What's even more impressive is the amount of these highly detailed characters on screen. There can be over one thousand enemies at a time! It's quite simply incredible. Add this to the fact there is virtually no slowdown or pop-up visible whatsoever, and you have a helluva showcase for what the 360 can do.
While it may not take your breath away as consistently as Oblivion did, there are certain moments in just regular play that make your eyes widen, your jaw drop, and you think to yourself "I can't believe I'm seeing this. Damn that looks cool".
So yeah, to sum it up: the graphics are badger's nadgers.
The sound is no slouch either. Fully orchestral pieces are the order of the day, which could almost rival even Peter Jackson's behemoth The Lord Of The Rings. The sound effects are suitably filled with screams, war cries, and the aforementioned pleasurably realistic sounds of steel on steel and steel ripping through skin.
The only problem is the voice acting is.... how do I put this? Let's say "lacking". The majority of in-game dialogue is text only, and the rest of it is so poorly acted it borders on laughable. It makes Resident Evil's "Master of Unlocking" speech sound like an Emmy Award Winner.
So, again, to sum it up: music and effects – Joygasmic. Speech: could make Keanu Reeves sound like a good actor in comparison.
So now we've got to talk about the story!
The story goes something like this: orb of peace broken, world split into Light and Dark, war started, seven warriors will determine who wins... yadda yadda yadda.
Unimportant bullcrap. All that's important is we get to kill stuff, right? Well, that's what I thought, but turns out I was incorrect. This is one of the areas where N3 really surprised me.
The majority of the plot comes from each individual character's reasons and their own personal plights and how they got into this mess rather than elaborating on the main storyline itself. Each of the seven characters has their own story, with their own take on events, and (more importantly) each character's missions is different – making this effectively seven separate stories set in one universe.
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