Saturday, 14 March 2009

• Ninja Blade Demo

   

  I downloaded the Ninja Blade demo off of X-Box live, because I was bored, and it had a flashy opening. I played through it last night, and the game has potential, if you like the God of War or Devil May Cry play styles.

  It is set in a Tokyo that is being invaded by demons. Big surprise there. The ninja demon killing squad, which implies in a cut scene they are all veteran demon slayers, jumps out of an Osprey-like plane into the city and begin fighting.

  You are one of these elite ninja and that about sums up the story you get in the demo. Turns out they are genetically mutated monsters from some kind of disease. It would be better if it was demons, but I'm old school.

  On to the gameplay. Like God of War, it has the interactive cut scenes where you must hit the right button to perform the action. Unlike God of War, it felt forced and often the button you were suppose to press would pass very quickly. You would be offered an immediate reset and get to do it again. Not bad, but kind of pointless in my opinion. Either make an alternative or kill me. Games are getting too forgiving.

  The actual hack and slash is pretty cool. You get a variety of ninja swords and a crazy, Chinese star boomerang. I didn't get much use out of the star, but the swords ranged from big, slow heavy damage to dual wielding super fast I hit you 20 times. It was a lot of button mashing fun, but camera angles from the small bit of the demo made it hard to block. It may get better with the full game, but I won't hold my breath. Along with your blades of doom, you have Ninja vision, which makes you more vulnerable as it shows the vulnerabilities of the enemy and slows time down a bit. You can also run along walls and other ninja hijinks. No double jump, which suprised me. I thought ninjas came out of the package with a double jump, but alas not in this demo.

  The final part of the demo is a boss battle with a giant spider. It was a long fight. Too long in my opinion. Some of it might have been my late-night playing and getting the hang of the controls, but it just felt like it took forever to beat this guy. The location changed twice, which was cool, but ultimately unnecessary. The modus operandi for this game seems to be shooting for epic fights and scenes.

  Overall, I think it will be a cool game if you want something where you get to kill a lot of well-drawn monsters. The story was lite in the demo, but from reading the game summary, you get betrayed and must fight alone while saving Tokyo and the world.

  Sounds cliched and predictable, but may be a fun button masher nonetheless. I won't be holding my breath for this title. This one will definitely be one for the fans of God of War and Devil May Cry play styles. I would take it as a gift, but it's not going to be one I run out and buy.

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