall score - 8/10
Ohhh Look At All The Pritty Colors
On: 2006-09-10First of all All you compring this to Dynasty Warriors Are Dumb. how can you compair fudiel Japan to Fighting Ogres And Orcs?
Ok now that i got that out of my system...
I liked this game for the simple fact that i loved the detail and the Over exgeration of the characters and i like simpler games from time to time.
ok this is the low down. You start off as a Temple Knight and through the game you massacre thousands of enemys with out even breaking sweat untill you run in to a boss Who will become just a harder version of thouse youve ben massacring the rest of the levle and eventualy Unlock more chracters to do olmost the exact samething.
The good news is that this game takes full controle over the X-boxes Visual capabilitys and makes a stuning vissual game.
The bad news is that the game its self is some what repedative and quite simple.But thats the best part. The game Is very simple in nature and in being so is quite fun and easy to learn. No Days apon Days memorizing combos and special moves. Just jump Right in and enjoy :)
If you like Very complicated Over chalanging games that Take months to beat then dont get this game. Its not tht its a bad game its just not for you.
Me on the other hand i like the pritty colors.
Great Fun Gameplay with Gorgeous Graphics
by: lisashea-dot-com On: 2006-09-03
Now THIS is the type of game I was expecting to get on the XBox 360s graphics! It is simply gorgeous. Hundreds of distinct characters, each acting individually and with his or her own look.
You start by playing a cocky female fighter. I liked this a lot - the character, while a bit revealing in the chest area, actually wears armor and her moves are *great*. The sword trails and combos are visual artistry.
This is of course very similar to both the Dynasty Warriors series and the Kingdom Under Fire series. Thats not bad at all, its a genre of gameplay that I enjoy. If you havent seen these games, think of the opening scene of Lord of the Rings. When Sauron is swinging his weapon, blowing away tons of elf and human soldiers on each sweep, thats what you get to recreate here.
I did find it annoying that you have to play all the way through as a character to get to start another - Id much rather be able to choose from a roster of characters right from the beginning. Also, I found many of the names of the characters to be quite silly. It unnecessarily drew away from the games world.
Finally, although I dont really need a huge, complex plot for games like this, at least *some* plot would have been nice. Some strategy would have been nice too. Organizing methods of attack, or who to attack first, is usually a fun part of games like this. Here, it was more just attack all, then attack all, then attack all again.
To make it worse, theres no mid-level saves. So you could have racked up incredible points, and be at minute 29.5 of a 30 minute level, and one slight distraction like "Lisa, pick up that ringing phone!" and POOF you have to start all over again.
Still, I can deal with that. The game is fun enough that I dont mind replaying a level. Getting to more characters is certainly the incentive of playing through the levels as a set. The character models are gorgeous. The animation of the actions is gorgeous.
Sure, if youre not into this style of gameplay, then there are other games you can buy. But if youre a fan of the sweeping attacks and gorgeous graphics displayed here, youll be up for a great experience!
Highly recommended.
Another xbox 360 disappointment
On: 2006-09-03I really wanted to give this game an opportunity to please me, and for the first two minutes it was mildly amusing.
Like all other xbox 360 exclusive games, it eventually proved to be another unfinished piece of highly detailed garbage.
The game is obviously not finished because of how pathetic the plot line is. According to the back of the case and not any of the characters within the game, you choose a good side or an evil side to go on a quest to obtain the stone of union. Initially you can only choose one character, every playable character in the game only has the ability to play in their own very brief story mode. There are seven playable characters, who each lack the ability to earn any kind of empathy from the player. The story line apparently wants you to empathise with them however.
While playing, youll notice that your character has a variety of moves that improve in combo length and strength as you gain experience and level up. Youll also notice that these complex combonation attacks dont do very much to your enemies since they magically become invincible while theyre reeling back in pain from your initial attacks. While your more powerful enemies leave themselves open to attack by preparing a strong charge attack, you cannot hurt them in any way since its more important to microsoft game studios that you regret investing sixty dollars into their company.
