99 Nights II

GAME REVIEW: 18 cert, Konami, Xbox 360 ***

Even without playing the first 99 Nights game (a hack'n'slash staple from a few years ago, Part IIwill feel familiar: beefy men and curvy women carve their way through swathes of incompetent armies, with the odd mystical beast thrown in to up the ante.

The game is a series of missions within a standard fantasy story (evil despot, displaced people – you know the drill). Missions range from breaking through a castle's defences to gathering armies, but most of it amounts to frantic button-mashing and splatters of blood. The graphics are decent, reminiscent of such games as Devil May Cry, though the backgrounds are a little murky.

And the combat moves range from the usual jumping, stabbing and slicing, to the reasonably inventive and truly violent (such as skewering enemies like a kebab). While the gameplay is repetitive, it’s also fun, especially as a co-op. Its lasting appeal will be limited, though.