Shack Preview: Ninety-Nine Nights

 by Chris Remo Apr 05, 2006 4:15pm CST tags:
At a recent Microsoft event, I had the chance to check out Q? Entertainment and Phantagram's upcoming "kill lots of guys" game Ninety-Nine Nights (X360), as well as speak with acclaimed designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi. N3 represents a significant departure from Mizuguchi's work in a number of ways, and is also being positioned by Microsoft as a showcase game for the system. Check it out.
Those dramatic elements can also be considered somewhat new ground for Mizuguchi. Generally, his games have either no story at all, or a basic story that seems largely included for the sake of completeness; the gameplay is generally absorbing enough on its own merits. With N3, however, he set out with very different goals.

"I had two inspirations," he said. "One inspiration was an old movie, Akira Kurosawa's old movie titled Rashomon. This movie is over fifty years old, a great movie." A landmark film, Rashomon depicts a single crime through the perspectives of five different people, each of whom hads a different viewpoint the situation. "Each person has a different impression, a different point of view," Mizuguchi continued. "I thought we could make the game an experience not just with one storyline. You play each character, and then you can understand what's happening in this world. This is what I want to express."

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  • #25
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    By: silentlobotomyX x
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    I got to play this at the Tokyo game show last year and I have to say, it's gorgeous in motion and fun to play. I've never played Dynasty warriors but this game reminded me of Ninja Gaiden. Pretty much the same control scheme too: Jump, weak attack, strong attack and block with even that dash maneuver from Otogi.

    I only got to play one level but from what I did play (and from my limited knowledge of Japanese), I noticed that I earned new moves as I killed more enemies, like Ninja Gaiden. I also noticed that the game was pretty fucking hard, as in Ninja Gaiden you had to watch for attacks and then block them, now you have to watch for fucking crowds. Also, the sheer thrill of pretending to be Sauron from LotR was pretty cool. You can just wade in and assuming you know what you're doing, take the heads off about 50 guys.

    Just seeing an army of orcish dudes rolling over the hilltop and heading strait for them was pretty great. From what I played, I would buy it, but I would also hope that they threw in some customization, like Otogi, to keep things fresh.

    Because it hasn't come out yet is one of the reaons I'm waiting to buy an Xbox 360. Definitely a title to watch, imho.
    Apr 05, 2006 5:54pm CST
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