Many people will notice how this game functions like a very popular game legacy known as "Dynasty Warriors". Indeed it is somewhat like Dynasty Warriors in how you hack and slash through hordes of enemies, charging an eventual high power attack while doing so, moving closer and closer to a high profile enemy who youll have to chop away at in order to defeat. A big difference is that this is 2006, and if youre going to rip off Dynasty Warriors then you may as well rip off the most current version of it and learn from the mistakes of previous versions. This game is as slow and dull as Dynasty Warriors 3 is to someone whos played Dynasty Warriors 5.
The characters become more and more idiotic as you play, one in particular is beyond the definition of idiot. Eventually youll play as a female magician who shoots small jets of water at her enemies, and those jets of water kill your enemies. She wont shoot them directly at the enemy if the enemy is slightly left or right of her line of sight, shell instead shoot directly at the ground. Someone at microsoft game studios made that decision, that you should be playing a sixty dollar game where a character in that game responds to the attack button by shooting at the damn ground while enemies are directly in front of her preparing their attacks.
In this game if a boulder comes rolling down a hill, misses you and comes to rest at the bottom of the hill, its still considered a fast rolling boulder to the game. Walk into it, and you fly back in pain as though youve just been struck.
In this game if youre in the middle of a horde of enemies slashing away and a cutscene occurs, you stop but your enemies dont. You will watch yourself standing there like a dumbass for a few seconds before the 360 crunches numbers trying to load up the five second cutscene, and then see your character getting smacked back and forth by the enemies that were surrounding your character.
In this game you can find and equip all the defense boosting acccessories you want, and still get killed in at the most five hits by one of the signature enemies. Combine that reality with the fact that they can declare themselves invincible simply by preparing a laggy charge attack and then add in the fact that youll play some levels for an hour only to get slaughtered so easily, and youll realize why this game can be very irratating indeed.
Another obvious way to tell that this game is unfinished is the fact that throughout the game you encounter characters with unique abilities, and pathetic input into the sorry excuse for a story line. Most of these characters are not playable, though you know that they were originally intended to be. Obviously microsoft decided to wrap this one up early, while assuming that the quality of the cutscenes will over shadow the lack of quality in the actual game play.
This, like all other xbox 360 exclusive games Ive ever purchased, is going right back to the gamestop I bought it from. I dont ask for refunds or trade-ins, I just give it back to them.
Im begging microsoft to finish their games from now on, I really honestly want the xbox 360 to do well in the video game market.
LotR + Dynasty Warriors equals ...
On: 2006-08-29While the game itself is nothing revolutionary, I defy anyone to say that it isnt some thrilling fun. A lot of people focus on negative comparisons to Dynasty Warriors, and its true that there are easy comparisons to make. Its also easy to focus on the negative because most of the frustration Ive gotten from this game has been the very large flaw of no midpoint-save. However, its got an interesting story and a few unique points.
First of all, lets do the bad. The greatest millstone in this title has to be the lack of ability to save mid-stream, with a close runner-up the use of individual save-slots. It seems like there should have been mid-level save points, due to the quit screen text ("Are you sure you want to quit? All progress in this level will be lost"). However, there are not. Some levels feel like theyre taking forever (in particular the Ice Gate levels and the Forest levels, IMO) because theres a lot of travel. Sometimes, you really dont want to have to do it over again because you took a bad spill trying to chain one of the games amazingly visual combos. You will have to, though, if you die and you ever hope to (A) complete the games storyline and (B) unlock all the characters.
The good is manifold. Theres lots of different kinds of enemies to fight, and theres the added bonus of controlling two sets of troops. Interestingly enough, the survival of your troops doesnt seem to matter, but thats a sideline. The buffet is in the type of enemies. If youre tired of seeing generic asian soldiers 1-5 and generic asian lieutennant 1 and 2, this is a great treat. You have multiple classes of troops in the two most common enemies (orcs and goblins), and have lizard men, frogmen, dark elves, and dragons to boot! The vistas are similarly beautiful, and highly destructible (especially when you use your devestating Orb Spark powers). Over-the-top wild fantasy has your character fighting and defeating literal armies of troops, scoring combinations of 2000+ hits, and destroying the landscape. That is also to say nothing of the many and varied instant power-ups and equipment you get, all at much higher rates than any Dynasty Warriors or Samurai Warriors games Ive played. You even get equipment that helps your troops.
