Review: Ninja Blade - Stab giant household pests

Mike Bantick
Tuesday, 08 September 2009 06:51

Entertainment

Yep!  No-fail; a big portion of the Ninja Blade game experience is made up of these quick time events, all pre-empted by a quick close-up on Ken’s eyes.


At this point Ninja Blade becomes a cinematic experience.  One memorable sequence involves diving from an attack helicopter towards the gaping maw of yet another monstrous vehicle devouring worm.  The worm spews forth a stream of trucks, buses and motorcycles, but with the press of a button Ken will bounce off a truck, another button leap onto a motorcycle and ride off the side of a bus.  A couple more button mashes and Ken will flip the motorcycle over his head to collide with the fuel tank of a falling truck which explodes in the creature’s mouth.

If you fail at any of these quick-time button requirements, the game will instantly rewind a couple of seconds to give you another go, endlessly. 

Basically, this gives the Ninja Blade player a no-fear feeling of completion, there ain’t nothing you can’t tackle in this game, and when you do prepare for a completely over the top cinematic experience.  Ken will ride rockets, avoid collapsing buildings, dive through inferno’s and pretty much have the ability to take out slimy beasts the size of sky-scrapers with the equivalent of  a splinter, all with the power of the ‘Y’ button.

The no-fear feeling is euphoric; it is an appropriate Ninja style confidence, required for tackling the never ending stream of boss characters and brutes that inhabit the slowly dying city. 

The result is a simplified action game with high production values and plenty of crazy camera angles straight from hong-kong action theatre.  It does suffer some frame rate issues when monsters get outrageous, which is often, but doesn’t impede the player greatly due to the lack of combo options compared to games such as Devil May Cry.

The platforming can be annoying, but overall Ninja Blade captures much of the westernised Ninja stereotype in a modern-day horror setting.

7.5 Plague Snails out of 10