It also makes the difficulty seem cheap as, in other tricky games you are faced with a specific boss enemy or location that seems like it will be challenging, Shinobi just spams the same peons at you consistently, with you dying eventually on account of losing your nerve. The problem in games with such simple mechanics is the need to keep things fresh with engaging level and enemy designs, an accolade which Shinobi fails to achieve. This masochistic pleasure begins to fade after some time though, if mainly due to the game’s repetition. I hope you like the look of that enemy, because you’ll be seeing a lot of him. It starts off as refreshing and quite endearing if you grew up with games that offered a similar challenge. With so many contemporary titles holding your hand and drip feeding you gameplay segments ever so slowly, Shinobi just gives you a text help file and tells you to man up. Though I may be somewhat bemoaning of this intensity, it’s initially a great source of excitement in Shinobi. This is one of the those titles that, if you think you’re at all skilled at games, will quickly show you how meagre your skills truly are. Instant death upon falling, the inability to hold a block for more than a second and a whole load of cheap enemy spawns and attacks are just some of the techniques Griptonite Games employ to break your spirit in Shinobi. The game does have an easy mode for those who want a smoother ride, but this is still much more challenging than the majority of games of this generation. In returning the series to its routes, Griptonite Games have brought in the usually absurd difficulty that has always been associated with the series and retro gaming in general. This simplicity is only superficial though, as the game itself is anything but. Indeed, this simplicity is part of Shinobi’s overall charm, with classic 2D platforming awaiting within. Graphically speaking, the game is quite arresting and, though the textures can often repeat and feel oppressively monotone, there is something oddly captivating about the way some of the game has been aesthetically designed. This is, surprisingly, one of the better games for the 3DS’ trademark visual capabilities, with the already pleasant backdrops coming to life with a flick of the 3D slider. This keeps things simple, and the 2.5D perspective helps bring the stereoscopic 3D capabilities of the system to the fore. Though 2002’s Shinobi on PS2 introduced the series to 3D environments, Shinobi on 3DS decides to take the series back a step, instead going for 2D gameplay with an isometric twist. The plot isn’t really the focus here though, as Shinobi is all about the gameplay. The textures are pleasant, but they tend to seem a bit cut and pasted as the game goes on The story exposition doesn’t give away a lot though, with merely static scenes being accompanied by clichéd platitudes on inner tranquillity, and all those other fun abstract concepts and one-liners that have been handed down through generations of kung fu movies. For those who are interested, it serves as a prequel that tasks long time protagonist Joe Musashi’s father, Jiro, with defeating the evil Neo Zeed crime syndicate. This isn’t to be the case though with Shinobi as, in making itself very obviously part of an old gaming tradition, the story is arbitrary and minimal at best. It does so successfully for the most part, but there is a reason why these styles of gameplay have died out as of late.įollowing my usually abstract introduction, this would normally be the part of the review where I briefly summarise the game’s story. Shinobi is one such game, revoking the 3D gameplay of its 2002 PS2 forefather in favour of the classic 2D gameplay of the 90’s Shinobi games. This has resulted in the current trend for games to look like they’re out of the 16-bit era, but there have been a few that have dared to play like their retro predecessors as well. In our post-modern culture where nothing can be truly seen as original and new, gaming, along with just about every other medium out there, is looking to the past for inspiration.
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