By Vikram Dussa
When I first heard about Ninja Blade, I wasn’t really interested; it sounded like a Ninja Gaiden wannabe. So when I got this review copy, I was not even a little bit inclined to pop the disc into my 360. It took quite a bit of self-motivation from my end to convince myself to actually start playing this game.
It’s 2015, and Tokyo is in the grip of a deadly parasite, “The Alpha Worms”. Once infected, the worm breeds rapidly inside the host and takes control of it and also causes mutations, which result in the host becoming bigger, stronger, more agile and violent and hungry for flesh. You play Ken Ogawa, a highly trained Ninja. Shortly after the game begins, Ken’s entire team is either dead or infected by these worms to which Ken is somehow immune.
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“Most of the game has you fighting bosses”
The game starts off with a spectacular QTE section, which sets the tempo for the entire game. But unlike most games, which begin with a bang and lose it somewhere in between, this game keeps the momentum going till the very end. QTEs form a major element of the gameplay. They are very well implemented and take the action sequences in the game to a whole new level. They are an absolute treat to watch and execute. Most of the game has you fighting bosses, most of which are giant infected versions of common creatures like spiders, snails, worms, mosquitoes, crabs, beetles, etc., with a few minions in between to fill in the gaps. The AI in the game, especially the minions, is pretty dumb and they’ll wait for you to attack them rather then attacking you.
Killing enemies gives you blood crystals, which can be used to upgrade your swords and shurikens, and health crystals, which heal you. Ken uses three types of swords. The Oni-Slayer Sword is the standard ninja katana, and it balances speed with damage. The Twin Falcon Blades have a very fast rate of attack, but cause low damage. They are very effective in ranged attacks and in grappling walls and swinging across gaps. The Stonerender sword, a heavy sword, deals massive damage but has a slow rate of attack. It is very effective in breaking enemy shields, body armour and walls. Each sword has a pretty decent list of newbie-friendly combos, but the dumb AI makes them redundant, reducing the game to plain hack and slash.
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“Each sword has a pretty decent list of newbie-friendly combos”
Ken also uses the shuriken as his primary weapon for ranged attacks. The shuriken performs three elemental attacks by consuming your chi. The wind attack knocks down enemies and puts out fires, the fire attack sets enemies ablaze, and the lightning attack shocks enemies and immobilises them for a few seconds. Crates and barrels are scattered randomly across the map and breaking them gives you healing crystals, blood crystals, painkiller sprays, which restore your health, adrenaline boosts, which boost your attack damage, health pieces, which increase your life bar, chi pieces, which increases your chi (mana) bar, or various unlockables like costumes, emblems, shinobi mojis etc.
Ken can also use his Ninja Vision when things get especially tough. Ninja vision gives him superhuman speed (everything around him starts moving in slow motion, while is at regular speed), but the catch being that it uses up your chi and will cause blurred vision for sometime when you come out of it.
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“Animations during QTEs will leave you gaping with disbelief”
The graphics in the game are a mixed bag. While the Tokyo skyline with the full moon in the background in the rooftop levels looks spectacular, the same can’t be said about subway levels, which feel like they could use a little more work. There is a minor framerate drop when there is plenty of action on the screen, like during explosions, but it will not hamper your overall experience. The animations during the QTEs are very commendable and will leave you gaping with disbelief. Little things like debris flying off when you shatter enemy armour make the game even more enjoyable. The soundtrack in the game is mediocre. While the main menu music is quite cool, the same cannot be said about the in-game music. The sound effects are pretty standard and nothing to write home about.
Conclusion
The game is divided into 9 chapters, each averaging to about 45 to 50 minutes each, making the overall game rather short at some 7 hours. The statistics of each mission can be uploaded to Xbox LIVE and can be compared to others who have played this game, which is something like a time trial leaderboard, but here not only the time, but also other stats like the number of finishing moves executed, amount of damage caused, the amount of damage taken, total mission score, etc. can be compared. Also Ken’s costume can be customised to custom colours and with the various collectables unlocked during gameplay. All these, enhance the replayability of the game. Ninja Blade is a very good effort by From Software. The rather bland story is more then compensated by the spectacular QTE-enhanced gameplay. It is a must-play for all hack and slash fans.
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“A must-play for all hack and slash fan”
(+) Combat feels tight and responsive, moves look spectacular
(+) Amazing set pieces and great pacing
(+) Nice visuals and a solid framerate
(+) Boss fights are pretty good
(-) Dumb enemies that require little to no strategy
(-) Doesn’t feel particularly challenging
(-) Rather short for one playthrough
Ninja Blade is in stores now on Xbox 360 for Rs 2,199
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