Ninja Blade for 360: The Way a Ninja Game Should Be

by Sean Mitchuson on February 2, 2009 at 4:45 am

Take part God of War, part Shinobi, and part Ninja Gaiden and you get the soon to be released game in Japan Ninja Blade.

The 360 title is being released on Janurary 29th and looks to please many a ninja fan. The main character Ken is doing what ninjas do best — fighting bad guys around Japan. The Famitsu news explains a lot of the story, but honestly that part is rather hum drum. You are the good guy ninja fighting the bad guy ninjas. You know, same ole thing. The best part is the action involved in the game. From screenshots alone, there is high-flying fighting, ninja magic, and yeah — missile riding, because all ninja learn how to do that in mystic ninja school.

If you are familiar with OTOGI, this is the same team. I can’t say I have ever played the game myself so I am not really sure what to expect out of this new ninja title, but it’s nice to have some martial arts action on the 360. These guys seemed to go all out with getting city styles from Japan in game along with making the main character look very deadly — maybe not too powerful, but he does indeed seem to be quite the fighter.

One thing that makes me really want to get this game is the sheer amount of different weapons he seems to carry and be able to use. The standard ninja style katana is there, but you can also dual wield smaller swords, carry a giant sword for whatever reason you may see fit, and even a whip weapon of sorts. You are going to get a lot of different playstyle abilities with all the different weapons.

Did I mention you can upgrade them? The game includes a system to, of course, make those awesome weapons even more awesome to eliminate the bad guys faster and faster as the game progresses. You aren’t just limited to melee weapons, though — there are of course ninja stars or “kunai” for those of you up on your Japanese, and let’s not forget the ninja magic. The descriptions of the magic seem fairly light, though, so I think they are really wanting you to focus on weapon play over all other styles of combat. The outfit our ninja friend Ken wears can also be changed giving better stats to help get past the trials at hand.

This game has something for everyone, and some people tire of constant battle so for those of you there are small mini game style parts where you may have to press button combos to do specific attacks to bosses, or just mash a button to keep hanging on.

All in all I think for a straight action title, it looks to be a solid game with some decent replayability. You will also notice that in the picture I chose to show off this title to you all he is riding a sword. That’s right, a sword.

Source: Famitsu

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