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Vorpal Smilodon
207,861
TA Score for this game: 683
Posted on 27 September 12 at 14:46, Edited on 06 October 12 at 05:52 |
This review has 18 positive votes and 1 negative vote. Please log in to vote. |
Mark of the Ninja is a 2D stealth action-adventure - you climb through vents, smash lights with iron darts, slit guards throats from hiding spots, stuff bodies into dumpsters, hang from ledges, trick enemies into shooting each other, lay traps and can even go through levels without killing a soul. Set in a modern world you play as a ninja on a quest for vengeance, fighting armed security guards and avoiding security devices such as turrets and deadly deadly lasers.
Gameplay:
The game immediately feels more modern than games like Hitman: Blood Money or Tenchu Z for three reasons: 1) you can move quickly around the levels, 2) visual representation of sounds and tight controls allow for great precision in your play and 3) and significant checkpointing means a fatal screw-up doesn't restart the level from the beginning. This in fact encourages experimentation, for if you attempt to trick the AI into a trap and fail you'll only be set back moments after the guard lights you up with his rifle.
Platforming section are easy, as the ability to freeze time as you aim your hookshot means you never need to miss. Similarly combat is a clean, careful affair - sneaking into a spot for a single button-press kill, or luring enemies into just the right place to drop a chandelier on their head.
Each act you take is given points for a total level score, be it distracting a guard, sneaking close to guard, terrorizing a guard so badly he shoots anything that moves, killing a guard stealthily, killing a guard with a ninja tool (portable spike traps are brutal and effective) or hiding a guard's body - all this gives instant feedback to the way you play and puts you on a leaderboard at the end of a level.
Each mission also comes with three specific style goals - something that corresponds to one of four gameplay styles (Might, Hunter, Silence and Nightmares) and as soon as you complete three of these goals through the various levels you unlock a new set of armor with specific bonus abilities and drawbacks (for instance the Silence armor allows you to run without a sound, but you cannot bring a sword with you, completely removing stealth kills) These goals additionally unlock skill points used to unlock new attacks, items and upgrades in between levels.
Graphics/Sound:
The graphics are a crisp, cartoonish style that look really good. The sound similarly is good, with no bad sound effects coming to mind after playing through the game. Animations are awesome, concise movements perfectly befittign a ninja. Beyond this is the fact that the sound and art complement the gameplay - you see very clearly when you are hidden, the sound of an enemy alert is very distinct - you will realize the moment the enemy finds the corpse you left to distract him, and that's a very good thing.
Story:
The story begins slightly bland, but as you advance it unravels before you like a good mystery, leading you forward perplexed. One of the best things about the story is that you never speak, letting the player put his own motivations behind the actions of the ninja - which leads to an ending that truly feels like your own.
Replay Value:
Quite high - the game is fun and gives you multiple ways to play - ghost, warrior, terrifying mass murderer. After you play through a level one way you can challenge yourself by trying to get through without killing. Not to mention the New Game Plus mode where you get to tackle the whole game on a harder setting with all your unlocked items. On top of this is a leaderboard, so if you have any friends with this game you can spend hours trying to beat their scores in a level.
Achievements:
The achievements are straightforward in a good way - there are some for the story, some for random acts that you'll either pick up natural or spend three minutes unlocking on purpose, as well as achievements for unlocking everything (not hard) and for playing through the game again in New Game Plus (slightly challenging).
Overall:
This game is amazing! Everyone should play the trial for this game, and realize the game only gets better from there. Obviously if you dislike what you see in the trial or hate stealth games passionately this one might not be for you, but every one else should gives the awesome little game of ninja-y death a chance.
price
This review has been made at the 1200MSP price point. If you read this review at a point in time when the game is cheaper take that into consideration.
comments
Leave a comment if the review disappoints - if I've forgotten to mention anything I'll be happy to add on or clarify.
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Lucid Dreams84
118,694
TA Score for this game: 456
Posted on 09 September 12 at 18:58 |
This review has 11 positive votes and 8 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Orginal: http://vgmmdi.com/review/mark-of-the-ninja
Mark of the Ninja is an arcade game on Xbox Live from developers Klei Entertainment. You may remember Klei from their other games such as N+ or the Shank series. With the same art style, Klei dives deep into the stealth genre and what better way to do that but with ninjas.
The story begins with you waking up to the sound of a bell, and a female ninja warning you of intruders that have broken into the Hisomu village. You later find out from the Ninja leader, Azai, that Count Karjan was the one behind the attack and used his men to find a stolen item within the village. You are now the new champion who bears the sacred ink on his body that will be used to protect the village. However, it comes with a cost…
The story started in a very typical fashion, there is an enemy that attacks your village and you go after them to seek revenge, simple cut and paste stuff. However, the farther you go into this story the darker and mysterious it becomes, and I really enjoyed the way the ending is set up. I do wish there was a little more to the ending, but maybe that sense of mystery is prefect for this.
The gameplay is a stealth action 2D platformer that has you avoiding enemies or sneaking up behind them to take them out. What I really enjoyed about this game is how fast it moves in combat. There are a variety of different ways you can take out your enemy. You can quickly kill them by coming up behind them, hanging off a lamp post, distracting them, or using equipment to silence them for good. You can attack them head on, but that should only be used for when you are caught.
Your player can go through an entire level without the enemy even realizing he was there. You move quickly from the shadows avoiding lights and guards view of sight by grappling to high areas and hiding inside vents. You can use the environment around you, set traps to lure the guards away, destroy lights with your bamboo darts, or even use a dead body to throw and scare his allies. The game is more enjoyable by taking this approach.
You have your primary sword that cuts down the guards with a single swipe, but you can also carry secondary weapons. Darts can be used to darken your area by destroying lights, smoke bombs allow you avoid lasers or enemy sight, spikes can be used as a trap to kill your enemy, and there are a few more that you can acquire you upgrade your character. These make the game a lot more fun because there isn’t really one way you can do each level because you have so many items to help you move on.
The art was awesome and reminded me a lot of Samurai Jack, the television show in my youth. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was done by the same artist. In the light, the colors shine brightly and are very well done, but once you are in the shadows you only see an outline or the red of the tattoo that bares your strengths and your curse. The music was very eerie, and fits well with the general atmosphere that the game represented.
My only problem with this was the layout of the levels. They could be a bit repetitive, and didn’t change that much as you progress through the game. There were twelve levels overall, and I liked how it was switched to the desert later on, but it went back after that. This was a little problem, but nothing I would say ruined the game for me. This arcade game was just plain fun, and I recommend it to anyone that likes stealth games, because it did an awesome job at it.
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