Ninja Blade Demo Impressions
Okay so happy Monday and all of that good stuff. I hope everyone had a good weekend. I’ve been enjoying my new Red Xbox 360 Elite and the storage space it has. I went on a demo frenzy this weekend and found a pretty entertaining game called Ninja Blade. It’s like Ryu Hayabusa’s little cousin that no one knew could kick just as much ass.
If the demo is any judge, then FROM Software has done one heck of a job making a competent rival to Ninja Gaiden. I had a lot of fun with Ninja Vision, the weapons and the insane instances when you had to jump down the side of a building or from a plane pressing the right buttons. I usually don’t like the “quick-time events” in games but I didn’t mind these at all. Perhaps it was because the scenes were pretty intense and it felt like an accomplishment to see them play out.
The monsters in the game were huge. Apparently ninjas know nothing less than dealing with enemies that a bazillion times their size. No sweat for a master ninja I guess. I didn’t get a chance to find out if there was any magic or perhaps I couldn’t figure out how to use it. There was a purple (or blue) energy bar for it but I couldn’t use any magic.
The D-pad weapon selector came in handy. I was able to switch weapons with ease and the death dealing they did was impressive. There’s nothing like a variety of sword slashes that hit their target. I don’t know about you guys but I had fun with this game. I’m looking foward to April when it releases now. I didn’t expect much out of it but it appears that my ninja thirst will be quenched yet again with Ninja Blade.
April 7th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
The demo sucked so badly. If that’s what the game is going to be like it’s not even a close to ninja gaiden. First the timed events are crap. I love pushing a button to advance a cut scene, and my failing to do so results in having to do it all over again. Timed events should be if you fail, you take damage and then move on for God’s sake. Danger Girl for PS1 had them. It was a terrible game, but their timed events actually made you feel like you were a part of the event.
Second the AI for the enemies is non-existent. I was in a corridor fighting demons. I stopped attacking and stood right next to an enemy. It took him a full 4 seconds to even acknowledge me. He just stood there staring and finally decided to attack. The fighting system is crap too. Just mash X, and maybe throw in a Y if you’re feeling frisky.
My final impressions? This game isn’t like Ryu’s cousin who nobody knew could kick so much ass. It’s more like a game for all the people who sucked at Ninja Gaiden but desperately wanted to feel like bad asses. It looks pretty, and amazing, and cool, but it’s just fluff with zero substance.