TGS 2005: Ninety Nine Nights Hands-On

TOKYO--One of the many Xbox 360 games on display at Microsoft's TGS booth is Ninety-Nine Nights, or N3, an action game from Tetsuya Mizuguchi's Q Entertainment and Korea-based Phantagram. The game is one of the pillars of the Xbox 360 launch this December. Naturally we were curious what the company who brought us Meteos on the DS and Lumines on the PSP could do with the developer who has crafted the mighty Kingdom Under Fire games on the original Xbox. A playable work-in-progress version of the game sated our curiosity and left us mostly pleased.

The demo on display in Microsoft's booth let us a try out a single level as Inphyy, a human female warrior sporting an impressive set of armor with winglike extensions and a view of her cleavage. The single mission on display had us going around to deal with boatloads of enemies who were popping up all over. A map in the upper right-hand screen alerted us to where the latest set of evildoers was amassing, allowing us to go bust some heads without having to spend time looking.

As far as gameplay goes, N3's core mechanics are pretty classic and should be easy for anyone to pick up. The base mechanics are pure hack and slash. You'll have a single attack button, a jump, a block, and the ability to dodge attacks. Though the comparisons with Koei's Dynasty Warrior series are inevitable, there's more to the game than that. The combat system is expanded over your basic hack-and-slash title in a number of ways. You'll be able to level up your character courtesy of experience you earn as you mow down the hordes of foes. You'll be able to direct friendly troops who join you in battle and get them to attack or retreat. Most significantly, you'll collect red orbs that will fill a power meter onscreen. Once it's full, you can unleash a powerful super attack that triggers some dramatic Matrix-style slowdown and lets you cut through the throngs of foes like a hot knife through butter. But such flashy killing is only the tip of the iceberg--you'll be able to fill up another meter during these attacks that will let you perform a devastating orb-spark attack that decimates your foes like a smart bomb.

The visuals in the game are coming along nicely, with eye-bleeding clarity courtesy of its 720p resolution that was on impressive display in the Microsoft booth. The HDTV monitors running the game showcased the detailed textures, high-polygon characters, and massive environments being used to bring the virtual world to life. You'll see impressively large throngs of enemies come at you, currently numbering in the hundreds, which can be cut down in flashy style by your standard and orb-powered attacks. The various special effects in the game are well done and are a satisfying complement once you get your groove on and start cutting down huge mobs. The game's frame rate takes a hit every so often, and the camera can occasionally get itself in an awkward angle when you least want it to, but neither issue was enough to ruin the experience.

The audio is pretty stellar, with a promising mix of technology and style. On the tech side, the 5.1 audio is well done. We had the chance to play the game with headphones and were pleased by how thoroughly we were sucked in by the clang of weapons clashing, the cries of soldiers, and the meaty effects used for the special attacks. However the game's style is set with dramatic flair by the game's soundtrack, which has a sweeping, epic feel that's perfectly in line with the scale of the combat.

Based on what we played, Ninety-Nine Nights is looking like a fun, meaty experience that folds some interesting elements into the traditionally simple hack-and-slash genre. The visuals and audio are coming along well and promise to make good use out of the Xbox 360 hardware. The game's story should complement all of the above and enrich the experience. The only issues we came across in the work-in-progress version of the game were the expected inconsistencies in frame rate and some awkward camera angles that you always find at this stage of development.

So, in spite of the favorable impression made by the game, you're probably wondering why we're just "mostly pleased" by the game. You can attribute that to the only real downer of our demo: Ninety-Nine Nights has only been announced for a Japanese release, which means that, at the present time, US players hoping for some high-res hack-and-slash action are out of luck for the time being. We expect there's a pretty good chance the game will find its way over to the US, but there are no guarantees at the moment. Ninety-Nine Nights is currently slated to ship this fall in Japan for the Xbox 360.