To the people who don’t know what Dynasty Warriors is, it is what you thought you wanted side-scrolling beat ’um ups to evolve into when we hit the Playstation 2 generation; fields of mindless enemies that you are able to mow down like grass. The sequel, Ninety-Nine Nights II (N3II for short), continues this trend of over-powered warriors hacking their way through fields of lesser men, women and monsters.

Graphically the game looks good despite the demo build still having some pixilated textures. Long draw distances give a real sense of grandness to proceedings on outside maps. Seeing the hordes you are yet to fight in the distance helps wet your appetite for what is to come and is far more satisfying then them materializing out of a fog of war. The majority of the action in the demo took place inside though, which did cause some camera issues.

Have at thee!

The forewarning of the approaching masses also helps you plan attacks to keep you combos flowing. By utilizing more flamboyant moves, you are able to clear some space when necessary and close the gap between you and approaching hordes. These moves look impressive and are intuitive to use by the simple means of holding one of the bumpers to modify the four face buttons.

For the most part, though, the normal attacks are all you will need as the majority of opponents can be dealt with by simply using your run-of-the mill sword attacks. I suppose the appeal is in building up your score during these sections, but as I got my combo meter up above 1000 on my first go I don’t know how much further I would like to take it.

N3II is definately shaping up to be a good example of its genre, and based on what I have seen of both N3 and N3II, it is better than its predecessor. The big question, though, is whether it will prove better than Dynasty Warriors, its main competitor. Stick with G3 throughout the next few days for further TGS coverage.