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Shinobi (PS2) Review
By Rin4ku
Console: PlayStation 2
Game Name: Shinobi
Developer: Overworks/Sega
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Pros: Tate battle system.
Cons: Frustrating levels, bad last boss design
Rated: M
Games Like it: Devil May Cry
The Oboro clan was just killed... Hotsuma is now the leader of nothing...
Akujiki has awaken and craves the Yin of soldiers. Someone broke the seal and
let out an evil sorcerer named Hiruko. Hiruko revived your clans member and uses
their body against you, you have no choice but to kill them once more to feed
Akujiki before Akujiki feeds on you!
Gameplay:
The game features a nice battle system that brings an arcade feeling to old
school gameplay. You have your sword, your Suriken, and your special move (Known
as Makimono), you use all three to kill enemies quickly! The level has small
areas which require you to kill enemies in order to proceed to the next area,
while some makes you destroy these pillars that will unlock the next area. The
first two levels (1A and 1B), you will be getting used to Hotsumas controls from
slashing to platform hopping and wall running. But after you beat the first two
levels, the game forces you to rush thru area by area as Akujiki "will awake"
making you feed the sword by killing enemies. The great thing about the battle
system is the "tate" system (Pronounced Ta-Tey), Tate will show Hotsuma killing
all the enemies at once in a small little cut scene which makes him look Bad
A**, but to perform a tate, you need to learn how to kill quick as you need to
kill 4 or more enemies all in a certain amount of time, the good thing about
tate though is that it will feed Akujiki to a full bar. The crazy thing about
tate is that it can help you kill a boss in one hit, as every time Akujiki kills
someone, it grows stronger! Most people will be amazed by seeing someone kill a
boss that has a full life bar in one hit!
Graphics:
The graphics aren't all that great. Level designs are a bit plain and bland but
the character designs make up for that. the CGs are well created for the PS2 and
they are ok(!) for eye-candy. Overworks/Sega should've worked more on the Mouth
movements/Sync with the sound. Most of the CGs don't have the words even go
along with their mouths making it feel like some Chinese action flick (The weird
thing is it doesn't go with the Japanese voices either!)
Sound:
Most of the music didn't suit the game well, nor did the English voices (The
Japanese voices were well done!) Yet the sound effects were quite good as you
slash at the enemy and the enemy blocks it, or when you throw a shuriken and hit
the wall.
Replay Value:
There isn't much to unlock in this game. All it really have is harder difficulty
and new characters. But most of the time you won't want to go thru a harder
version of this game as most of the levels are extremely frustrating (Mostly 6A
and Up) as it is all platform hopping. You might even break a controller because
you fell down the same pit 100 times because you couldn't air tate across. Plus
it isn't really fun to go out looking for coins just to have new characters with
a little attribute changed.
| Graphics:
The CGs are good, but the levels
are bland, and the characters don't have much detail. |
7.5 |
| Sound:
The English voice acting was horrible!, and the music doesn't fit this
game all that great.
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6.0 |
| Game Play:
Its a blast to tate the people and
see Hotsuma put his sword away and all the characters fall in pieces,
but it kinda repeats itself over and over. |
8.5 |
| Replay Value:
Platform hopping and repeatedly
dieing over and over again from the same pit ain't my thing, nor
playing the same thing over on a harder difficulty or collecting coins
to get a new character! |
7.0 |
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Overall:
The game is overall extremely
frustrating! The level designs aren't all that great, and the sync
with the voices and that face aren't that great!... Only for those
hardcore Shinobi people that's been playing since the first one!
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6.75 |
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