Pretty fun hack n slash.

Reviewed by i_love_games11 on October 30, 2006  |  report this review

Having cleared a chunk of the game and gotten very familiar with what to expect, I've found that this game is nothing more than a hack and slash. Expecting it to be anything else will result in disappointment. That said, it's an above-average hack and slash.

The best part of the game is the combat. There's plenty of it, and you truly feel like a superhuman warrior cleaving through the hordes of enemies while learning combos every level. The AI is noticeably terrible. You control two guard units in the game, and often most of them stand around raising their weapons in victory while two or three men take ages to kill a single leftover enemy. Fortunately, there's an arrow over the the pest so it's easy for you to kill it. Your squads serve no real purpose other than to take damage for you, as you have to be impossibly proficient with combo memorising to manage every mission without your guards. Believe me, I've tried.

Despite owning an HDTV, I don't have an extreme fixation on pretty effects which is what this game lacks. But it does have a meaningless blur effect on distant scenery, as if your character needs glasses! However, the art is relatively clean and plain. It doesn't offend, but it's not great either. What bothered me is that there is not a single drop of blood in the game. Even during cut scenes when an orc gets stabbed by an angry Amazon warrior.

The story is cliched but interesting due to the way its built. There are several characters and the story slowly unfolds as you play each character, finally leading to a conclusion. The characters are all related, for example, the burly mercenary which is a playable character assists Aspharr the whiny knight during a mission, a mission which you get to play with the mercenary.

The most irritating part of the game is the lack of a checkpoint system. Although you won't be dying a lot, screwing up a boss fight will cause you to restart from the beginning of the level. Additionally, sometimes you must repeat previous missions for experience points due to the latest mission being too difficult to complete on a low level. Although repetition and a horrible checkpoint system are usually enough to prevent me from buying a game, N3 shouldn't do that for you unless you're completely terrible at fighting (which is easy to figure out, by downloading the demo). It's an easy game and repeating levels for experience isn't a problem as most levels are quite fun and you won't mind playing them again.

Conclusion: A competent, high-value hack and slash game offering many hours of gameplay. A good purchase for fans of the genre.

A good hack & slash for the 360

Reviewed by drilus on November 03, 2006  |  report this review

This is definitely a good hack & slash. I did experience stability problems with the game itself. Basically, I would play the game and at random times it would simply dump me back to the dashboard. I called Microsoft and they wanted me to delete all my save games to fix the problem. **ck that! I simply decided to play the game in small spurts at a time.

There is a lot of variation in how you play the game. You need to use good combo's repeatedly and mix them up or you will never survive some of the harder missions. A bad combo would be A,A,A,A or B,B,B,B.

Several of my friends tried out the game and simply couldn't get into it. I believe the main problem is that you don't unlock better combo's until the later levels.

If you like hack & slash style games definitely play through this one. Make sure you have some time on your hands to level up the characters though. If you don't it might not be as enjoyable.

Alright Game

Reviewed by viperxsniper on March 06, 2007  |  report this review

This is a game that I was really looking foward to when I got my XBox 360 in June 2006. However, when I played the demo off of marketplace, I decided not to buy it. I rented it though and its not what I expected, but it's not that bad either. If you liked Ninja Gaiden for XBox, you may want to check this out. It is not as awsome as Ninja Gaiden, but it is pretty similar game play. The game has several different characters in it to play as (I think that there are nine) and each character has about four or five quest. In conclusion this game isn't what I expected, but its still worth playing.

Alright Game

Reviewed by irishrebel89 on August 16, 2007  |  report this review

Pretty much its your average hack n slash game with killer combos cause hordes of pesky little goblins keep coming at you levels are dumb characters have limited attacks but for anyone who loves hack n slash games its great.

Not an rpg?

Reviewed by Liquidd on August 17, 2007  |  report this review

In all honesty, I was expecting this to be an rpg styled game. In all fairness, there are a few slightly rpg-ish elements to it, but for the most part it's simply a fight game with a bit of strategy. Battles are pretty cool as the screen gets littered with hordes of baddies you can hack your way through. Not sure where the mature rating comes in since there isn't any blood O_o.

Sure, there is plenty of hacking and stabbing with cool looking combo effects, but not ne'er a drop of blood is spilt.
Unless you enjoy strategic hack and slash type games, I would rent this game before I bought it. If you're an avid rpger then you are barking up the wrong tree with this title, but it may keep you entertained for a while.

I HAVE THIS TRADING FOR......

Reviewed by Jasonh2n on October 28, 2007  |  report this review

BIOSHOCK,OBLIVION,STRANGLEHOLD,VIVA PINATA, or ETERNAL SONATA!

Kind of Alright

This was I believe the first hack n slash game on the Xbox 360. The voice acting is kind of horrible since the voices don't really match the facial expressions that much. If they kept it in the original Japanese voices then it would have sounded alot better and wouldn't have been as awkward as it is. The graphics are mediocre so they should have released in on the last gen consoles. The title N3 is kind of misleading to some people don't get it since it just means the the three words in the title start with and 'N'. The cover looks much better than the actual game characters itself. Overall I gave this a game 5.1 out of 10

Hack and Slash heaven

Reviewed by sicipio on May 28, 2008  |  report this review

This is basiclly a souped up hack and slash dont get me wrong its fun but hard at first and very frustrating. its got a few flaws but good heart good character spread and deep meaning but look at the story line its okay and the fight system OK and the button mash style gameplay, im saying its to bad. but definatly on the rental list.

Scip