Before
playing Ninety-Nine Nights, ask yourself the following:
-
Do I like Dynasty
Warriors? -
Would I enjoy the series
more if it didn’t have any technical flaws?
If you
answered yes to either question chances are you qualify for at least one
satisfying night with Ninety-Nine Nights, an epic single-player adventure with
thousands of enemies. You’ll stab, slaughter, combo, and juggle these enemies
— sometimes while hovering 30 feet in the air. They’ll attack in droves
without relenting, retreat when in smaller numbers, and do their best to put
on a show that’s worthy of being called Best in Show.
As Inphyy, the Angel in
Crimson Armor, you’ll fight in a war of Light versus Dark. It’s not Star Wars
or The Lord of the Rings, but it follows many of the same themes. The Forces
of Dark are reinforced by Orcs and Goblins, two creatures encountered
frequently in the game. Inphyy, a Temple Knight, is supposedly considered to
be a spiritual leader of the Forces of Light. Aspharr, the Reluctant Blue
Knight, has been unofficially credited with that title as well.
Glance at a
character screen and you’ll swear this is an RPG. Examine a battle shot and
you’ll think something else entirely. Though it’s looked and sounded like many
things, Ninety-Nine Nights is (without question) the first real Dynasty
Warriors killer. It is almost exactly like the title it beats, boasting
battles with hundreds at any given time. You’ll get a few hundred enemies of
your own to command, with actions limited to guard and attack. But it’s hard
not to feel alone on the battlefield. In every circumstance it’s the player
who ends up doing most of the work.
Plowing
through enemies – droves and droves that just keep coming – is no doubt
exciting, at least initially. The X and Y buttons trigger basic and strong
attacks. Both can be combined or pressed individually for various combos. It
doesn’t take much trial and error to figure out all the attacks available, but
the game provides a list (via the pause menu) just incase.
Slaughtered
enemies leave behind red orbs, which are drawn to Inphyy in the same way Devil
May Cry’s spiritual droppings cling to Dante. Orbs replenish a special attack
meter – filling it lets you unleash Inphyy’s super power. At this time she’ll
make Goblins cry with a stunning dash move that kills most enemies in one hit.
Enemies killed by this power are rewarded with blue orbs – a mega-powerful
magic that takes out several hundred enemies in one Earth-shattering blast.
Killing also
enemies earns EXP, the one RPG element in the game. Every additional level
adds space to your health meter, increases character performance, and usually
adds new combos to the move list. By level 2 Inphyy will be able to perform a
spinning attack where she dives into enemies like a helicopter flying
sideways. By level 5 she’ll able to merge that combo with others, letting her
hit several enemies on the ground, lift them into the air, and strike six or
seven more times before gravity steps in.
The game
does all this, repeatedly, without any glitches. Enemies never pop up — they
run in, from a distance, with animation that stays smooth and consistent from
the time you first see them to the time they arrive. Whereas Dynasty Warriors
had a stagnant camera, Ninety-Nine Nights lets you change the view at any
time. Spin, twist and turn the camera to your liking. The game will stay
functional at all times. Clipping, which I find in almost every other game, is
nowhere in this title. If this is what the next generation of consoles is
going to bring, then all games – even clones and sequels – will be vastly
superior to their predecessors.
Ninety-Nine
Nights shines as a Dynasty Warriors clone. It does everything that series has
attempted to do with better results. But no game can be a clone of DW without
picking up its most unlikable trait: repetition.
Ninety-Nine
Nights does not have derivatives. It does not feature any puzzles, or any
significant world exploration. There is nothing to do but the first thing you
do when the game begins: head for the nearest pack of enemies, kill them, and
wait for the stage to end.
Those who
have never touched a DW game before will be thoroughly amused until they die.
Dying means having to re-start the level, as there are no check points and
very few opportunities to replenish health. I’ve spent more time playing
fighting games than any other genre, and have spent more hours than I can
count with the Dynasty and Samurai Warriors series. That experience made
Ninety-Nine Nights a bit of a cakewalk for me, and will likely seem just as
easy to other players with similar experience.
Newbies,
however, will be frustrated a bit more easily. What Ninety-Nine Nights does
right it does very well. But playing it is like watching the same music video
over and over: it could be the best video in the world, the greatest ever
played on MTV. After a while it gets tiring, and before you know it, downright
boring. Eventually you have to turn the channel, or hope they play something
else. Ninety-Nine Nights is a fun game, but its channel never changes.
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Gameplay: 7.0
A Dynasty
Warriors killer built for next-gen players, Ninety-Nine Nights shows how many
characters one game can (currently) cram onto one screen. The constant hacking
and slashing, orb attacks, and overgrown bosses will take you back to the days
of quarter-eating arcade machines. The fact that everything you do (killing
enemies) is all you do takes you back to thoughts of Dynasty Warriors,
which is why this game leaves little replay value at the end of the quest.
Graphics: 7.0
Not nearly as
impressive as I expected. Ninety-Nine Nights has a grand display of enemies,
cramming over a thousand into each stage, with hundreds filling the screen at
any given time. Adjusting the camera yields a glorious view of all the action,
with no clipping, pop-up or pixelization to ruin the effect.
Though
visually stunning, when you get close to these guys, stare at the backgrounds
for a bit and study the battlegrounds, you’ll find that Ninety-Nine Nights
does not have the polygon potency of other Xbox 360 titles. It’s pretty, and
currently crams more enemies onto one screen than any other title. But it’s
not beautiful, and it doesn’t look entirely next-gen.
Sound: 6.0
Generic, highly
repetitive music mixed with boring real-time scenes. Many have above-average
voice acting (for a game), but it’s nothing standout, especially when the
industry is finally starting to understand what it means to tell a good story.
Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Remember the old
method for winning in a fighting game: block a combo and immediately strike?
The same is true here as well, especially for boss battles. Clusters of
enemies are no match for your powerful, multi-enemy-killing moves. There are
moments of frustration that will cause you to scream (no check points – so
don’t die!), but other than that Ninety-Nine Nights is a very easy game.
Concept: 7.0
Everything you’ll
see and experience originated in the Dynasty Warriors series. By developing
exclusively for Xbox 360, the developers were able to eliminate all the
technical nonsense that came with that series, creating a new title –
Ninety-Nine Nights – that is just as repetitive yet vastly superior.
Overall: 7.0
Ninety-Nine
Nights uses the Dynasty Warriors formula to perfection, having no glitches, a
steady camera, and seamless attacking. Perfection is then lost by the formula;
a game structure that has players jamming on the X and Y buttons from the
moment the game begins. Few other buttons will be used aside from the brief
times when you need to jump or use a power-up attack. It’s tiring, but I
enjoyed the endless dose of hack-‘n’-slashing – sparingly. One play through
will more than enough to satisfy (or push away) most gamers.
