Shinobi

SHINOBI (2002) was a cool hack n' slash game for the good ol' PlayStation 2. This game, while by no means perfect, was a pretty fun game for what it was. I had enjoyed playing this back in the day. And while we can't call it a work of art, it had its own cheesey charm.

"Left to avenge his Clan after a sinister force is awakened in Tokyo, Hotsuma must confront demons from his past and defend his role as Leader of the Oboro Clan. Drawing off the ancient traditions of Ninja magic, Hotsuma uses wall running, shuriken attacks, and the coveted Akujiki Sword to fight the deadly masked foes that stalk him."

Shinobi, for the ps2, was a sci-fi action, hack n' slash game with pretty decent graphics and music. The wall running and most of the shinobi attacks were all fun. It was pretty cool and playable fron what I can recall.

Whatever happened to the Shinobi plotlines in the old Genesis games such as Shadow Dancer, Legend of Shinobi and Shinobi III? What happened to Joe Mushasi and his faithful dog sidekick? What about the evil Union Lizard Corp? None of that is in this. It's just generic hokum and the Ninja dude is the only one to save the day.

The graphics are very cool and the soundtrack amiable enough but the gameplay is so boring and gets very old and tired even by the second stage. It was cool slicing the bad folks in half the first few times but when the game takes time out to show them spurting blood for the fifty-millionth time it seriously gets on your nerves.

There's no variance or long-lasting appeal to this. It makes me long for the old-school Shinobi. Side-scrolling beat 'em ups such as Shadow Dancer are still better than this. It's very dull. It looks good but it plays poorly.