Ninja Blade – 360 – Review

Developed by From Software, creators
of the acclaimed Otogi for the original Xbox, Ninja Blade is a title that has a
lot going for it on paper. A ninja game that has you taking on hordes of nasty
zombies and some huge-scale boss battles, Ninja Blade could have been a
compelling and exciting title in a sub-genre that hasn’t really gotten its just
due as of late. Unfortunately, the game falls well short of being the savior
that the ninja-action genre needs, instead shirking its potential and becoming a
run-of-the-mill action title, filled with clunky combat and derivative gameplay
elements throughout.

The storyline in Ninja Blade is
pretty tough to follow (let alone swallow), but basically what I could surmise
is that a strain of hookworm parasites have infected the population, and in
order to combat this, a group of ninjas have been deployed to kill off the
infected populace (zombies) in modern day Tokyo. What isn’t made terribly clear
is the reasoning behind huge monsters (like spiders the size of city buses,
giant worm creatures, and mutated helicopters) showing up and terrorizing the
city. Throw in some early double-crosses and you’ve got a pretty convoluted
story that frankly doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Aside from its cockamamie story,
Ninja Blade plays out like any number of action titles. Your character has
access to a variety of different ninja abilities, including wall-running,
wall-jumping, and several other acrobatic moves. You’ll have access to elemental
magic as well, which ultimately presents some minor puzzle situations where you
have to use the right element to get past certain environmental hazards or to take
down a specific enemy, but they rarely come to the forefront of the gameplay.

Being a ninja game, sword-based
combat obviously factors into the combat quite a bit, and Ninja Blade offers you
up several different weapons to use on your foes. Each weapon will give you
different types of advantage and disadvantage in combat, and will work on
different types of enemies. For example, there is a large sword that is capable
of busting through walls and destroying enemy shields (but is unfortunately
quite slow) and a faster (yet weaker) pair of swords that are effective on
smaller, quicker enemies and also work as grappling hooks to get across gaps.
You’ll also be able to upgrade your equipment by gaining orbs, a la God of War.

Unfortunately, the combat never
feels up to par with other ninja games, or even other action titles for that
matter. The pace of the combat feels slow and clunky, and not really as
responsive as it should be. This keeps the flow of the game from ever feeling
like a real ninja game, like Ninja Gaiden or even Shinobi, and hurts the overall
gameplay.

Also as in titles like God of War,
Resident Evil 5, and tons of other games, Ninja Blade makes extensive use of
QTEs (Quick-Time Events). These gameplay moments require you to press a specific
button at just the right moment in order to get your character to pull off a
lavish and cool-looking move, a la Dragon’s Lair. If done right, these moments
can be a lot of fun. In the case of God of War, tapping a button quickly in
order to yank a Minotaur’s head off of its body can be engaging and fun, not to
mention pretty cathartic. However, the QTE’s in Ninja Blade aren’t nearly as
compelling. You simply have to push whatever button that appears on screen to
watch your character do a certain move.

The main issues with the QTEs are
that they are just too damn long and occur way too often. You’ll run into a QTE
after almost every single scuffle with enemies, either by dodging a rocket or
another giant enemy. The game’s huge boss battles are meant to be centerpieces
of the action, but they unfortunately fall flat due to the fact that you’ll
spend half of the time mindlessly hacking at your foe and the other half engaged
in a QTE. The scale of the boss battles loses scope when you are merely watching
your character perform all sorts of cool moves while trying to take down a huge
boss, and not actively participating.

Graphically, Ninja Blade looks
pretty good for the most part, with some impressive character models and some
truly huge bosses, like giant spiders and other creatures for you to take down.
However, after a while, the main enemies tend to get a little bit repetitious
and clipping issues cause the overall aesthetic to lose its luster. Even worse,
the game has some pretty extreme bouts of slowdown when the on-screen action
gets hairy, which will even cause the game itself to slow down and interrupt the
flow of the gameplay.

The sound isn’t bad, but doesn’t
really stand out in any way. The music and sound effects are decent, as is the
voice work, but there are some very cheesy moments in the dialogue.

In the end, it’s really hard just to
tell what Microsoft and From Software wanted to achieve with Ninja Blade.
Basically every element in the game has been lifted from another title, and
chances are the predecessor did it better. The clunky combat pulls the game out
of its ninja-based roots, lacking the flow and fast-pace of its competitors in
the ninja-action sub-genre, and the overabundance of QTEs is just a poor design
choice and gets repetitive very quickly. Even the hardest of hardcore ninja fans
is likely to be disappointed with Ninja Blade.

Review Scoring Details for Ninja Blade

Gameplay: 6.0
Ninja Blade’s gameplay elements are nothing new, as just about every element
of the gameplay has been lifted from another action game. Nearly half of the game is
Quick-Time Events, which grow pretty redundant as the game goes on, and the
combat feels slow and clunky compared to other ninja games.

Graphics: 7.5
Ninja Blade benefits from some impressive looking character models and some
really huge enemies, but unfortunately has more than its share of technical
issues, including clipping problems and slowdown.

Sound: 7.5
The voice work and music are decent (aside from some cheesy dialogue
moments), but nothing too special.

Difficulty: Medium

Concept: 6.5
There are some truly off the wall situations in Ninja Blade, but the story
is pretty nonsensical and hard to follow and the gameplay is extremely
derivative.

Overall: 6.0
Ninja Blade has a lot going for it from the get go, with a different
approach to the ninja game formula and some huge, off-the-wall enemies.
Unfortunately, the clunky combat mechanics, camera issues, and overabundance of
Quick-Time Events make this a disappointing and unoriginal endeavor.