The first 10 minutes : Ninety Nine Nights

BlimBlim
Wednesday, April 26, 2006 | 12:34 PM
43 comments

Xbox 360

There it is finally! Ninety Nine Nights is most certainly the game I've talked about the most in here. Does this game live up the hype? Unfortunately the answer is not a straight yes, but it's not a resounding no either. I'll go into more details tomorrow morning when I put online the 720p parts of the first video, but you can already feast your eyes on the "low resolution" version, running at 60 fps of course.
If this video is popular, much more will follow. Hopefully one per day.
Update : 720p parts online. Update 2: My quick impressions are now online.

Ninety Nine Nights is definitely not a bad game, but it's far from being a perfect game too. I'll just describe everything point by point:

The graphics are for the most part really good, with an incredible number of detailed character displayed on screen at the same time. But there is also a lot of clipping and objects tend to appear late or disappear too soon. It even happens during the cutscenes...

The animation is also quite good. The framerate is most of the time at a smooth 60 fps, and only slows down during really heavy fights. Some cutscenes for some reason have some very jerky camera movement and the motion captured animation sometimes seems to be too fast. The lipsync is also downright bad.

The sound is nothing to talk about, it does the job. The music aren't as awesome as the one from the demo, but they are still quite good. There even is some classical music used during some fights, and it's really nice.

Finally the gameplay, and it's of course the most important part. During the usual fights against lots of enemies, the gameplay is really good. There is a lot of different combos, different levels and different enemy units so it doesn't get too boring to mindlessly kill and kill and kill. That's the biggest part of the game, and it just works. But the one on one fights are another story. These boss fights can be really annoying, if not incredibly frustrating. First because some boss fights start after 30 minutes, and if you die because this boss touched you twice (yes, twice), you are back to square one. Annoying to say the least. The engine is simply not able to give a good one on one experience, and it seems that Phantagram knew it and added invicible sidekicks you'll have to use to distract the boss. It's too bad the boss patterns seem to be random, there is no way to know who he will attack, and dodging attacks is difficult, to say the least.

Personally I'm still enjoying Ninety Nine Nights a lot, the good points being much more important to me than the bad ones. Your experience might vary though. I really hope Phantagram will use the months left for the US/PAL release to at least add a simple checkpoint system. That's my only real problem with the game. I simply hate having to play again 30 minutes of a level simply because a boss fight is badly implemented.

640x360 version

Commented on 2006-04-25 22:35:19

Damn it, I just knew the gameplay looked weak, thanks Blim.

In reply to

BlimBlim

Commented on 2006-04-25 22:37:20

The gameplay is globally ok, wait for my full impressions before jumping to conclusions.

TheNumberOfTheBeast

Commented on 2006-04-25 22:46:29

To be honest, I never did like the looks of the game that much. So it's pretty much not a huge deal for me. Although if I get bored with the games I have now I may rent it. I'll just wait for your impressions on the game, Blim.

Kronth

Commented on 2006-04-25 22:52:02

I was never interested in this game until now. WOW!!!!!!
Blim I cant wait for more!!!!!

QuezcatoL

Commented on 2006-04-25 22:53:13

It depends on what kind of hype Blim had about this game,i always wanted it,but for me it was a dynasty warrior with 1000 of enemies on screen,or having a better story/gameplay/size/graphic then kingdom under fire,which it seems to have so im more the fine.

And thanks for the video blim.

ps! still no sign or comment about EU release ;(

beatle

Commented on 2006-04-25 22:56:22

Please post the 720p version without cuts, in torrent or others, doesn't matter...
This game is my obsession.

Commented on 2006-04-25 22:58:19 In reply to beatle

Posted by beatle

8 minutes in 720p resolution at 60 fps for this game would be like 1 GB. No thanks :D
I try to show all the interesting stuff in the 720p version, don't worry.

Commented on 2006-04-25 23:00:36 In reply to BlimBlim

Posted by BlimBlim

Well, thanks anyway...

andersonale

Commented on 2006-04-25 23:05:23

lol

vspectra06

Commented on 2006-04-25 23:32:44

I wish the game used Unreal Engine 3 so the characters could look like the CG. :p

http://images.xboxyde.com/gallery/public/3109/789_...

dec0y

Commented on 2006-04-25 23:42:15

when is this coming out in us/canada?

and if it's gonna be awhile...where can i import this? (will it work on my canadian 360?)

Dench

Commented on 2006-04-26 00:23:45 In reply to vspectra06

Posted by vspectra06

The engine does not make the models look better.

Shawnzee

Commented on 2006-04-26 00:25:22

It looks better than I thought it would.

monkey1988

Commented on 2006-04-26 01:03:28

i'll wait for the 720 version....i've turned into such a resolution snob haha

Commented on 2006-04-26 01:33:38 In reply to Dench

Posted by Dench

I think it does.

http://www.bytesector.com/reviews/id-636/pic2.jpg
http://www.bytesector.com/reviews/id-636/pic5.jpg

El_Cadz

Commented on 2006-04-26 01:38:23

Can we expect an comparison with Dynasty Warrior? I heard a lot of (Well, maybe not a lot) people say that the game is disapointing but, a want to know how does it fare against Koei's franchise.

Commented on 2006-04-26 02:06:34 In reply to vspectra06

Different modeler and skinner. Case closed. Now show me N^3 running on the Unreal3 engine and maybe we will see.

LightHeaven

Commented on 2006-04-26 02:58:41

Nice video as always... Does this game is region free or it runs only in asian consoles?

Robafella

Commented on 2006-04-26 03:16:46

I think the game looks great if you are a fan of the Dynasty warriors then you can really see how this game takes it to the next level with its epic music stunning graphics and what looks to be a good strory line isee some people saying it should use the unreal engine if all games used one engine they I personally think would all start to blend in the same I can not wait to this hits US

Commented on 2006-04-26 03:19:59

one thing though it looks like the fail a little bit with the view angles like what there trying to do with to human to give it that more cenmatic feel

wuffyx

Commented on 2006-04-26 03:44:25 In reply to dec0y

Posted by dec0y

No it wont work on your Canadian XBOX 360.

The western world will be getting this around Holidays 2006 while we in Asia will be facing a release on May 2006. Afterall this game was made for the specific Asian market who will not whine about it being like Dynasty Warriors or being the killer app.

Phaethon360

Commented on 2006-04-26 04:47:52

I would say this looks like a Dynasty Warriors killer, if in my eyes Dynasty Warriors wasn't already dead .

MujahedenWarrior

Commented on 2006-04-26 04:58:10

I would like to know how is the story. Is it good? Well presented?

Optimusv2

Commented on 2006-04-26 05:25:43

The gameplay is much stronger later on don't worry.

Commented on 2006-04-26 05:44:05

I want this game even more after seeing this if you check the 1up hands on there are a crazy amount of combos and moves that you get as the game goes on that keeps it feeling fresh. Hopefully as he progresses we'll get to see some of that crazy stuff in action, but this thing looks awesome.

1up is suggesting that the story isn't all that impressive, but again I'll judge for myself when i buy it. Definetly a dynasty warriors killer as far as i'm concerned.

The first 10 minutes : Ninety Nine Nights

640x360 version

720p version

The first 10 minutes: Ninety Nine Nights part 1

The first 10 minutes: Ninety Nine Nights (parts)

All comments (43)

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