Ninja Blade Review
Ninja Blade adheres to video games' ninja creed: The character must wear a black costume, carry at least three swords, be nimble enough to run along walls, and, above all, channel the corpse-like charisma of Keanu Reeves or Twilight star Kristen Stewart (who I'm convinced is Keanu Reeves in drag). From these descriptors, protagonist Ken Ogawa may sound like a Ryu Hayabusa surrogate. Ogawa's dry personality could induce a coma of boredom, but any notion of him being cliched is stomped to death by his unlikely targets: skyscraper-sized mutants. The scale of these battles, which in our world would be comparable to a single ant slaying a human, lifts Ninja Blade out of the derivative ninja pool, offering a unique treat that any action junkie would be foolish to miss.
In one battle, Ogawa must take down a giant worm burrowing through Tokyo's streets, leaving nothing but crumbling buildings and explosions in its wake. How does a ninja carrying only a sword and a shuriken defeat a foe thousands of times his size? I won't ruin the surprise for you, but it involves a motorcycle, rockets fired from a helicopter, and a flying bus. This is the beauty of Ninja Blade; nothing about it is predictable.
A level may start out in typical Ninja Gaiden fashion with Ogawa using a combo flurry to cut down a horde of enemies. What comes next is anyone's guess. It could be a fast-paced descent down a building's exterior, a defense mission to protect an object, or a turret sequence on a truck where you fire a rocket storm at a mutant crab.
The wealth in gameplay scenarios is heightened by cinematic interludes effectively used to frame scenes or transition to another ridiculous moment. Most of these interludes unfold as interactive quick time events (requiring timed button presses). Given how often these events occur, stretches of the experience feel more like an interactive movie than a game. These moments don't offer much of a challenge (as there is no penalty for failure), and mostly draw attention away from the amazing cinematic sequences occurring under the button icons.
While the gargantuan monsters steal the limelight, Ninja Blade's gameplay can stand on its own. The swordplay is silky smooth, and surprisingly deep – allowing players to upgrade weapons with experience earned to unlock additional attacks and powers for three swords. Enemy types force you to switch weapons and use different mystical powers, derailing any chance of the action becoming a mindless button-mashing affair. Framerate issues and moments of slowdown do occur at the most inopportune times, which did lead to restarts on tough platforming segments and boss fights. It has unwanted baggage, but not enough to detract from the joys of slaying Godzilla-sized beasts.
