A great game hampered by its difficulty.
User Rating: 7.2 | Shinobi PS2
Difficult games are a welcome to many gamers. After all, more games back in the NES and SNES (and Genesis) gave gamers more of a challenge than the majority of games now. But seriously Sega, you suck. Shinobi is a recreation of the action games that appeared in the 16-bit generation. Shinobi does a good job of recreating that gameplay in 3D. The action is fast and frequent. There are a lot of plaforming elements as well. The story is basically a good vs. evil story with a focus on the main character's past. The graphics are good but nothing special. I do have to say though is that the main character, Hotsuma, is one of the cooler looking protagonist I have seen. His scarf has very detailed movements and his suit is just plain cool. Aside from that, the levels are somewhat plain and repetitive. The sound of the game is very dated with techno beats straight out the Genesis games. The game is nothing but action and platforming. The thing is the game is one of the hardest game you will ever play. I have played Ninja Gaiden on Normal and I have to say that it was tough, but nothing some patience and skill could not take care of. The beginning stages of the game is a cake walk, but soo after, your sword begins to drain your life unless you kill the enemy. That is not so bad since there is enemies every inch of the levels but it is something the game could have done without. Also Hotsuma has some great slashing moves that make you say, “Oh that was bad ass.”
The platforming can be difficult at times due to weird camera angles. It would not be so bad missing jumps every now and then if there were check points. I cannot tell you how many times you will be well into a level, towards the end and due to a miss calculated jump, the player has to start from the beginning of the level. The boss fights, I think are cool but difficult. Every boss has its strategy and picking it up is easy. It is just that the boss fights seem to go on steroids right before their life bar goes all the way down. Also the boss fights can be seriously over powering making the fights a little too unfair. The game is quite long due to starting over numerous times. It will take most players around 10 hours to beat. It is a great game for those looking for pure action. The game is fun and I especially recommend the game to those who are looking for a good challenege.
