Friday, November 10, 2006

Even though the Xbox 360 can create battlefields filled with thousands of combatants, that doesn't mean that gimmick alone should take the place of entertaining gameplay. Ninety-Nine Nights offers glorious battles between humans and monsters such as goblins, orcs and trolls. Unfortunately, the eye candy doesn't make up for repetitive action that grows old after just a few hours. And the game's reliance on single-player button-mashing with no online or multiplayer options kills any chance of replay.

This Japanese-developed game centers on seven characters from both sides of a conflict between the humans and goblins. The game's first character, a female winged knight named Inphyy, seeks to avenge her father's death at the hands of orcs.

Throughout the game's 32 missions, six other characters will be featured, including the goblin soldier Dwingvatt, the magician Tyurru, Vigk Vagk the troll and the mercenary Myifee. Much of the characters' stories has been lost in translation with poor English voice acting that sometimes fails to get the point across.

Yes, there are some light role-playing game elements as players gain experience and more adversaries along the way, but the heart of this game is running into crowded battlefields and hacking and slashing through opponents with rudimentary artificial intelligence. It's not the style I think about when I'm considering spending $50 on a next-generation game.

-- John Gaudiosi

Ninety-Nine Nights Mature; Xbox 360 ($50) Microsoft/Q Entertainment