Lyrics, fill in the gap -- Drop that bass and get the Ninja Rap!

The Charge:
Slice like a ninja – Cut like a razor blade!

Opening Statement:
Okay, every red-blooded kid who lived and breathed during the 1980s knows that ninjas are concentrated awesome.  And I don`t mean that watered down, sugar-rush Naruto crap.  I`m talking straight up, sword swingin’, star flingin’ shinobi bad-ass.  Hell, even Michael Dudikoff had a cup of coffee with fame and fortune because he made a few movies concerning ninjas, and he was a total douche (my apologies to any hardcore Dudikoffers out there).  I’ll usually try any video game that features Ninjas in a prominent role (usually to my regret), which led me to this day’s review.  Long-time readers (of my printed reviews) like my mom will probably remember how I gushed about an early 2007 release for the PlayStation 2 called Odin Sphere.  This nifty little Action-RPG was critically hailed for its absolutely gorgeous hand-drawn visuals, something developer Vanillaware quickly became known for.  But we all know great graphics don’t make a great game, so will the inclusion of ninjas help to sharpen Muramasa – The Demon Blade, Vanillaware’s new return to the land of 2D action?

'Fo knucks brah!

Facts of the Case:
Muramasa is a classic revenge and redemption story, told from the perspective of two otherwise unrelated characters.  The first, Momohime, is a princess whose soul has been ensnared and her body possessed by a powerful spirit, who wants to use her as the tool of his terrible vengeance.  The second, Kisuke; is a skilled Ninja who has completely lost his memory due to some crucial event, and now he slashes his way through former clansmen and demon’s alike to find the truth he seeks.  Both characters are uniquely flawed, as is usually the case with Kabuki drama, and its up to players to guide these two lost causes toward their ultimate goal.

The Evidence:
A free-roaming side-scroller in the vein of the Iga era of Castlevania titles, Muramasa sends gamers across feudal Japan, unlocking new levels and battles by defeating nefarious bosses or obtaining all manner of McGuffins.  Though each character’s story is unique and extraneous from one another, both Momohime and Kisuke will traverse through the same areas.  The narrative and climactic boss fights change up for whichever story is being played through however, and there are just enough switchups in locales to keep things fresh.  It’s hardly groundbreaking, but what the game does, it does well.

Muramasa, doing what it does well.

Speaking of doing things well, the action in Muramasa is simply put, resplendent.  For a title that uses a single attack button, there is never a shortage of different combos and brutal actions to be taken upon the swarms of enemies (of which are nearly endless by the way) which clog up each level.  Wet behind the ear rookies may be a little off-put by the use of the up key on the d-pad for a jump button, but any gamer with even a few hours worth of time invested into 2D fighters should be leaping around and performing all manner of uppercuts, dashing slashes, and quick draw surprise attacks in no time.  It certainly doesn’t hurt that the game is cane sugar visual candy for the eyes while all this fast and furious swordplay is onscreen as well.  I love the mechanics behind defending and sword breaking, and how using special attacks and fierce slashes may whittle an opponent down quicker, but as well bring the player’s sword to the breaking point much quicker.  Some boss fights are engineered around these mechanics, bringing a puzzling strategy to the plate along with the crazy ninja cutting.

Go ninja go ninja go!

Much as I despise to use a shibboleth like this, but the hackneyed cliché “painting in motion” fits Muramasa like a fine Italian glove.  Like Odin Sphere before it, each level simply bleeds life onto the screen with independent layers of parallax scrolling objects and rigorously animated sprites that fill even empty rooms with a sense of wondrous impulsive spirit.  This level of visual panache is a joy to take in.   Aurally, the game is just as much a delight.  The music would be fitting in any samurai film, and the tempo picks up in battle to match even classic favourites like the Revenge of Shinobi soundtrack.  It would’ve been nice for the game to feature an English dub (believe me, Atlus would’ve included one), but for the most part the translation is decent, so I didn’t mind the Japanese.

Bob Ross himself couldn't have crafted it any better.

