Tetsuya Mizuguchi knows his stuff. I know this. I met him, spoke with him, and dug into his head a little bit as a game producer and the main driving force behind Q Entertainment, his infamous development team. This is the same man who brought us Sega Rally, Rez, and Lumines, among other games, and his team is plenty busy with a number of ambitious projects. So, then, why would he stray off the beaten path a bit with a game that looked like a super-charged take on Dynasty Warriors?

Well, not sure of the reason there, but whatever it is, it looks to give the Xbox 360 a kick in the pants. N3: Ninety Nine Nights is a collaboration between Mizuguchi and Q Entertainment, as well as SanYoun Lee and his team at Phantagram, who handled the likes of Phantom Crash and the Kingdom Under Fire games. Their combining of efforts should bring forth lots of heavy action, and although it has that familiar whiff to it, it still has some intriguing ideas within its build.

In the game, you take control of seven individual warriors, each with their own independent fighting skills, spells systems, and techniques. These warriors all seem to follow a similar storyline revolving around the destruction of a mysterious power stone, one that seemed to have some kind of peace and tranquility surrounding it. Without it, it seems hundreds of soldiers have gathered, looking to bring these warriors down. So the general goal of the game is to work through these enemy armies, with a storyline unfolding for each character that will eventually lead them to their fate.

You've probably seen game footage of N3 already, or at least the Tokyo Game Show trailer. And some of you seem to have the perspective that it's borrowing a bit from Koei's Dynasty Warriors formula and injecting a bit of life into it, some kind of flourish to intrigue players more and not make them feel like they're going through monotonous action. Well, you're right. You are a supercharged warrior ripping apart hundreds of soldiers with up-beat attacks and special spells to clear the dozens of dangers that lie ahead. But the difference could lie in several key areas.

First, the presentation. You won't find just another tired (or borrowed) engine from a previous action game, but rather a tightened engine where hundreds of soldiers can flood the screen at once without any clipping or slowdown, which is an impressive feat. The game also seems to have more of a keen look for the warriors, and will delve further into storyline with them instead of just following the point A-to-point B basics. That means you should identify more with them, so you don't just feel like you're going through the motions with a mindless drone.

Controls should also spell a different story than previous action games of this type. Although you are fighting off enemies with what appears to be a series of combos, there seems to be more accuracy in movement so you can actually move around and make your attacks matter. And with each foe you knock down, you can build up a meter for even better attacks, making yourself even more unstoppable as the game goes on. There's no word yet as to how the difficulty scale will progress with each stage, but we would assume that you're going to run into harder enemies as you make your way through your storyline.

The battles should also be more involving in themselves, with enemies moving around wildly and not in a pre-programmed direction, sort of mindlessly. They'll actually have tactics of their own to counter yours, meaning that you'll have to keep working at mowing down the opposition before they gang up on you. The battlefields are also larger in scope, so you can move around during your objectives and try different battle approaches, if a certain direction isn't working for you. You'll also have access to commanding troops to lend you a hand, so you won't be fighting the majority of the battle alone. That's a strategic element that should mix things up well for the game.

If there's anything really missing from the game, it's multiplayer. N3: Ninety Nine Nights would've purely benefitted from having multiplayer aspects within it, so you could challenge a friend with their own army and then track your stats online. Gah! I suppose Mizuguchi and company will just have to consider it for the sequel.

N3: Ninety Nine Nights does look to take the familiar hack-n-slash theme and push it a bit in a new direction, while keeping the nature of the game true to its roots. We'll find out when it releases next month if it was a successful attempt, or merely another game trying to knock Dynasty Warriors off its perch. Our bet? Q3 hasn't quite failed us yet, and we aren't looking for them to start now. These should be some pretty good Nights.