Overall, this game is a real treat. The foibles keep it from getting a perfect score, but its a more-than-decent first entry. If you liked Dynasty Warriors or Samurai Warriors, youll like this game. It will likely never replace the complexity of those games for you, but its a refreshing change of pace and definitely worth the purchase, in my opinion.
I've got 99 problems and this game is one.
On: 2006-08-26Hacking and slashing, along with a bit of strategy, was the name of the game in Phantagrams last projects, the somewhat popular Xbox games Kingdom Under Fire and Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes. The teams latest game, N3: Ninety-Nine Nights, follows a similar structure and familiar gameplay, but it lacks the heart and soul, and anything outstanding, that would put it above other similar games.
N3 tells the tales of several different characters, none of whom have a very interesting or captivating story. From the blessed, powerful Imperial Knights Inphyy and Aspharr to the brutal mercenary Myifee, youll encounter characters who have slightly stereotypical roles, appearances, attitudes, and styles. I personally couldnt ever take the games story seriously simply because of the character names. I already mentioned Aspharr, but youll also meet Dwikfarrio and Dwingvatt, as well as a giant frog king named Phakk the Third. What were they thinking?
For days I tried to give N3 a lot of credit for its gameplay, but there isnt a lot that you wouldnt expect from other Dynasty Warriors-esque titles. Youll run straight into hordes of enemies that range in the dozens to the hundreds. These crowds are fun to run into, but once you start attacking, N3 loses its massive charm. The combo attacks for each character are disgustingly simple to pull off and require very little skill in terms of timing. Combos arent even necessary, in the end, because a player could quite easily mash the basic attack button and finish the game in a few hours. The only challenges I ever encountered were the boss characters, who seemed overpowered and often untouchable.
Once you kill enough of the horde, youll accumulate orbs that power up a special attack meter. Each character has two levels of special attacks. The first attack, which is activated after a red orb meter fills up, is interactive: youll mash buttons and generally watch things die. This series of attacks is simply a beefy combo that youd normally pull off. The second attack is charged up while killing things in the "red attack." Youll earn blue orbs that charge up for a super mega ultimate attack (haha) that kills just about every non-boss character on-screen. Some of these attacks look cool (especially Dwikfarrios storm of doom), but once youve killed ten thousand orcs, youve killed `em all, right?
N3 lacks checkpoints or in-game saves, making each and every mission quite punishing. Should you parish 20 minutes into a long mission, youre forced to do it all over again. Thats right, youll kill the same crowd of orcs, destroy the same catapults that are firing at the castle walls, and fend off the same cheap boss character.
There dont seem to be any rewards for putting yourself through the pain of playing through this game other than unlocking more characters, which simply forces you to play through more of the same [...] you stomached with a previous character. Youll even revisit the same levels multiple times with different characters. Exciting.
At least N3 looks alright. The staggering amount of enemies on the screen is impressive to say the least, and the minimal slowdown is pretty nice as well. Its too bad the character models get so repetitious, because the heroes that youll use look amazing. Inphyy, the cover girl, is my personal favorite character, with her glittering golden wings and blood-red and shiny silver armor. Its also too bad that everything in this game sounds awful. The voice acting is some of the worst Ive ever heard, and the lip sync is so ridiculously off that I began to believe Phantagram didnt even make an attempt at realistic syncing. The sound effects get old within seconds of starting the game up, and the soundtrack didnt seem to kick in enough when it should have.
