There is no denying it, N3 producer Tetsuya Mizuguchi is a gaming genius. His work on the highly rated Space Channel 5 and Rez have made sure that his mark upon the gaming world has been well and truly cemented. And while those titles were evidently completely different than any other game around that time, this only went in their favour as they both turned out to be incredibly original. Now, with the immense power of the Xbox 360, Mizuguchi has teamed up with Kingdom Under Fire creators Phantagram, to create a brand new next generation franchise. However, while the concept of the game seems very fun, there are so many errors that the game just doesn’t come across as very special. Ninety-nine Nights just screams ‘mediocre’ in nearly every department. It is an action game with simply nothing to offer.
With a wealth of experience under their belt, you would have thought Phantagram would look to improve upon the more lacking elements of their past title, Kingdom Under Fire. After all, the game was everything Dynasty Warriors strived to be; fun, fast, and with a strong, intuitive RPG mechanic. But where Phantagram succeeded with KUF, they simply just didn’t succeed with the majority of N3’s gameplay. It feels extremely rushed, and it just isn’t what I expected from such a talented developer.
Turning the enemies inside out...
While the gameplay is disappointing, what really struck me is the potential of the storyline. It may be more than similar to a lot of past games, but the sheer epic-ness of the battles could have really tied in well and given the player a potentially excellent plot. Essentially, the world is forced into a huge war beyond anything they ever imagined. A mysterious crystal has been shattered, and with it, the separation between the orc race and the human race is drawn to a close, with the orcs wanting to reclaim lost land. They quickly overrun entire landscapes within days, and take control of over-populated human civilizations. It is up to a select group of individuals, who belong to the illustrious White Knight Templar, to take control of over-run areas, and consequently drive the orcs out of your world.
When you start up the game for the first time, you may be disappointed to find the complete lack of modes. N3 has a single player mode, and that’s it. No multiplayer options are available and even the ever popular skirmish mode, which is usually commonplace in these types of games, is nowhere to be seen. This wouldn’t be that much of a big deal if the single-player was loaded with intuitive gameplay, but it just isn’t.
The characters in the game are probably the only thing that will drive players to continuing through the single-player. Although you can only select from one at the start, as you progress you will meet other characters, and this alludes to them being playable after you’ve completed your current storyline. You start off with a sultry vixen named Inphyy, who, despite her evident skills as a fighter, is pretty coy. She only seems to lead her troops into battle when she knows the path ahead is fully safe. Other characters include Inphyy’s brother, Aspharr. There are also a number of other really intriguing characters available, but these are very story centric. Without giving away any spoilers, some are stronger and more important than both Inphyy and Aspharr put together.
Combat is where the repetitiveness really sticks out in N3, and it is here where its main gameplay flaw lies. It is just far too simple. The attacks themselves make you seem pretty strong, but they just don’t offer anything in terms of how different they are from other games. The combos in particular seem to be just repeated as you go along, with no real difference between each one.
That is one long sword....
There are however, some really epic ‘special’ attacks, which can be gained during a battle. After killing orcs, they will drop small red orbs which can be collected to fill a bar. Once fully filled, you can unleash a powerful secondary special attack, which can potentially wipe out hundreds upon hundreds of enemies. Wipe out enough, and you can fill out the second bar, which unleashes unparallel destruction when activated. Aspharr example, can hurtle every enemy in site up into the air, and then send them crashing down with incredible force. It is a very nice touch to an otherwise simplistic combat system.
You can also do some pretty nifty things with your characters as you eventually progress. N3 does have a basic RPG element, but one that seems very dumbed down from what KUF offered. All you can really do is obtain different weapons or miscellaneous items which help to further your characters governing strength and intelligence. A shiny spear, for instance, would do a lot more damage on enemies, but would hinder any magical attributes you have. You can also equip various items such as rings and necklaces, which can give you extra defensive duties, or even make you twice your normal speed. Not only that, but before each battle, you can choose two types of units to accompany you into the fight. These include; heavy infantry, standard infantry, archers, and even pike-men. It may seem useful, but it really doesn’t help at all, due to the extremely poor AI.
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