Gaming Shinobi

[Guest Musahi]

[size=1]After doing a bit of research I have concluded this game is bad ***. Extended Play gave it a 5 out of 5. It was the #1 Playstation 2 e3 showstopper for Gamepro magazine. I have sownloaded trailers, and the movement looks fluid and amazing. Now I just need to play the darn game. :p[QUOTE]From IGN.com
Shinobi is the most retrograde of this fall's retro efforts, which is something that's going to lead to mixed reactions. Some will love it, some will detest it, and some will be like me, flip-flopping between nostalgic fondness and a very contemporary hatred of things like bottomless pits, linear levels, continuous waves of repeating enemies, and all the other hallmarks of classic action games. This is one of those games that almost makes me want to seek the aid of Gogg again, in order to present some kind of objective judgment on top of all the fence-sitting.
For all the modern flash exhibited by its cutscenes and magical attacks, this is very definitely a relic of the old school, and players should go into Shinobi expecting all the things that nostalgia usually makes you forget. Things like frustration, repetition, and falling into bottomless pits just inches away from the end of a stage, which boots you all the way back to the beginning. As a reward for your suffering, you'll see and experience some pretty cool stuff, but make no mistake, you will suffer.

Gameplay
Though its presentation is entirely 3D, Shinobi's level designs remain not very far removed from the series' side-scrolling roots. Though some open areas are present, they're relatively infrequent in comparison to long stretches of straight, narrow corridors. It's odd to compare the limited environments to the amount of options available for navigating them -- ninja hero Hotsuma has all the mobility the third dimension grants him and then some. Shinobi builds on the old dash and double-jump with 3D wall-running, wall jumps, and a speedy stealth dash maneuver.

The stealth dash descends from classic ninja-movie cliches (when I asked director Noriyoshi Ohba where he got the idea, he replied with a look that expressed considerable amazement at Western ignorance). Tap the X button along with a direction and zap, Hotsuma suddenly jumps from point A to point B, leaving a spectral double where he originally stood. This is a vital evasion tactic in combat -- the deft of thumb can instantly put themselves in a position to strike from behind, which does far more damage to enemies and breaks through almost any defenses.

This works better than the similar evasion maneuvers in something like Z.O.E, because it still requires skill to apply correctly. Using the game's lock-on feature to take out enemies one at a time works for a little while, but when there are five or six or more bad guys closing in, you'll be chopped to hash unless you can freely move around them and take out multiple enemies at once. Other wrinkles add further depth to combat -- paralyzing shuriken become a vital assist, and the cursed sword Akujiki is a nifty idea. After a certain point, Hotsuma's sword develops the power to suck the life (or yang energy, or something like that) from fallen opponents. Keep its energy full and it deals more damage in battle, and as a further encouragement, it actually saps Hosuma's life if he doesn't keep killing at a rapid pace.

Hotsuma, in sum, has plenty to do, but the game falls down a bit when presenting opponents for him to do it to. As I say, the levels are very linear, and tend to present an awful lot of similar enemies, variations on the theme of zombie ninjas. The first couple of levels has the easy zombie ninjas, the next level or two has the zombie ninjas that block your attacks now and then, and so on. Even the zombie ninja dogs and the zombie ninja main battle tanks don't present much of a different challenge. What's more aggravating is that the game has a few good ideas, but doesn't use them nearly enough. For example, on odd occasions you'll meet a bad guy that climbs on the walls, attacking from there. That's a great idea, taking advantage of the 3D backgrounds, so why don't they appear more often? Why not build on that concept? Give me insane wall-hopping ceiling-crawling spider-ninjas, not ordinary run-around-listlessly-until-they-die ninjas. Ditto the flying demon-things, who curiously make almost no use of their ability to move in three dimensions.

Shinobi's boss encounters are easily its strongest suit, since that's where the game loosens up a bit and offers more varied patterns. Early bosses aren't balanced very well -- they're very difficult to take out with basic attacks, and yet sacrifice as much as three-quarters of their energy to a single ninja magic attack -- but later designs are gorgeous to look at and a hell of a good time to fight. When you're going at it with the giant magic zombie ninja death spider, you know you're having fun. Boss battles are also the only area of the game which will let you continue from the same point after dying, a curious manifestation of compassion on the part of the designers.

Outside of combat, this is one mean bastard of a platformer. Shinobi is rife with bottomless pits, and avoiding them requires extremely careful manipulation of the double-jump and wall-jump maneuvers. Using the wall-run is the only situation where the camera becomes just a bit of a problem, because the default angles sometimes make it difficult to see where you'll land when jumping perpendicular to a wall. The right analog stick gives nearly complete control over the camera on both axes, though, so it just takes a little forethought to plan a jump. Pulling it off is another matter, unfortunately -- distances are long, and timing must be perfect.

