99 Nights - E3 Preview by Jason "Rodzilla" Rodzik   Posted on May 12, 2006   99 Nights is an Xbox 360 action game which places you in control of an army of knights. You wield an amazingly powerful sword, and travel the game world slicing and dicing any and all enemies. Rodzik’s Impressions I’m not sure why the developers didn’t market Ninety-Nine Nights as “N3” at E3, but either way, the game certainly spoke for itself. 99 Nights is a game which places you in control of a female character who happens to be exceptionally good with a sword. You fight massive amounts of enemies, and one of the developers even said that they plan on having upwards of several thousand enemies on screen at a single time, all with individual AI. With such large numbers of enemies on the screen at once, it’s no surprise that the game has an intricate combo system. I found myself routinely racking up combos over 100, and at one point I cleared 1,000 combos in a row without breaking a sweat. The combo system is setup so that for every hit you land as part of a series of combos, you earn points towards a special move meter. Your special move allows you to go completely nuts on enemies in the area, dealing much more damage much more quickly. On top of this, each hit on an enemy during the special move contributes points towards an even more deadly attack that essentially wipes out any enemies on the screen in a few seconds. The game’s graphics were terrific, especially considering the large number of enemies and allied knights on screen at once. The effects from the sword as it slashed through the air were particularly vibrant and colorful, and traced the path of destruction from the sword. Watching the game it seemed like the entire game was simple button-mashing, but after playing for a while, and dying a few times, 99 Nights appears to be a promising, challenging, and fun game coming soon for the Xbox 360. Vince’s Impressions 99 Nights for XBox 360 is another interesting action/adventure horde-slashing game set in ancient China. The game features 7 playable characters and many multiple endings based upon which choices these characters make. Each character also has her own unique weapon and special move. The enemy hordes, which can be human, goblin, or orc, are absolutely massive. It takes no effort at all to score a 400-600 combo hit. Killing ordinary horde members nets the main character one type of energy. When enough of this energy is collected it is possible to use the main character’s special attack, during which he/she collects a different type of energy. After collecting a certain amount of this second energy type, the main character will unleash an extremely powerful and cinematographic attack, best saved for a boss.