The story plods along as you move from battle to battle, and its various attempts to be dramatic don't go anywhere. For instance, Inphyy pulls an Anakin Skywalker and kills an innocent goblin wife and kid. Aspharr says "there's no going back from this". Even though this should have changed the course of some events in the game, I never really felt like it affected anything.

I think the blame for this shouldn't be entirely placed on the shoulders of the game makers. Part of it should be handed down to the voice actors, who are simply dreadful. Aspharr and Inphyy should sound like soldiers who have been pushed to the breaking point, with frustration and anger streaming from their voices. Instead, they come across rather plainly, like people who sound like they're arguing over which coffee house they like the best. The supporting characters you unlock don't sound any better, coming across as even more mismatched.

That's too bad, because the game has FANTASTIC music. It's made up of a few orchestral pieces that actually seem to fit the tempo of the game. And yet, to hear it play along while the voice actors don't provide motivation...it's just weird. It's like you're trying to enjoy a rave and then someone comes up and tries to sell you auto insurance.

The visuals are kind of a mixed bag as well. The camera controls are ideal, and it's great to have the ability to either zoom in or pan out for a more dramatic effect. However, there are moments when you can get stuck behind rocks and trees, and it gets mildly frustrating. As far as the "gee whiz" factor, hundreds of enemies do appear on-screen and don't vanish or glitch out like they would in Dynasty Warriors. However, slowdown does show up from time to time, something that won't impress those who want to believe an Xbox 360 can handle anything. The animation's also a bit lackluster. The characters don't display much personality until they're attacking, in which you see water effects and glowing neon blades that light up the screen. As far as the environments, there's some nice outdoor terrain presented here, but I would've liked to see a little more variety. Caves, goblin cities along the lines of Labyrinth, and other areas probably would've set this game further apart from Warriors. Still, what's here isn't bad, and you CAN see into the distance.

Just one thing to note, though- why is the level select screen so hard to navigate? Did we really need to push around this one little feather across the screen in order to light up the area we're visiting next? Really, it would've been easier to just have icons or map areas and then highlight where you're going next.

Finally, there's the replay value. As you proceed through the game, you can unlock new characters that have their own side stories to complete, including a witch character that can summon water attacks and a large brute that can wipe out even MORE enemies than your basic characters. However, the game's creators completely missed the boat on an ideal feature that would've set it apart even further from its competition- online multiplayer. N3 doesn't support Xbox Live at all, not even for small things like scoreboards or downloads. The idea of you taking your dim-witted army against someone else's dim-witted army and having an epic dim-witted battle never comes to be. This is a big disadvantage, as you can unlock everything that's available and find all the secrets in a matter of a few days and be done with it.

N3: Ninety Nine Nights doesn't fail because it's just another Dynasty Warriors wanna-be. Q Entertainment and Phantagram did try and make the gameplay experience different from Koei's. The problem lies in bigger issues that make it falter, like the lame voice acting, the complete lack of Xbox Live support, and soldier AI that's so weak that even the cast members of M*A*S*H seem more adept for battle. However, that's not to say the groundwork isn't in place for improved sequels. If the problems here can be addressed and remedied, this could turn out to be a great franchise.