Nightshade Update

Nightshade, which was released in Japan last month as Kunoichi, is the follow-up to last year's Shinobi for the PlayStation 2. The game, once again developed by Overworks, features a more refined spin on Shinobi's core gameplay, along with some new elements that aim to address some of the issues players had with the game. This time out, Shinobi's Hotsuma is nowhere to be seen, as he's left the spotlight open for a curvy replacement in Hibana--a white-clad female ninja with a slick arsenal of moves. We had the chance to try the US version of the game to see how it's shaped up thus far.

You'll find four main gameplay modes to choose from, including story, time attack, survival, and mission. Story is the only mode that's initially selectable when you first start the game. The other three are unlocked as you play. In addition, you'll find two other modes that are independent of the main four. A tutorial mode offers four guided lessons that bring you up to speed on Hibana's moves, while the extra mode lets you view cinematics and art as you unlock them in the main game or as you play--and subsequently clear--any level in story mode.

As we mentioned in our last look at the game, Nightshade's core gameplay has ended up being very close to that of Shinobi. However, Hibana's new moves keep the experience fresh and help give the game a slightly more arcadelike feel in some respects. The most obvious example of this is in the way Hibana's new kick and short swords come into play during an attack. You're able to use both moves to seriously extend the combos you can perform during a fight, both on the ground and in the air. After locking on to an enemy, you can pull back on the control stick and can press the square button to have Hibana use a pair of short swords that, while not dealing much damage, strike quickly. These short swords can be used to extend the number of hits in a combo, and they can even link into another round of attacks on a nearby enemy. Hibana's kick can serve as a combo-linker in another way, thanks to its abilities to home in on enemies when she's in the air. For example, if you start a combo by jumping and hitting an airborne enemy, you can use her kick to quickly zip closer to your next foe, thus supplementing the kick with a jump if you need to get a little closer. Although the timing takes a little getting used to, you should be able to perform some lengthy air combos without ever touching the ground. The robust combo system is nicely complemented by a much more open-ended "Tate" system, which rewards you with cinematic kills if you manage to take out enough enemies within a set amount of time--which is now essentially unlimited. Whereas the original Shinobi restricted the number of enemies you could take out before triggering a Tate, the only limit in Nightshade is the combo meter. The urge to get a 30-hit or higher Tate adds an emphasis on speed during combat, which is refreshingly arcadelike.

The visuals in the game offer more variety than Shinobi, thanks to more locales to hack-and-slash your way through. There's more detail overall, and there's an obvious attempt to keep the game's geometry less blocky, although you'll still find some pretty angular elements. There's more variety in the hellspawned creatures you kill, and the bosses who have been included are suitably menacing. The effects for Hibana's various attacks, especially her ninjutsu magic and special attacks, are suitably dramatic and fit well. The frame rate is respectably smooth, although the camera still presents many of the same issues as Shinobi.

The audio has turned out to be what we expected, thus offering a solid collection of sound effects that are complemented by fast-paced music. The effects generally work well, although some of Hibana's sword attacks could pack more of a punch. The music offers a similar feel to Shinobi, although there's more emphasis on bass in a lot of the tracks. The English voice isn't great, but it gets the job done. We're a bit disappointed to see that there's no Japanese language audio track, but life goes on.

From the looks of it, Nightshade appears to be a promising evolution of the concepts Overworks introduced in Shinobi. While it still has some of the same issues as its predecessor, there's more variety on hand to keep the action engaging. If you crave to race around in tights with a sword, you'll want to keep an eye out for Nightshade when it ships early next month.