The other area where N3 II fails is its storytelling. In much of the story the playable characters cross paths with each other and work together towards some common goal. This means that you’ll be “enjoying” the same story over and over again whether you like it or not. But instead of giving players the same story from a different perspective, the game forces you to relive the same moments multiple times within the same context and with the same goals.

It is a shame that N3 II has all these problems because there is a good game buried in here. The game is, after all, an action game at its heart and there’s certainly plenty of action to go around. But the truth is that the tactical action game genre needs to evolve, and even though Q Entertainment is a relative newcomer to the space, gamers should still expect something fresh and exciting from them. Instead we get a game that uses the same passé formula expecting to create a different result. Sadly the result is a forgettable game that might be worth a weekend rental, but nothing more.

James Fudge is a regular contributor to GameShark and writes for the ECA publications Game Politics and Game Culture .