Mark of the Ninja is a superb side-scrolling game and one of the best indie games you will play in 2012.
+ Incredibly satisfying stealth mechanisms
+ Multiple ways to approach each obstacle
+ Effective use of the darkness and light
+ Gentle rising difficulty level never frustrates
Negative
- Repetitive killing animations
Few games tend to be like Mark of the Ninja. It is not the fast-paced, mercilessly slicing hordes of enemies with skills and agility, or unleashing powerful jutsus against your opponent. Mark of the Ninja makes you a stealthy ninja that only attacks from the darkness with a variety of ways to execute your foes. With effective methods and awe-inspiring execution, Mark of the Ninja is a terrific 2D game that is difficult not to love for any in for some slow-paced but satisfying ride.
A group of armed men attack a ninja base, and your unnamed, tattooed ninja is sent to assassinate the ruthless man named Karajan. It is not simply a tale of one ninja against in present time seeking revenge against an army of well-armed men. There is more to it. You have just received a tattoo that can grant extra power, but which will eventually lead to madness, which in turn the ninja with the tattoo must commit seppuku when it happens. The story is not a simple tale with a surprising turn of events and a tough to make final decision, but an intriguing aspect of whether what you are seeing and playing is a mere hallucination caused by the tattoo or not. It is still worth to follow the story, because it is easily outshined by its action.
Mark of the Ninja is a 2D stealth/platformer. It is not the game that expects you to descend in a room packed with strong enemies and skillfully kill them. Quite contrary. Mark of the Ninja expects you to sneakily attack each foe from behind, and with silent assassinations, progress to the appointed location. As a ninja, you are invincible in the darkness, yet so vulnerable in the light. As you strike from the darkness, it is a matter of the right moment and the right click to assassination an unsuspecting guard. Yet it takes way, way more hits when you are exposed. That completely excludes the chance of close combat.
The best thing about Mark of the Ninja is that, as a stealth game, the stealth is good, that you will not want to be exposed. A circular mark appears on the screen when a guard hears something, distracting him to that location. By running, destroying objects, a circular area expands that indicates the distance the sound was heard. A yellow circle remains where the guard thinks the sound came from, and will go to check. It helps that the whole environments are obscure. The darkness you hide in is your ally, while the light of buildings and guard's torches are what will expose you. Causing distractions is one way to get a guard to move from his position.
There is more than one way to progress through each room. You can sneak by and completely ignore the enemy on most occasions, stealthily kill each and every single guard by crawling into vents and taking a detour and enter from the top of the building and many more. With alertly guards, dogs that can easily smell you within range and a variety of different alarms (some of which will disintegrate you, or expose you on touch), the answer to progress is always within range. When you sneak behind the target, and press the left mouse button when in close enough range, a sequence kicks in, demanding you hold and slash the right direction for a silent assassination. A killing animation appears, but with two guards together, the second guard can raise the alarm since the killing animation takes place in real-time, and the second guard can easily kill you. Alarms are raised if a corpse if found, or alternatively terrorize the guard that found the corpse.
Like I mentioned, there is a variety of ways to go with the approach, but there is variety of killing. As you unlock more ways to kill as you progress, you can start killing from vents, falling down from the ceiling and from behind the doors. These killing methods are incredibly satisfying because the game gives you the chance to be creative, and play around with your target. With each action done, whether that is a stealth kill, hide the body or raising the alarm, points are added and deducted from the total score of the level. With that, there are three primary objectives that act more of optional objectives that earn you extra points. Before each mission, you can unlock new skills and upgraded equipment, and even change your style of play, from the usual ninja, to a silent or deadlier one with new advantages and disadvantages. And even with those options available as variety, with extra exploration, you might find hidden artifacts and scrolls that increase your score, along with a secret, challenging area. These challenges are much harder than the well balanced game, that allows you to learn the ropes before tossing tough options, and even with that, it is never a particularly punishing game.
There really is not much to complain about in Mark of the Ninja. The stealth is brilliant and despite the repetition that comes with some lacking enemy variety in the first part, and the same animation over and over, it remains an addictive game that holds you. Sure, the unexpected sand level felt an infuriating diversion to where the game might have ended after a certain event, and this accursed sand level chopped the pace. In due time, I grew accustomed to it. But where I cared to look in every single location possible in the previous part, in the sand area, I just wanted to go to the next location as soon as possible. It did not feel as compelling to get hit by bombs I could not get rid of and nasty sand storms that slowed the movement to the point of being painfully slow.
Mark of the Ninja is a pretty 2D game. With stylish cartoonish cutscenes and character design, it somehow manages to deliver the story, even though the English voice acting does not completely do it justice in my opinion. The killing animations look good, but somehow manage to feel sort of out of place compared to the design to when you are sneaking. It somehow does not feel natural. While the environments are repetitive, it is brilliant use light and darkness that bring the game to life. Being a few meters away from an enemy makes a world of difference whether you stand in the light or in the darkness. It is so effective and well done that it is impossible not to praise. Same for the sound design. The ability to attract guards with your footsteps, and as the game marks where the guards think is your last location, give you plenty of opportunities to alter your approach.
Some smaller indie games prove that you do not need a big budget game for an enjoyable game. The game even progresses for some time after you may think it would end, and it remains a highly entertaining and memorable game throughout. Sure, sometimes it feels repetitive but there are enough upgrades to give you new possibilities and approach and with a gentle rising difficulty curve that hardly anyone can complain about, Mark of the Ninja is an inspiring game that every self-respecting stealth fan should be playing.
OVERALL = 89 / 100
Mark of the Ninja is a superb side-scrolling game and one of the best indie games you will play in 2012.