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Shinobido 2: The Revenge of Zen
Previously unavailable in the west, the Shinobido series
is coming to the United States for the launch of Playstation Vita.
Shinobido 2: Tales of the Ninja will feature two playable ninja
characters throughout its story mode, and gamers will have to utilize a
variety of stealthy approaches to remain undetected.
It’s
impossible to see footage of Shinobido 2 and not be instantly reminded
of the Tenchu series, as the stealthy ninja-based gameplay looks
remarkably similar. Players will control either the male ninja Zen or
the female ninja San as they hop across rooftops, drop from bridges to
break guards’ necks, and slice through paper walls to greet enemies with
a bloody death.
As you’re sneaking around Shinobido 2’s various
locations, an icon on the right of the screen will indicate whether an
enemy has detected you. By pressing the icon with your finger, your
character’s view will instantly turn around to face the suspicious foe.
Many methods will be available for taking out guards, with one of the
more wacky approaches involving an exploding sushi trap.
By
utilizing the rear touch pad, players can enter first-person mode to
survey surroundings and throw shurikens from the character’s
perspective. A special attack was shown off in the demo, and it involves
taking several enemies out at once. These Zankoku attacks freeze the
action and cause the background to turn black-and-white. Once activated,
your character will hop to the enemies’ location and kill them both
with a quick-time event, before returning to his original hiding
spot.
Three factions play a role in the game’s story, and players
can have differing relationships with each of them. Depending on your
standing with each, different missions may be available. It sounds
similar to Grand Theft Auto 2, in which you could pick and choose which
faction you want to help out.
Vita’s “Near” social networking
feature will be supported by Shinobido 2, but the studio wasn’t ready to
elaborate on how it’ll be integrated in the game. While Namco said Tales
of the Ninja would be available during the “launch window,” the
developers at Spike let me know that they expect the game to be on store
shelves from day one. In the meantime, check out the debut trailer below.
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