Ninety-Nine Nights: I need a bigger TV

I got N3: Ninety-Nine Nights over the weekend from Gamefly. I had downloaded the demo from XBOX Live about a month ago and had not been all that impressed. The camera angles were a little off and it really did nothing to impress me. Sure, it looked pretty but I didn't think I would like it too much.

I decided to rent it anyway. After all, I was done with PGR3 (505/1000 achievement points . . . try getting more than that) and needed something to play while my wife (who is totally not a nerd, trust me) was digging into "Dead Rising". So, it arrived and I popped it into the 360. From the get-go, you start off with a different character. The one in the demo was kind of slow. Inphyy is one fast motha. She rocks it with a sword and performs all these acrobatic moves that look really sweet. And she doles out the damage like a pro. Her story veers towards the dark side as you progress through it, which is quite satisfying. I'm tired of do-gooders.

Once you go through all of the missions for her, you get to use other characters, and you go through similar missions with them. This, in turn opens up more characters, so in the end you are seeing the conflict from every conceivable angle. This keeps the game refreshing and increases the replayability value.

One of the only complaints I have is the lack of save points on the game. There's nothing quite like going through one of the missions all the way to the boss, and getting chumped by a low blow that kills you. Then, you have to go through the whole mission again . . . and some of these monsters can have you hacking/slashing through hundreds of enemies for a good hour.

Apart from that, there are great cinematics. Awesome lighting effects. Sweet super-moves. And anime-ish chicks in revealing armor . . . or naughty-witch costumes. This is a definite rental recommendation from me. I wouldn't buy it, only because of the total abscense of multi-player modes. Other than that, the game looks fabulous and makes me want to own a plasma television. The game really needs hi-def to get the full effect of how great this videogame is.