Another one bites the dust...
The game is set in where there is a conflict between Humans and Goblins. They are on the brink of war over who should possess both the light and the dark orbs and reign supreme. You will play through the game with 7 characters total and see the event through each one of their own eyes. Unfortunately , the game has many gaps in the story and it leaves you with more questions than answers even after finishing each characters session.
Gameplay - Playing through the game ( especially wiht the first couple of characters ) is a very fun time. Racking up a 1000+ combo is the norm for N3 and it really does feel good just slice the hordes of goblins in one fatal swoop. You start at level 1 with every characters and can level up to 9, with each level giving you extra life as well as new more damaging combo attacks. There are plenty of moves and combos to execute and they all look very cool and interesting but as the Gamespot review stated you will end up using the basic combo attacks about 95% of the time. There are also weapon upgrades and items that can be picked up throughout the stages that do anything from add health to extend the reach of your weapon all of which can be equipped on your character. The battles themselves are simply massive , I have never seen so many on screen characters on screen before and I never had any framerate problems at all. The AI is terribly dumb and really doesn't make you feel very challenged but to balance things out your own soliders are dumb as a box a rocks as well. One bad note about the combat is the hit detection ( especially on bosses ) is not terribly great and someties you have to keep a close eye on the enemy's life bar to tell if you are hitting them or not. You play between 2-5 missions depending on the character selected and will blast through them all in a pretty fast pace, but you may play the missions over as many times as you like.
Graphics - Both the player model and the flashy moves look great and very over the top with the rest of the AI just kind of looking ugly and bland as a result. The level designs are very different but they all still seem very bland and drab. You never really get the sense that you are in a real fantasy world.
Sound - Where the environments kind of fail the sound really does well. The music makes you feel immersed in a epic battle where it truly is a war. The same songs will be played over quite a bit but the music really does help the battle feel more real. The only real complaint I have about the sound is the voice acting...oh boy it is really just not good at all.
Value - This game has relpay value that feels forced. If you want to get all the achievements or all of the characters you must play through the same levels repeatedly anyway. More than likley once you have done that you won't want to touch the game for a while. Speaking of achievements, I have good news and bad news, the good news is 500 points are unlocked just by beating the game with all the characters the bad news is the remaining 500 is obtained through tons of leveling up and playing the same stages many MANY times. I personally really wanted to try to get all 1000 points but I just got too aggravated and bored to do it.
To sum it up the game is fun at first but it wears thin rather quickly, I just don't believe it lived up to the hype behind it at all. I say rent it to see if you still enjoy it at the end of the rental, just don't jump in and buy it right away like I did.