Ninety-Nine Nights

Platform: Xbox 360
Publisher: Microsoft
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Retail

So it looks like Mizuguchi is backing way from Ninety-Nine Nights. He told Gamasutra, "Some games I watch, very deeply. But some games just have my credit as executive producer." But the game isn't the steaming turd that some are making out to be. It's more like a fossilized turd, buffed to a glimmering shine. On the outside it's very pretty. But at the core its still pretty crappy.

Thing is, the characters and the settings look great. Sure, they're clad in outrageous and improbably armor -- the kind that would get you axed in a George R. R. Martin book. But you know how it is in Asia; everybody wears their parade blues onto the battlefield. It's the kind of cosplay crap that Final Fantasy fans eat up. I don't mind the stuff so much, so long as there's a decent story to back it up. I've heard that this game has a decent Rashomon-type structure -- one that looks at the battlefield from both sides. Too bad the tale is told in shrill, stilted voice-over. I swear, some of the talent they tap for these games use the same inflection that most folks use for their outgoing voice mail message.

Don't know if I'll ever check out the different sides of the story though. The missions in the game are way too long. God forbid you die half an our into one -- which you most likely will because the bosses are cheaply strong.

The rest of Ninety-Nine Nights' problems are small, but they swarm you, like the death of a thousand cuts. Anemic in-game instructions, stupid friendly army men and dozen other tiny, but lame oversights drain the fun from this petrified log.

Guess this is one of the games Mizuguchi wasn't watching. Or maybe he's more an idea man than a detail sweater.