Worth the money, despite whatever score it has
The game goes back to old-school hack-and-slash format, allowing older gamers to be at home with the game. Basically, you can hack your way through countless opponents, decimating each and everyone of those orcs. Also, N3 gives gamers the chance to literally decimate hundreds of opponents at the same time and clocking up to over 1000-hit combos [my best is 1567!]. With it's fast pace gameplay, you'll have to decimate the orcs faster than they can even hit you, making you sweat as you rapidly mash all the buttons together. Chaining various buttons allow you to hit combos that look REALLY impressive and cool, although they don't really do much difference than your character's normal 4 or 5 hit combo. But who cares? Looks cool enough for most gamers.
The A.I doesn't really help very much though. Although they cover your butt most of the time, they tend to get killed easily in major boss battles [I'm not a very good strategist]. Pressing the D-pad would allow you to command them, and pressing the right command at the right time would allow you to command them well. Apart from that, the gameplay isn't very much different from other games of this genre, leaving you craving for something different and revolutionary
The graphics are the best that I've seen so far for this genre. Every single thing is all done nicely to the final detail. Add the latest HDTV LCD TV and the effect is stunning. The audio may be forgettable, but it allows you to add in your own soundtrack, so you can decimate enemies to the tune of Jay-Z or Green Day [at least for the NTSC/J version we have in Singapore] .
I've been told that the story line is interesting, but the game fails to truly bring it out very well. But who really cares when you are having fun killing off thousands of orcs with one swipe of your blade?
My biggest complaint is that for an XBox game, it has NO XBox Live features. You can't show off your elite Orc-slaying skills over Live, neither can you play co-op. It would be fun to slay Orcs with a friend, but not even single player can do that.
Despite what others say about the game, N3: Ninety-Nine Nights is worth the money you pay for it. It's a pity that this game had so much potential, but falls very short of it's full potential