Rebuttal Witness:
Well paced, and clocking in at an adequate 12 hours to complete with both characters, Muramasa does however suffer from flat level design and enough back-tracking to choke a rhinoceros.  It’s not uncommon to survive a particularly savage battle with a monstrous ogre or dragon, obtain the item or new sword needed to move past a previously locked gateway, and have to suffer through 10 minutes to dashing through sparse and linear stretches of previously traversed level in order to reach the new destination.  I couldn’t help but wonder if Muramasa wouldn’t have been better off as a straight up action title with separate levels.  Just beat the boss and move on to the next stage.  All the detail that Vanillaware poured into the presentation is nearly laid to waste by some truly unimaginative world design.  Gamers didn’t mind backtracking in Metroid or Castlevania because the worlds were clever and filled with hidden shortcuts.  In Muramasa, navigating the map can often feel like a chore, which is sad because the slash’em up game play is such a treat.  As well, much of the game’s drama is told via long winded exposition scenes immediately before and after each boss fight.  The rest of the game feels oddly empty, outside of course of the waves of baddies to slice and dice.  Muramasa feels like a superb action title that has been encumbered with an exiguous attempt at inserting RPG elements.  I realize that in today’s gaming climate, players keep insisting on longer games with more content, but ask yourselves if you’d rather spend 4 out of 12 hours backtracking through older levels, or play a superb 8 hour straight action title?

Visual proof that Steve Power will probably end up buying Muramasa.

Closing Statement:
Armed to the teeth with a simple, but undeniably tight control scheme, and some of the most gorgeous 2D presentation seen on the Wii, Muramasa – The Demon Blade is a blistering slash’em up that should bring just enough sizzle to cover up the fact that the steak isn’t the primmest of cuts.  One of the better action titles on the platform, Wii owners desperate for something new to play should have no reason to complain.

The Verdict:

Is there anything that can’t be made better with the appropriate application of ninjas?  Just imagine a world where one could walk into a hardware store and have their desired lumber dropped from the ceiling by a shadowy figure, or have a steak served to them off the edge of a katana blade.  I’ll tell you one thing, the email at jonmercer@nf.sympatico.ca  is certainly handled by the silent masters of the assassination arts.

- J

Platform: Nintendo Wii
Developer: Vanillaware/Marvellous Entertainment
Publisher: Ignition Entertainment
Release Date: September 9th, 2009
Rated: T for Teen.

The Charge:
Tokyo Under Siege! A Modern-Day Ninja For A 21^st Century Enemy!

Opening Statement:
From Software, purveyors of mecha-driven xbox360 gems like Chrome-Hounds and Armored Core 4, bring 360 fans an action experience that plays out like the twisted offspring of Ninja Gaiden and God of War. Heavy on cinematic action, big swords, huge bosses, crazy magic, and leather-clad uber-Ninjas, Ninja Blade has all the ingredients for a good time. But is this a tasty dish? Or is Ninja Blade better left to the Ninja dogs.

NOTE: This is a pre-release review. NINJA BLADE will be available on April 7

Facts of the Case:
Tokyo, 2015. Parasites known as alpha-worms have mysteriously appeared, unleashing a wave of human destruction as they rapidly spread. With the future of humankind hanging in the balance (isn’t it always?); an elite team of Ninja Commandoes is set loose on Tokyo. Their mission: eliminate the Alpha-Worm menace, or die trying. This should sound familiar to anyone who’s ever hoisted an Xbox or Xbox360 control pad after booting up a copy of one of Tecmo’s Ninja Gaiden titles. From Studios have a few tricks up their sleeves however, and Ninja Blade winds up being a very different beast. You play as Ken Ogawa, a rookie Ninja learning the ropes in some kind of wacky Japanese government death squad that’s part Delta Force and part bad Sho Kosugi movie. From the opening scene, where your team of bad-ass Ninja killers dives from the loading ramp of an aircraft, minus parachutes of course, you’ll know that Ninja Blade is about three things, action, quick-time-events, and more action.

The Evidence:
One cannot look at Ninja Blade and not compare it to Tecmo’s Ninja Gaiden series, its an impossibility. You are a Ninja, you have a selection of weapons and magic, and you do battle against a horde of demonic looking mutants. You are given all the tools and abilities you need to dart quickly from enemy to enemy, with rapid sword slashes dispatching said demons (sorry, mutants) with relative ease until you encounter one of the games many boss battles, wherein it becomes a game of figuring out attack patterns and whittling away at health bars while avoiding ridiculously powerful special attacks from behemoths the size of your screen. In that respect, Ninja Blade is just like any other game you’ve played in the so-called “stylish hard action” genre. Then comes the QTE’s, or Quick-Time-Events. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the concept, QTE’s are a way of involving a player in what is usually a very cinematic sequence of moves by flashing a prompt onscreen for you to follow, it’s basically a game of Simon, whereby you rush to slam the “X” button as it flashes on your screen before the extremely narrow window of opportunity closes. You act correctly, the QTE shows you something cool, and more buttons flash onscreen for you to press, and hopefully more cool things happen. These events pop up a lot in Ninja Blade, a whole lot, and if you are one of those people who hates this sort of thing, you will not be pleased with Ninja Blade, and you may as well close this tab now.

