N3II: Ninety-Nine Nights 2 Review

Game: N3II: Ninety-Nine Nights 2

Developer: Q Entertainment

Publisher: Konami

Available on: Xbox 360 only

Gamers in the west have never accepted “hack and slash” games with quite the wild abandon that their Japanese counterparts do, yet these games continue to be released time and time again. Some of them, due to strong characters or unique art design for example, do well and carve out a niche; such as the Devil May Cry series or Bayonetta. Others may seem bland and run-of-the-mill, and sink into relative obscurity.

Ninety-Nine Nights was one that fell into the latter category. Released by Konami in Japan only months after the launch of the Xbox 360 in the East, it was an obvious stab at catering to the taste of the Asian market, in an attempt to win over buyers who are notoriously sceptical of American produce. The game did quite well, achieving a score of 31/40 in Japanese gaming bible Famitsu. However, when it was released across Europe and America three months later, the reception was much more mixed, and the game failed to sell in numbers. So it comes as a bit of a surprise four years on, that developer Q Entertainment has produced a sequel. Could this game capture the imaginations of the public more than its predecessor? Read on for the full review.

[singlepic id=182 w=320 h=240 float=left]STORY: Strangely, N3II: Ninety-Nine Nights 2, does not continue on from the end of the previous game. Instead, the plot from the first game is more or less re-used. The Lord of Night has been brought back to life using the Orb of Darkness and in order to stay alive he must steal the Orb of Light before 99 nights have passed. Galen (our hero) has seen his world go to war, his homeland destroyed, his wife and daughter killed. He has nothing left to lose, so has set out to exact revenge and to stop the Lord of Darkness at all costs. In the process, he heads to the last bastion of hope, Orphea Castle, home of the Orb of Light. Galen agrees to help Princess Sephia to protect Orphea and defeat the evil threatening their world.

This may all sound fairly predictable for a swords and sorcery title, and it is. The storyline does little to captivate the interest of the player and most of the characters are very one-dimensional. As you progress through the game and encounter new allies, they become playable characters and have their own story missions which help to fill in gaps and expand the plot. This succeeds in adding depth to the tale and tries to flesh out the character, but too little time is spent in making the individuals likeable – so we don’t care enough about what happens to them. Much of the game involves discovering allies you have never met, fighting against enemies you have never heard of, for unclear reasons. Would you care if your character died?

GRAPHICS: The graphics are good, without ever excelling really. The huge number of enemies who appear on-screen at any one point in time is very impressive and the action continues to run smoothly throughout, with no frame rate loss. When Galen is battling hundreds of minions, and he pulls off a flash attack which wipes out 50 in one blow, it is remarkable how well the system handles it.

However, the design certainly does not impress. There are only four or five common variations of enemy. All of these are fleshed out in grey hues, with similar textures and skins. When a distinction is made between a regular troop and a more highly-powered one, this is often signified by the exact same character model simply having a different colour trim around his armour, for instance.

[singlepic id=183 w=320 h=240 float=right]The environments too are disappointing. This may come as a shock to those who played the first game in the series, but this outing is set almost entirely in dark, grey fortresses. Gone are the open fields and bright palette of its ancestor – here to stay are shadows and mud. There is an obligatory ice level, but aside from that, the player would be forgiven for mistaking one level for the next.

The camera is another aspect that detracts from the playing experience. All too often the playing view will become impossible. Whenever you move too close to a wall or up against some other object of scenery, the camera will zoom in tight on the playable character – often cutting through the offending obstacle – so the view is obscured and useless. Being able to see through sprites is one thing, but being unable to see what is repeatedly attacking you is immensely frustrating. You cannot turn the camera, but the option to pan in and out is present – albeit only a three very similar levels of zoom. It does not suffice though as a useful way to view the larger battlefield – so once I discovered it was an option, I never found need for it.

SOUND: Thankfully the music is much more competent, creating a dramatic atmosphere with a classical choral score – very much like you might find in the Lord of the Rings films. Deep rousing themes invoke the mood of battle and the music certainly does not irritate, being a good variety of pieces included. Sound effects too, are suitable. When your sword strikes upon the metal of an enemy’s shield, it produces a mighty clang and the sound of a foot soldier being casually cut in two is rightfully satisfying. The effects may not stand out, but once again, they definitely do nothing wrong.

The voice acting is another problem though. This is probably a result of the poor writing to some extent, as cutscene dialogue is as predictable as possible, but there is also so little emotion in the delivery. Only two characters in the whole cast stood out in any way, Maggni (the Ogre) and Levv (the Goblin). They both play the classic burly simpleton and the wily sneak, but they don’t have much to do in terms of lines spoken compared to the main protagonists. The Lord of Darkness has a voice which is completely incorrect for him, too high and weak, whereas his lady sounds like an old maid. Even our champion Galen is just a hero-by-numbers and the voice acting does little to infuse him with personality.

