TGS 09: On the Battlefield With Ninety-Nine Nights 2
We've got Ninety-Nine Nights and a bitch ain't one.
September 25, 2009 - The original Ninety-Nine Nights turned some heads due to its insane amount of on-screen enemies, but after a few button mashing minutes with the game the shock value wore off, resulting in a buggy, unentertaining masher that just didn't hold up. Microsoft ditched the series, gamers pretty much forgot about it, and nobody ever expected a sequel until Konami came forward with Ninety-Nine Nights 2 (or N3II). The game was playable here at the Tokyo Game Show in Japan, and while there was only a tiny cross-section of the game available in the demo I had a chance to go through the paces and see how the sequel is turning out.
This is the first time the game has ever been shown live, but really the premise of the title (from what I can tell based on the Japanese demo) is pretty simple. The game is a lot darker this time around, having more of a Lord of the Rings meets God of War feel than anything else, and the animation and art style is pretty brutal, minus it being a bit generic. Not only will you be crashing through dozens and dozens of enemies at a time like the first game, but the amount of in-game effects are simply insane. With every combo comes flaming swords, huge motion blur, explosions, shattered limbs, and blood. It's all about action, and while some people may be on button-masher overload with Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, Dante's Inferno, Ninja Gaiden, and God of War I personally dug what I played quite a lot, and will happily return for more at TGS and beyond.
![[IMG]](http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/102/1028480/n3-ninety-nine-nights-ii-20090925072707495.jpg)
Yeah, it's kind of like that... every three seconds.
First, a bit on the game's customization and controls. The demo for N3 included the main character at "level 1" (obviously RPG-lite mechanics are going to play a part in the game), a default set of dual swords as well as a single upgraded set as well, and plenty of active and passive skills. The skill system is based on the four main face buttons of the 360 controller, showing a red, yellow, blue, and green icon on-screen in the lower right hand corner. While the face buttons are used for regular moves most of the time (jump, light attack, heavy attack, dodge) holding the left bumper acts as a modifier, allowing you to pull off whatever magic attack you have assigned to that position. The game also includes room for four "passive skills" as well, though at this point I only had two available, and I couldn't read the descriptions.
All the attacks were in Japanese, but in the setup menu there was around 20 possible attacks, each with their own level as well, implying that the more you used each skill the higher it would level. Each of the attacks had a great visual presence in the game, but some were truly brutal. At one time my X button attack (a blue magical spell) turned my player into a man-sized hadouken, blasting forward at an insane speed and leveling everything in his path. Others were projectile based, spinning sword attacks, and even an insane trigger (which seemed to be caused by having all four buttons full at once and using the right bumper instead, though I'm unsure since we didn't have English controls) that shook the entire screen and basically nuked the area, blasting everything to pieces as the screen washed out white and then dark, dark black. It was the closest thing to a nuclear blast I've ever seen in a button mash brawler, and I was wide-eyed when it happened.
Most of the combat is pretty expected, including a lot of roll dodges, air combat (which felt great, though it also froze the player in mid-air for what seemed like an infinite amount of time until I stopped mashing on the attack button) and general combinations of the light and heavy attacks, but there wasn't any moment where I was bored or ready to move on either. It's still early, but Ninety-Nine Nights 2 seems to have at least a decent amount of replay value, and far more of a coherent level design set and varied settings than the first game.
Speaking of settings, three areas were included in the TGS demo. The first is a basic outside battle that takes place during some sort of castle siege. Enemies are everywhere, heavy fighters break up the monotony, and eventually the hero comes crashing into the castle gates and starts fighting within the city itself.
The other two caught my eye a bit more though, as each were boss battles. The first of which was a battle against some sort of plant-like woman, who swung around the room and used huge tentacle attacks to knock the hero down. She could also blast out little plant pods that would hatch if you didn't destroy them fast enough. After saving up my specials and hitting her with a barrage of all four in a row she fell pretty easily and the demo ended. Simple, but also pretty interesting. The tentacle attacks forced a lot of roll dodging, and even though the battle was pretty simple (it was obviously the first level of the game) the boss design was at least pretty original.
![[IMG]](http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/102/1028480/n3-ninety-nine-nights-ii-20090925072710073.jpg)
N3's sequel trounces the original with bigger battles, some decent boss concepts, and lots of customization.
The second battle was much better, housing some sort of gigantic Ifrit-like fire demon. Enemies spawned all over the map, and as the battle carried out the monster would use flame breath to take out not only the hero, but also its own cronies. After taking out around 30 or 40 enemies the room cleared out, and it was just me and the boss. Rushing up to one of its feet (which was about the size of the main character, making for a pretty huge final enemy) I again did a barrage with all skills saved up – hopefully it isn't always that easy; kill baddies, save up specials, and then execute – and it launched me into a quicktime event.
The hero leaps up on the monster's raised foot, the creature looks over and poses for a quick strike, and three buttons come up in succession with a small time bar ticking down. Screw up, and the monster blasts you back to the ground with a quick spurt of flames. Execute it correctly, however, and he leaps onto the monster's head, gives it a quick slash, and then lands below the beast's stomach in a new portion of the level. More enemies arrive as lava flows all around, and after taking out all the baddies once again a hind leg is revealed. Attack it and the monster raises its foot out on instinct, this time allowing players to run under it before it crashes back down. Unfortunately the demo ends abruptly right there, and doesn't give players the satisfaction of closing the deal.
Ninety-Nine Nights 2 is 100% a mindless action game, but while some people scoff at the audacity of yet another action button masher I couldn't help but walk away from my 10 minute demo completely satisfied despite any and all shortcomings the game may have. It's repetitive, combos are easy to link together, and bosses – while original in design – seemed to fall quickly to a barrage of easily-executable special attacks. At the same time, N3 revels in over-the-top action, and I was biting hook line and sinker during the demo. It was mindless, loud, and full of eye candy. It was also fun as hell though, and I'm very much down for more.
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