N3: Ninety-Nine Nights may very well be the biggest disappointment that the Xbox 360 has had to date. What should have been a gripping, intense action game is nothing more than a game that could have been. Move along, play Dead Rising and enjoy your fall until the winter blockbusters release.
not enough like Dynasty Warriors
On: 2006-08-2599 Nights is an unabashed fantasy clone of Dynasty Warriors. It is a true next generation title, showing off the power of the XBox 360. Characters are well designed and well modeled. Dozens of characters, both friendly and enemy, appear on the screen, with none of the fog and draw-in problems of Dynasty Warriors on the PS2 or original XBox. And there are real, lush environments to fight in, rather than the blasted battlegrounds of Dynasty Warriors.
Unfortunately, in copying Dynasty Warriors, they didnt go quite far enough. While the gameplay of Dynasty Warriors, like 99 Nights, consists mostly of button-mashing melees against hordes of enemy grunts, in Dynasty Warriors there is an element of strategy. You are given an overview of the battleground, and you can choose whether to go after the enemy chief, pick off enemy generals, support your friendly generals, defend your chief, or attack the enemy reinforcement gates. 99 Nights is far more linear. Even though there is a map, and occasionally branching paths, there is no appreciable strategy involved. Its more like a traditional beat-em-up: You just keep plowing through grunts until you reach the boss.
And unfortunately, it borrows something from Dynasty Warriors that it shouldnt have. There are no save points. If you fall to the end boss, you go all the way back to the beginning of the level, losing perhaps 20 minutes of play. Dynasty Warriors also has pretty sparse save points, but there at least you have the option of trying a different strategy. In 99 Nights, restarting the level means pure repetition. The flashy, combo heavy gameplay is fun, but that much repetition gets old in a hurry.
So when is a real XBox 360 version of Dynasty Warriors coming out?
not enough like Dynasty Warriors
On: 2006-08-2499 Nights is an unabashed fantasy clone of Dynasty Warriors. It is a true next generation title, showing off the power of the XBox 360. Characters are well designed and well modeled. Dozens of characters, both friendly and enemy, appear on the screen, with none of the fog and draw-in problems of Dynasty Warriors on the PS2 or original XBox. And there are real, lush environments to fight in, rather than the blasted battlegrounds of Dynasty Warriors.
Unfortunately, in copying Dynasty Warriors, they didnt go quite far enough. While the gameplay of Dynasty Warriors, like 99 Nights, consists mostly of button-mashing melees against hordes of enemy grunts, in Dynasty Warriors there is an element of strategy. You are given an overview of the battleground, and you can choose whether to go after the enemy chief, pick off enemy generals, support your friendly generals, defend your chief, or attack the enemy reinforcement gates. 99 Nights is far more linear. Even though there is a map, and occasionally branching paths, there is no appreciable strategy involved. Its more like a traditional beat-em-up: You just keep plowing through grunts until you reach the boss.
And unfortunately, it borrows something from Dynasty Warriors that it shouldnt have. There are no save points. If you fall to the end boss, you go all the way back to the beginning of the level, losing perhaps 20 minutes of play. Dynasty Warriors also has pretty sparse save points, but there at least you have the option of trying a different strategy. In 99 Nights, restarting the level means pure repetition. The flashy, combo heavy gameplay is fun, but that much repetition gets old in a hurry.
So when is a real XBox 360 version of Dynasty Warriors coming out?
Live your own epic battles...
On: 2006-08-17I can see how some people would write this game off as a button mash fest, if theyve only played it one day at a friends house. However, Ive played this for most of today, have gotten pretty deep into it and I must say, the previous reviewer is way off base.
First, yes its true, you only start off with 2 combos and 2 orb attacks at the start of the game, but as you progress thru the game, you unlock new abilities, powers, moves and combos to unleash upon your foes giving you many attack options during gameplay - not just mindless button mashing. In addition, as you progress in the story you unlock other characters that you can play as who have their own unique abilities, powers and attacks that will provide tons of replay value. Also, objectives are constantly being added during the heat of battle to keep you on your toes, it never gets dull. And the Orb attacks and Max Orb attacks are visually stunning to witness. Its really cool to pull off a Max Orb attack and wipe out an entire battalion in one spectacular move! And dont mistake this for an easy game either. As you become more powerful, the objectives and battles become more demanding and you need to plan out not only what attacks work best against certain enemies, but you must also learn to assemble and command the battalions that join you in the fights. This is the best attempt at merging the worlds of battle strategy and all out action/fighting gameplay and if you go in gung-ho, you wont last long as the battles become more intense.