[singlepic id=184 w=320 h=240 float=left]GAMEPLAY: The campaign in N3II is weakly executed. It is all organised around a menu made up of a campaign map and stat pages that allow for levelling up and equipping skulls. These pages are fine, but even they have their difficulties. For instance the world map does nothing to indicate which levels have already been completed, as old missions remain there with no colour change or signifier to show which is new or old. This carries over to the introduction of new characters. After you meet Princess Sephia, following the first level for instance, there is nothing to tell the player we can now play as her. This is stumbled upon in the character customisation screen. Even then, it is not clear that switching character will result in a new set of missions.

This confusion is compounded by a weak tutorial method in-game. In the first level your allies will talk to you to let you know what you should be doing next, but these can easily be missed amid all of the explosions and fighting. Some actions are explained in this first area, but blocking and evading are never touched upon – something else you have to discover by yourself. If you pause the game, objectives will be listed, but some are optional and some only appear as ????? until you stumble across them. This can make knowing what is necessary to pass the level perplexing.

The gameplay mechanics are very repetitive. Fighting mainly involves two attacking buttons stringing together simple combos. Special attacks can be added in when your meters charge up, but these too become uninspiring after several levels. Doors, switches and walls need activating and breaking, which requires more smashing with your sword. Puzzles are little more than slashing at everything you can find until something works. The action of breaking walls can also become a hindrance as it plays havoc with the already temperamental camera. Crumbling walls block our view and disappear so slowly you can take a lot of damage before even seeing your opponent.

[singlepic id=185 w=320 h=240 float=right]Checkpoints positions can be quite random, whereby sometimes dying on a climatic section will simply reload you back a minute or two, and sometimes you will lose a lot of progress and have to travel across half of the level to return to that point. Platform sections in the game can be equally unforgiving. Jumps need to be overly precise and button presses for jumps near the edge of a platform don’t always register, leading to your hero falling off. Flying enemies can be infuriating. They all fire powerful projectiles which will knock you to the ground, and getting back to your feet becomes near impossible as they continue to fire the whole time and this is true even on easy difficulty!

Boss battles try to offer some diversity, but mainly require the player to just learn their attack pattern and then repeatedly slash at one part of their body. Battling the Behemoth late on in the game is slightly more fun, involving quick-time events. But as this is the first time you have experienced these gameplay features in the whole game, you aren’t really ready when they occur – no warning is given. You get used to this though and the gameplay does provide a welcome respite. It is too little too late though honestly, by this point in the game I had already endured hours of exasperating button mashing.

MULTIPLAYER: The co-operative mode over Xbox LIVE is probably one of the strongest selling points to be found in the package. As the ally AI in the main game is decidedly wobbly, it comes as a relief to have a friend in tow who does attack the enemy and who doesn’t just follow you around quietly. The modes here also add some variety into the mix. Survival modes are self-explanatory: waves of enemies attack and the two of you must survive as long as you can. Maze will see you separated from one another with the aim to alternately solve simple switch puzzles and defeat rooms of adversaries as you work your way to the goal. There are also regular style levels to play through, with several missions of each level type to be played. Completion of the co-op levels will unlock exclusive weapons for use across the game that aren’t available by any other method – but by the time you have completed the main campaign, you probably have a weapon that you have levelled up enough to make these ones redundant. Leaderboards round out the online experience, offering the expected rankings and filtering methods most games provide. One of the strongest points of online play is the option to use your character from a campaign, complete with all your levelling up and customisation.

[singlepic id=186 w=320 h=240 float=left]LONGEVITY: The campaigns in N3II last a good few hours each and when you factor in that you will be playing through the story of all five characters to get the whole picture, the game will weigh in at least 10 solid hours. Put the difficulty up to hard though and you are looking at a figure closer to 20. The problem is when the levels differ so little from one character to the next and levels are completely re-used on occasion; will you have the motivation the finish the story with each hero? When frustration and boredom sets in on the first campaign, it is unlikely you will want to slog through four more!

The multiplayer options do provide some variety as mentioned earlier and playing with an ally who actually does something makes the game more enjoyable, but these levels provide little to go back to after being completed once – so it isn’t something that will be taking up your time on LIVE for long. Achievements are fairly straightforward and easy to achieve, as long as you play through every campaign it is likely you will unlock them all, so that might provide some further motivation to finish the point of view for every character.

VERDICT: Whilst a game like Bayonetta can prove that there is some life in the “hack and slash” genre, there are many in the mould of N3II which just fail to capture our attention. With other long-standing series’ like Dynasty Warriors and Kingdom Under Fire struggling to find an audience in the west, the market is already overcrowded. Despite their best efforts to improve on the original title with the additions of online co-op and harder difficulty levels, this feels more like a step backwards, as N3II has lost some of the personality that the first game had. Fans of the genre will find something to enjoy here, but the repetition and frustration will be too much for most.