At the Tokyo games show we were able to have a closer look with the designers at some of the games on offer on the Xbox 360. Of the games that we had seen the 4 titles (Gears of War, Kameo, PGR 3 and Ninety Nine Nights) were looking great. After each session the level of excitement reached all time highs as the anticipation to play these games proper, exceeded boiling point from within!

Index
Gears of War
Project Gotham Racing 3
Kameo: Elements of Power

NINETY NINE NIGHTS
Ninety Nine Nights is collaboration between Korean based Sangyoun Lee and Japanese Tetsuya Mizuguchi. The game is running on an updated Kingdom Under Fire game engine and the version showing was around 80% complete and still looking very impressive indeed. 99 Nights is a very Japanese looking game especially with the design of the 6 main characters and it can be said that the inspiration behind these are very much from the Japanese market which has a very distinct style when it comes to heroes and heroines. 99 Nights actually does not have a US or European release date but could well be available close to Launch in the Japanese territory. I think from the reactions of people who played the game and also from the developers that a USA/Euro release is very much needed and also a distinct possibility.

What is great about the game is the level of depth that is created when the masses of on screen enemies surround your character as you hack and slash away at foes (each character has around 30 moves and these can change depending on what weapons are selected) although we are told that the game will feature a strong strategic element as seen in Phantagram's other game Kingdom Under Fire. We were also told that there will be a very strong storyline attached to each of the characters (who follow different paths) where a conflict between light and dark has erupted causing mass war. Paths of the characters will cross at various points in the game and were promised a lot of deep, engrossing storytelling to accompany the hardcore action. Each character can use special element (wind, fire, earth, water etc) based attack powers which are gained from collecting orbs from the fallen once a meter is filled then the player can unleash devastating attacks on foes. When a level is completed players will be ranked based on kills and combo's etc meaning there is plenty of replay value and secrets to unlock such as extra weapons.

The in game cut scenes using the actual game engine as opposed to pre rendered images look highly detailed and truly worthy of the next generation tag but the real pull is how beautiful the game looks at this early stage of development during actual game play. Ninety Nine Nights was highly impressive looking at it in close quarters on a bigger screen and should be a game that appeals to Japanese and Western gamers alike. Lets hope that Microsoft snap this title up immediately for Europe and USA.