One of the game’s biggest strengths is definitely the control scheme. It’s not especially difficult to learn, and it’s nowhere near as punishing as the Ninja Gaiden series,  it could almost pass for Ninja Gaiden-lite if not for the amount of actions Ken is capable of executing. There’s a feeling of finesse to Ken’s acrobatic feats, and the speed of your attacks is pretty blinding, leaving little room for enemies to interrupt your flow once you get your groove on. Within an hour after starting you should have things pretty well mastered. You’ll have a healthy variety of weapons with varying attack speeds and power levels, and you should be more than capable of some “Prince of Persia” style wall runs, this is one instance where Ken feels agile and skilled enough to kick Ryu’s ass (Ken? Ryu? Waitaminute…). That’s not to say the shallow learning curve makes the game easy, it isn’t. There’s almost a platform feel to some of the action, where you spend more time jumping and climbing than fighting. These levels go a long way to breaking up the monotony of slashing through wave after wave of identical bad guys, and From software have definitely made a few good calls with the overall flow and feel of the gameplay.

Rebuttal Witness:
Ninja Blade definitely suffers in the presentation department. The unassuming box art pretty much captures the essence of the game’s visuals. There’s really not a whole lot going on here. It’s certainly not an ugly game, technically speaking, but from an art design standpoint it’s pretty stale. Doubly disappointing is that Ken Ogawa and the other central characters were designed by veterans at Capcom (Lost Planet’s lead character designer, Keiji Nakaoka, under the supervision of Resident Evil 5 producer Hiroshi Takeuchi). Let’s just say they won’t be winning any popularity contests anytime soon, Ken’s look is about as generic as his name. The environments, based on actual areas around Tokyo, also have a pretty monotone feel. This is a “grey” game, a lot of concrete and steel, and everything takes place at night. The framerate does remain rock solid, animation quality is more than adequate, and there are occasional moments where some very cool visual effects pop in, including a great view of the nighttime city skyline. Overall the graphical quality is hindered more than helped by lackluster art design, it definitely looks like a 360 game, but it won’t be turning heads.

The sound suffers from similar problems. Slashes and explosions of violence remain pretty stock, and while the script does have moments of razor sharp wit, the voice acting is pretty standard fare. The game does give you the opportunity to choose from Japanese, English, or a Bilingual track (where Japanese characters speak Japanese and vice versa) which is a great touch, but everything remains pretty pedestrian throughout. The music is much the same; it gets the job done without too much attention being drawn to itself, for better or for worse.

The plot is threadbare, which in itself isn’t much to complain about, and it definitely trumps the likes of the Ninja Gaiden series in that department. That said, it’s far from compelling, and while not complete rubbish, like the graphics and sound, it’s completely generic save for some witty one-liners from our hero protagonist.

These issues give the game a bit of a scattered feel. It doesn’t quite feel like a budget title, nor does it feel like something you should be paying full price for. There’s definitely polish there, it’s just been focused on the controls and gameplay rather than presentation (which im sure could be said to be a good thing). If it had been released a few years ago, I’m sure Ninja Blade could have been heir to the throne;  it’s worth playing, but other games out there have done it better in past years, even on older consoles.

Closing Statement:
Ninja Blade does so very much right. The action is great, and the pacing is blisteringly fast and relentless. It cribs from pretty much every other game in the genre, from Devil May Cry to God of War to (of course) Ninja Gaiden, and makes for a rather good time if you’re a fan of this particular genre. Hardcore Ninja Gaiden: Black/Ninja Gaiden: Sigma fans may want to give this a try to wash away the disappointment of last year’s Ninja Gaiden II. You’ll get some epic boss battles, and more than enough difficulty without the frustration. It’s a shame that From Software couldn’t have borrowed some of the character of these other games to go along with the solid gameplay to create a less generic Ninja romp. As it stands, it’s a great rental to burn a weekend on, and maybe a purchase for the hardcore “stylish action” gamers out there.

The Verdict:

Platform: Microsoft Xbox360
Developer: From Software
Publisher: Microsoft
Release Date: April 7, 2009
Rated: M(17+) for Mature.