This would be a little less of a problem if the game had a more forgiving continue system. The stages are broken up into pieces like the old games -- 2-1, 2-2, 3-1, and so on -- but each of those pieces is very long, and has no checkpoints to continue from. Fall into a pit (or otherwise meet Hotsuma's maker, perhaps in one of the savagely crowded battles that pepper the later stages) and it's back to the beginning, which means you lose a substantial investment of time with each death. Death in turn can come quickly and often, and controller-breaking frustration usually follows not too far behind.
Shinobi is still a deft and generally well-designed challenge for the reflexes, and includes some great rewards for dedicated players (I love the hidden Joe Musashi model), but it nevertheless gives the impression that its creators were seeking revenge on their audience. Perhaps that's at the root of this entire recent retro wave -- games like this and Contra are meant to shut us up, so we spend less time clamoring for revivals of our childhood favorites. Some gamers will of course not look at it this way. They'll be pleased someone finally decided to stop going easy on us, and they'll jump on Shinobi in a New York minute. The rest of us would be advised to give it a test run before committing to the entire adventure.

Graphics
Shinobi is powered by a comparatively basic, workmanlike 3D engine, with low polygon counts and somewhat limited lighting, but it's given a leg up by some beautiful artwork. Hotsuma is a great design, a sort of post-modern evolution of the ninja in comparison to the thoroughly traditional Joe Musashi, and he's surrounded by a host of beautiful demonic concepts. Even the simplest enemies have a touch of style in their appearance and movements, and I would give a fair bit more than a nickel for a proper printed collection of the game's concept artwork.

If the individual characters have plenty of style, though, they apparently acquired it at the expense of the world around them. The stage concepts are pretty stale for the most part, and the backgrounds tend to repeat themselves in the same way as the straightforward areas. Running down hallway after hallway wouldn't be quite so bad if each hallway weren't the same as the last hallway, but unfortunately, they are. The repeating textures make it even more difficult to find the occasional fork in the road, where bonus items are hidden, because it's so easy to get turned around -- no direction looks different from any other.

The character animation pulls the game back up again, though. Hotsuma's moves perfectly match his look, and the completed version tidies up the camera issues that made the game's brief cutscenes come off poorly in early previews. Killing four or more enemies in rapid succession results in a brief cutaway -- Hotsuma poses a bit as bisected opponents fall apart -- serving as a nifty punctuation to particularly rapid attacks. It's nothing too intrusive, since the cutscenes are kept down to a couple of seconds, and since they only appear at the definitive end of a fight, they're never going to disorient you in a tense moment.

Sound
This is, at least, the proper way to do a simple, old-school soundtrack. The music in Shinobi definitely recalls the Genesis, but in a good way -- it has the same quick tempo and evergreen beats that kept the old Shinobis and games like Streets of Rage moving forward. More complex modern instrumentation occasionally intrudes, but it never overpowers the nostalgic feel of the music.

If you don't think that will sound quite exciting enough, the effects kick the intensity up a notch. There's no reason to hold back that aspect of the sound design, after all, so we get some nice, detailed high-fidelity sounds for exploding background objects, flaming death rattles, and Hotsuma's arsenal of magic attacks. Sega also has our undying thanks for throwing in an option to select Japanese or English voices -- whichever one you like, you can pick without difficulty.


Closing Comments
That would be the single, tiny aspect of the game that lacks difficulty. Nifty segue, huh?
Shinobi, much like Contra, is something I can better admire from a distance. I'm impressed by its finer points, but on the other hand, I probably screamed more profanities at this game than every other title I've played this year. I'm not sure if there's such a thing as "too hard," but if you don't have any problem with that designation, it belongs on Shinobi.

I did stick with this game, though, which I suppose says something. It offers some cool rewards for the persistent, both in the enemy designs of its later levels and in the toybox of unlockable extras, and at its best, the experience of controlling Hotsuma is up there with the best 3D action games. As I say, this is worth a go, but I refuse to accept blame for what irresponsible acts you may commit in a fit of blind rage. Hey, just tell the judge Shinobi made you do it.

-- David Smith


Presentation
Supremely stylish character designs, effective cutscenes to drive the story, and the voice selection options are great 8.5
Graphics
The characters are cool, but the backgrounds could use a lot of work in both design and execution. 6.5
Sound
The music is fun in an old-school vein, and again, the Japanese voices are much-appreciated. 7.5
Gameplay
The controls are solid, smartly balancing flash and practicality, but the level and enemy design could use some tuning, and the difficulty is unconscionably cruel.. 7.0
Lasting Appeal
This score assumes that you didn't smash your controller around stage 2-1. The quest is of a good length, and there's some great unlockable stuff. 8.0
[/QUOTE]

That was IGN's reveiw of it, and even though it didn't score as well as it did in magazines, it still is a decent reveiw. Here are some screens to keep you happy.
[img]http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/shinobi_1011_14.jpg[/img]
[img]http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/shinobi_1011_23.jpg[/img]
[img]http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/shin_1011_5.jpg[/img]

So what is your take on this game?[/size]

[Charles]

Shinobi received a lot of initial hype, but the final product isn't really anything extraordinary. That is, while it's a good game, it doesn't stack up favorably against some of the more impressive titles in terms of execution.

