N3: Ninety-Nine Nights Review (x360) By Apotheosis Published: 09/12/06 PrintEmail
Ah the Hack n' Slash, one of the most recognizable game genres in all of gaming. The style of a Hack n’ Slash game is a very simple one that’s easy to pick up for just about anyone: Grab a weapon, and slice through throngs upon throngs of enemies. It seems like a really fun concept when put on paper, but the delivery of this concept is what has plagued the series since its birth. These types of games all suffer many similar problems: They get repetitive, they take little or no skill, and they just don’t offer a variety of gameplay. Series like Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors have proven that these problems continue to persist throughout the genre. After five Dynasty games, and two Samurai games, these same issues continue to be present. Q Entertainment and Phantagram teamed up to try to bring some new light and hope to the genre. They’ve succeeded in some ways, but have also stumbled in many areas with N3: Ninety-Nine Nights.
The title is directly related to the story. The story is where one of the many problems this game faces arises: It’s generic beyond belief. The general gist is that there is a war going on between the Humans versus every race the developers managed to rip off from Tolkein (Goblins, Orcs, etc.). The standard good versus evil formula is applied, and carried throughout most of the story. The developers gain a pat on the back for trying to make it emotional and touching, but the god awful script, and the voice acting – in most cases even worse than the script – hinders any emotional connection with the characters. I don’t understand why many Asian developed games suffer from poor voice work. I find it even harder to understand why some of these voice actors would even get paid for their “work”. Anyways, the Story Mode works in a similar fashion to that of the SaGa series from Square Enix (Formerly Squaresoft) you pick a character, and you go through that specific characters missions. Once you beat all of the missions, other characters become available from the character select menu and you get to play through their side of the story. This is where the story could’ve actually done something for the game, if it wasn’t for its aforementioned flaws and the fact that none of the characters do much in the term of development throughout their respective campaigns. The gameplay suffers from the story and the two don’t integrate into each other very smoothly.
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Like in every Hack n’ Slash game, the gameplay in N3 focuses on killing a lot of enemies at once, with huge combo attacks, and some pretty explosions. Once again it seems like the developers had some very good ideas, but just failed to follow through on them. They tried to incorporate some RPG aspects into the game, such as the ability to level each of your warriors to Level 9, and each is given slots to equip armor and new weapons they find during their journeys. This would have been a nice addition if it impacted gameplay in some major way other than making you slightly stronger. You play through each mission with specific objectives, such as: Reach this certain area, defeat the leaders of the small battalions, etc. Another annoyance that arises during the missions is that every ten or so minutes, you’ll be forced into a short cut scene that just shows enemies running at you. It cuts up the action for no reason, and it would be more epic to make the enemies come charging down a hill while you’re fighting, instead of making you watch a little sequence, and then returning you to gameplay. You have two battalions of units yourself, and to put it simply: They’re useless. The AI in the game is just plain horrible. Both your units and the enemy units you encounter are mindless drones set to perform the same pattern of attacks over and over again, with very little success. Another flaw in the gameplay is revealed at this point in the game: Balancing issues.
At first, you will encounter generic forms of close range soldiers and archers, which will be easy to take down no matter who you’re playing as. As the levels progress, you’ll be introduced to overpowered units such as mages, assassin-esque close combat units, and mini bosses. All of these more advanced units seem to know exactly when to block every move, and if any of their attacks hit you, you can be sure to feel it. For example, the mages in the game will case a lighting spell right on top of you if you stand in the same spot for longer than a second while within their casting range. This lighting attack can take off 1/6th of your health, and the mages usually come in groups of two, constantly casting this attack while you’re fighting off thousands of the useless normal melee units. The mini-bosses have so many hit points, that even the most strength based heroes will take forever to kill them, not to mention that the mini boss attacks can usually kill you in a few hits. The gameplay has few rewarding features intermingled in between all these flaws. Each character has his or her own special “orb spark” abilities which are most easily compared to Limit Breaks in Final Fantasy games. They are devastating, and always fun to use. The combo system had potential for both complexity and adding depth to the game, but was drowned out in the wave of problems this game has. The games replay value is further deadened by the lack of any multiplayer aspect. There is no co-op mode, there is no vs. mode, and this is no kind of online mode. All the game offers is the single player story mode.
The game seems to suffer many of the same problems as its predecessors do, but what makes it different from the rest is that unlike Dynasty Warriors creator Koei, Phantagram and Q Entertainment did try to incorporate new features into the game. Sadly, most were not developed enough for them to make an impact. These flaws, intermingled with inherent Hack n’ Slash problems came together to mix what could’ve been awesome gameplay with a bundle of annoyances that in the end fails to deliver much entertainment. Only hardcore fans of the genre will see this one as a worthy addition to their collections. I have trouble even recommending this game as a rental to all others, not because it’s a complete failure, but because it only holds its entertainment value for a minimal time before becoming a chore.
Ah the Hack n' Slash, one of the most recognizable game genres in all of gaming. The style of a Hack n’ Slash game is a very simple one that’s easy to pick up for just about anyone: Grab a weapon, and slice through throngs upon throngs of enemies. It seems like a really fun concept when put on paper, but the delivery of this concept is what has plagued the series since its birth. These types of games all suffer many similar problems: They get repetitive, they take little or no skill, and they just don’t offer a variety of gameplay. Series like Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors have proven that these problems continue to persist throughout the genre. After five Dynasty games, and two Samurai games, these same issues continue to be present. Q Entertainment and Phantagram teamed up to try to bring some new light and hope to the genre. They’ve succeeded in some ways, but have also stumbled in many areas with N3: Ninety-Nine Nights.
