Ninety-Nine Nights

N3 is a grand, gorgeous action game that feels empty at times.

The other major issue with N3 is its overall lack of consistency. Two or three characters get the lion's share of major campaigns in the game, while the rest get scraps. Several characters only have four map locations they can visit, while many of the later characters are limited to just two or three. While these characters are fun to play, there's just not enough locales for them to warrant going back and playing unless you're trying to get a better ranking on the map.

Another consistency problem worth noting is that not all characters get troops to command and several of them find themselves going solo for some extremely trying map missions. I don't have too much of a problem with this, but if you are going to take the time to create a marquee character then there should at least be the same features for everyone across the board. Why would someone want to play a character that doesn't have any support when they can simply play the two key protagonists with all their armies and body guards?

In the end Ninety Nine Nights proves to be a satisfying but imperfect gaming experience that is far removed from games like the Dynasty Warriors series. That's not a bad thing at all, but where the game ultimately stumbles is in its lack of cohesive gameplay mechanics, some cheap parlor tricks in terms of movement and characters that don't get enough quality time in the limelight. Still, I'd be hard pressed not to recommend this game to fans of games like Dynasty Warriors or Drakengard - with the caveats I've already stated above.

Review by James 'Prophet' Fudge - courtesy of Gameshark.com