Death by Degrees: Nina Williams


The best female assassins always bring skimpy bikinis on a mission.

Nina Williams rocks. I remember about ten years ago (DAAAMN! Has it been that long already??), I saw this fighting game called Tekken and it blew me away with its cool graphics and hot fighting action. Of course, I gravitated to the babes and my favorite was the sexy blonde in the purple outfit and red nail polish. Yep, Nina was my instant fave, and she only got cooler when I saw the awesome linking throws and grapples she could dish out. An Irish-born assassin and expert in the martial art of aikido and bone-cracking, Nina was one of the original videogame femme fatales. Where other Tekken women have either faded away, retired or died, Nina remains as she is; it would not be Tekken without Nina.
Well, as if to celebrate her fame, Nina's getting her own action game. Originally known as 'Project Nina' several months ago, the game has gone on to be called Death By Degrees. Set years before the first Tekken Tournament (which places it about 25 years before the events in Tekken 4), this game promises to reveal more about the events that led to Nina becoming the stone-cold sexy killer she is today. The game's backstory has Nina being sent along with several other agents to infiltrate a cruise ship serving as the headquarters of a terrorist group known as Carrieta. This group is known to have possession of a powerful weapon- something that could possibly tip the balance of world power one way or the other. Nina is sent as a distraction, joining the onboard fighting tournament and winning as its champion. But when other criminal elements on the ship become suspicious of her, Nina finds herself being thrown into the brig.
The game starts as Nina is captured. Using only her skills to start off, Nina must discover the whereabouts of her fellow agents, find the secret weapon and save the world. Not an easy feat considering that there will be tons of enemies and more than a hundred areas on board the ship to explore.
Aside from her Tekken moves, Nina will be able to use firearms and other weapons such as swords and grenades. She can also use a sort of 'internal damage' system that lets her kill enemies instantly with one blow- unfortunately you'll have to get in real close to do this. She'll also be borrowing moves from Lara Croft, such as rappels, crawls and swimming.

The CG cinematics of this game look great, with Nina looking as sexy and deadly as never before. Other characters will make an appearance, such as other Tekken personalities like Heihachi Mishima and Nina's own sister and rival, Anna (who is said to be playable later in the game). I also saw a guy who looked creepily like actor Benicio del Toro... or was it just a really, really, really scruffy Brad Pitt? Hmmm.
Death by Degrees is slated for release on PS2 later this year. We'll keep our eyes out for it.