Recenlty, the Ninja Blade demo was released on the Xbox 360 network and I had the unfortunate luck of playing this dreadful ga...I mean demo. I realize that demos are not always an accurate reproduction of what the final game will be but this demo irratated me so much I just had to say something.



Ninja Blade is the story of a ninja [ if you couldn't figure that out from the title], and the thing that seperates this ninja from all other ninjas is that he has several weapons, or blades, strapped to his back [again, look at the title its right there]. The demo starts out revealing with some hard to read caption cause I don't own an HD TV that some worm thing is running amok in Japan. Then a quick video clip shows our usual ninja and game cliches: the moody ninja, the desposable ninjas, the quiet yet prophetic master, our main character, and the random street hip black ninja who flies the plane [racist much]. Game should have just been called driving Miss. Ninja. So here is where the lack of fun begins:

Our hero with his cache of weapons dives out of the plane and on the way down the player is given quicktime button presses that act as a tutorial for slashing up enemies as he falls. I know this seems cool at first and even I was fooled, but then once you fail to push the button in the correct time or push the wrong button the game freezes and acts Prince of Persian esque by rewinding to right before you have to do the button press. Now, this idea seems alright at first. I feel as if I am a part of the movie cinematic in some way, which does blend into the game quite well, but then after repeated issues this gets old and fast. The coolness factor quickly wore off and I managed to land. I thought well this isn't to bad of an issue and maybe it just happens occassionally. But oh wait it gets worse.

Now its time for the actual hack n' slash game play that I looke forward too. The game starts you off with several weapons operated by the d-pad. I do not know if you start off with these weapons in the actual game or its just a way for the demo to get you interested. Anyway, you have weapons, your magic (ninpo), your dash attack, and your combos. All of which work together in total original gameplay. Of course I am being sarcastic here.



No the weapons: 1 big sword, 1 regular sword, 1 nunchuck thing, 1 throwy blade thing, all made a debut in Ninja Gaiden. Dash attack was a feature of Shinobi for the PS2, and Ninpo is featured in Ninja Gaiden and I think Shinobi as well. I figured the game was just trying to be over the top, I mean the title is so creative after all, that I tried to let this go. After all you do have one unique thing, "ninja vision," which basically acts as a hint button for enemy and boss battles. The one huge flaw in this area is the combo or fight system, or rather the whole point of the game.



The controls are sluggish and seem to have no effect on the enemies. I loved Ninja Gaiden because of the fast action and I had the same love of Shinobi for the same reason. Both of those two games did not always take themselves as seriously, but even during their serious moments still managed to provide good game play. Ninja Blade has none of this and when I finally reach the boss of this demo, a giant spider, after several quick button presses which grew more and more annoying I was treated to a lame fight with this spider. I basically ran up to the spider and chopped its legs off. The action of this was hurt by a lack luster and un challenging strategy: hit spider with giant sword, run away with dash attack, and repeat. There is a little bit more here but you get the idea...oh and then during this you have to mash some buttons per the request. The real idiotic part of this battle was when the spider changed positions and produced some type of tiny claw thing. The spider would shoot out some fire balls, to which I would just walk around the screen or wait in the corner until it was finished. Then I would walk up to the spider and jump and swing at this use less claw thing. This part took forever and seemed uncordinated and unfocused. Eventually, I got bored and prayed for the end. When the game does end you are treated to an interesting cinematic that again you must participate in by pushing the right buttons at the right time. Unfortunately, this cool segment is marred by the rest of the game/demo.



In short, I hope this post/review, which is probably a waste of time just like Ninja Blade, saves you from making the same mistake I made when I chose to play incestual ninja offspring that is Ninja "Blade".