I'm surprised how many updates there are being released right now for all three systems, with ToeJam and Earl, Contra, Metroid, and Rygar leading the pack. Of that list, Shinobi carries over very well, only taking a distant second to Metroid Prime.

Shinobi would have probably benefited from more stealth or adventure elements, though. Pure combat was fine in the 16 bit era, but mixing up that theme with trademark ninja elements, might have spruced up the overall package.

I mean, slashing down hordes of enemies for the sake of continuing is fun thanks to the acrobatics involved, but one must not ignore the simplicity of the engine. A rental would suffice in my opinion.

[Turkey]

I rented it about 2 hours ago, and I'm impressed.
It's a very fun game. In fact, my only gripe right now is the fact that the second boss battle had a horrible lock on camera.

[Guest Musahi]

[size=1]Well, I finally got to play it and I [b]love[/b] it to death. The only problem I have found is that I can't tell what buildings you can run on and which you can't. :p All ina ll it's a great game so far. I'll give you more of a status report when I have time. [/size]

[Vegitto4]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Crazy White Boy [/i]
[B]Shinobi received a lot of initial hype, but the final product isn't really anything extraordinary. That is, while it's a good game, it doesn't stack up favorably against some of the more impressive titles in terms of execution.

[/B][/QUOTE]

Hmmmmmm. I slightly agree with you. it is a great game, i'm still playing it at a friend o mines. he just beat the snake boss, and, i must say, it was very interesting. Very exhilarating.


However, my only problems with this game are:

1) how, sometimes, the bosses get royally cheap moves that jsut piss me off
2@ I like the gfx, but, gameplay gfx, could be better. i guess i got used to the gameplay gfx being like games like FFX and MGS2

Thats about it. otherwise, the story si gret, and the moves are phenomenal. I particularlly like the jump+strike+shadow step; then you can continue to shadowstep another time to hit another close by opponent.

EDIT: The running on walls, if it's duriong stage 5A, then you can run on almost all of them, usually just the lighted sections though. Thats how it is in the rest of the game, however, i have not beaten it yet.

[Spikey]

I can't believe I missed this.

I have Revenge of Shinobi for the sega genisis, and it's pretty good.

Yeah gamepro magizene said it was the best Shinobi game that they have ever made. I'm expecting big things out of this.^^

[Vegitto4]

I love that game. We actually beat it a little while ago, but now were going through for rank, and the no hit bonus. Does anybody know what all of the coins collected will get you?

[Kent]

I actually think this game is just down right a let down.

Mostly for one specific reason. The attacking. The main charactor that you play has the same old combo of moves over and over.

I think it was said best above when someone mentioned stealth and adventure. Those elements would have added greatly and then with a whole new slew of moves for attacking, the game might have lived up to the hype. Other wise, it is one of the most over rated games Ive ever played.

Sorry, but I need a bunch of different attacks and sweet kill moves. In fact, I think the original tenchu did a better job of ninja style gaming. Shinobi is just a big stinker if you ask me.

Maybe if the game had been ignored or totally under rated by everyone, but since it was hyped to be one of the best games this year, I think it falls horribly short.
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I also wanna mention that Ive just found a confirmation that shinobi will be made into a movie, dont know when, how or why, but it looks to be happening. Lets wait and see.

[Vegitto4]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by gokents [/i]
[B]I actually think this game is just down right a let down.

Mostly for one specific reason. The attacking. The main charactor that you play has the same old combo of moves over and over.

I think it was said best above when someone mentioned stealth and adventure. Those elements would have added greatly and then with a whole new slew of moves for attacking, the game might have lived up to the hype. Other wise, it is one of the most over rated games Ive ever played.

Sorry, but I need a bunch of different attacks and sweet kill moves. In fact, I think the original tenchu did a better job of ninja style gaming. Shinobi is just a big stinker if you ask me.

Maybe if the game had been ignored or totally under rated by everyone, but since it was hyped to be one of the best games this year, I think it falls horribly short.
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I also wanna mention that Ive just found a confirmation that shinobi will be made into a movie, dont know when, how or why, but it looks to be happening. Lets wait and see. [/B][/QUOTE]


Wow, that was a show stopper right there. You have to think up new moves gotenks. Just sitting there and attacking is no fun. He changes a bit once you target, but not much. You just need to have more fun with the shadow step and jump, and the darts.