Kunai. Katana. Jutsu. Need I say more?
Visceral and shockingly difficult, Ninja Blades primary selling point is its cinematic feel. Using fast paced and over the top action scenes to push an otherwise Devil May Cry clone past its limit. Ryu, our main hero is to save the world, from a strange virus that is turning normal people, animals and all manner of uglies' into massive undead creatures. Cue a highly trained Ninja squad. A traitor and your typical run of the mill action storyline. Don't get me wrong, it's all good fun, even when the difficulty feels unfair.
Equipped with three swords, that can be carried at the same time oh so easily on Ryu's back, our action man is blessed with a moderate supply of combos, magic Jutsu and throwing weapons. You will find a lot of enjoyment playing around with the different swords and mixing things up to smash enemies about the screen, but it can get VERY repetitive. The button pressing action sequences serve to break up the main flow of the game and can make for some stunning events, but again it happens often and can become highly frustrating.
Ninja Blade, as awesome as it looks, will throw just one too many bosses at you, and they are not exactly easy or quick to put down. Each boss can be dispatched using Todome, which again leads into more button sequences.
That's all there really is to Ninja Blade, and it can serve as a good bit of blokey fun on a night in with your mates, but it offers no depth and the combat system has been done better in other games. A rentable title for sure, but not one you would want to buy. I traded my copy in, without finishing the game and neither miss the disc nor the points on XBL.
So there you go, that's Ninja Blade – I'm more excited about Darksiders and Dante's Inferno to be frank, and I love Ninjas.