The cut scenes are gorgeous, and are right up there with Team Ninjas work on games like "Dead Or Alive 4" and "Ninja Gaiden". The graphics are stellar and I personally have encountered NO slow down even in heavy combat.
If you were disappointed with "Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth II" on the Xbox 360, like I was, then youve gotta try this game! It easily soars past it in quality, graphics and overall entertainment value. Plus, at under $50, its the best priced new 360 game out now. My only complaint, and this is small, is that the original Japanese audio has been replaced with English. Just like in DOA 4, I prefer the original voice actors, I dont mind subtitles.
Decent game wish I could get my copy ( T_T )
On: 2006-08-17Okay this is going to be a two part review one of this video game and one of my experiences with ordering this game through Amazon.
3/5 stars to the game
First this game is extremely beautiful over all. The graphics to the CGI is just amazing and stunning. If anything this game can show some of the real possibilities visually that the x-box will be providing with gaming as the years come. The down side of this game is rather larger though as its really pretty much a button mashing game. There are lots of combos that for the most part can be used or you can just mash buttons and just randomly pull them off rather successfully I might add.. I was able to hit a 5000 kill rate with combo after combo without ever learning a single one (didnt even know at first there were combos lol). That was about 10 mins into the game. I guess this makes it easily playable for most people. Its very much like dynasty warriors game series in some aspects. The story is pretty good if you can get past the worst voice acting I think Ive ever heard and I play RPGs a lot and its pretty amazing how bad it is (muted tv and put on subtitles). Over all the game is pretty fun though my thumb gets tired after an hour or 2 from the just repeated mashing as thousands of soldiers are running at you. I wasnt impressed with the lack of equipment slots. You get 3 slots for accessories and a weapon slot. Nothing else. Highly suggest downloading the free demo from x-box live and trying the game out before you buy.
0/5 stars to Amazon
Now for my ordering experience with Amazon and this game:
Okay originally I ordered my copy on July 6th. At this time it said on this site it was available and ships in 1-2 weeks. I was looking forward to playing a new x-box game so went ahead and ordered it. Turns out the actual release date was set for Aug. 16th, but Amazon made a mistake and was selling it as available now (they changed it a week later to pre-order it now). I called them up complaining that they should get their facts straight before taking orders. Well with not so much as any warning btw they didnt even email the people that did order this during the available now time to tell them "hey sorry, but we made a mistake". I had to call them to find out what was going on. So I sucked it up said, "fine whatever Ill wait until Aug 16th" not like I have much of a choice. So today is Aug 16th and my next door neighbor is playing his copy right now. Do I have my copy NOPE. I have this great email though about how theyre sorry, but weve delayed your order again. Well be shipping your copy between Sep 18th ~ Sep 21st and they sent this email to me today on the 16th. I guess I should be happy I even got an email at all telling me. Dont bother if you have a problem with Amazon calling their customer service either. They just use some over Seas Company in India to deal with it and they have been absolutely of no help in explaining why it was delayed or anything else in this matter. I should have just pre-ordered it from the game shop down the street. At least Id have my own copy today instead of playing it at my friends house. Lets just say Im not happy at all with them right now.
~*Update to this*~
Well I recieved my copy surprisingly before Sep. 18th. Got to play through my own copy instead of spending hours at friends house playing it. Nothing in my review has changed other then I hate the lack of save points in the game as others have mentioned. If you do died later in the game when levels take 20+ mins to complete having to repeat the level is no fun. Still consider this a button mashing, hack and slash, no brain required, look at the pretty lights, semi rpg game. Dont suggest buying it. Renting it might be a better option or borrowing it from a friend. Im sure there are much better games to blow 50 bucks on.