  The fog of war 'N3' style. |
It was inevitable I suppose. It’s almost a no-brainer for a title so early
into a next-gen console’s lifespan to concentrate seemingly entirely on the
eye candy, rather than the gameplay. After all, the 360’s pixel power is the
most obvious evolutionary leap from its predecessor, and no doubt it’s what
turns the most heads in magazines and video game stores. Ninety-Nine Night’s
existence almost singularly hangs on its ability to display seemingly
unlimited foes on screen at one time. Impressive for sure but despite the
numbers, it’ll never be enough.
Ninety-Nine Nights (or N3) is an unashamed button masher in the Dynasty
Warriors mould, pitting your hero (from up to seven choices with supposedly
different traits and strengths, though only one character is available at
the start) and paltry army against and insurmountable opposition. Sure,
there’s a story, but it’s not important really. In fact, the narrative, by
way of mid battle cut scenes does more to hinder the flow of the gamer than
grant its purpose.
No, just hack, hack and hack your way through the maps, eventually meeting
the level end boss and take them down. Great, huh? There really is nothing
new here, other than the graphics. But even Capcom’s recent 360 zombie tread
‘Dead Rising’ runs the same gauntlet of overwhelming on-screen carnage and
uses it as an aside rather than the sole reason for existing.
To be fair for a moment, on-screen population been a complaint of mine for
years when playing console ports of PC games. Military FPS franchises like
Medal of Honour or Call of Duty flourished on desktop hardware, immersing
the player amongst endless fellow soldiers. However, their console brethren
would have you believe that it only took five or six grunts to take the
beaches of Omaha, because that’s all the hardware could handle.
And whilst turning up the soldier count of the Normandy landings would do
nothing but enhance the gaming experience, N3 doesn’t back the body count up
with the extra dimension in gameplay. Hacking through endless streams of all
encompassing enemies might seem like an impressive feat, but when all it
boils down to is brainlessly thrashing one or two buttons in the process,
often losing sight of your character and what direction you’re facing thanks
to the throng, it really doesn’t seem so impressive after all.
Sure, the Dynasty Warriors style is all about button mashing. I get that. I
also get the fact that turning the visuals up to 11 can be a good thing. But
for me it’s simply not taking the gaming experience to the level promised by
next generation technology.
WHAM! Rating: |
5 out of 10 |
ESRB Rating: |
M (Mature) |
Official Web Site: |
|
|
