|
Gamers complain there has not been enough new side-scrolling shooters, 2D games, beat ‘em ups – genres lost in the transition from 16-bit to 32-bit. I’ve had enough of those genres. What I want are some more games with ninjas in them! Ninjas are amazing, and there really aren’t enough of them populating games today. There’s the Tenchu series, but one game cannot contain the pure awesomeness that permeates from the ninja essence. This is why Konami and developer Hudeon Soft have made me a very happy ‘fro boy with the portable fighting menace that is Ninja Five-O. THQ’s GBA bastardization of Shinobi was a disgrace, but Ninja Five-O more than makes up for the destruction of one of Sega’s more revered franchises. Emulating the gameplay of old-school side-scrollers (Shinobi, Ninja Gaiden, Rolling Thunder, etc.), Ninja Five-O features little story, save for short cut-scenes informing you of the next location, and that there is some serious terrorist ass kicking that needs to be accomplished. Ninja Five-O pushes away the garbage and moves straight to the point.
Chances are you’ll find yourself fumbling with the controls for a little while, as the game just tosses you into the midst without explaining the full uses of your “Kaginawa Wire” grappling hook. Mastering the grappling hook is the key to success, as it allows your character to dodge enemy fire, leap incredible distances and move from floor to floor with ease. The most difficult aspect was scaling walls, but after a little trial and error, you’ll be fine. Fancy special effects are not the order of the day, but varied, decently animated-sprites against generic, though detailed backdrops are. Ninja Five-O isn’t out to impress you graphically. While it does a more than adequate job of recreating the environments it presents (bank, airport, etc.), a Mode 7-esque effects galore title this is not. What pleasantly surprised me about Hudson Soft’s effort is its sense of difficulty. It doesn’t wimp out on making the player work through a stage several times before picking up on the timing of the jumps, what order to kill the enemies and the like. You’ll die several times at the same spot, make the same errors multiple times, but eventually it all clicks. You become one with the ninja, and it is truly an intense feeling of satisfaction as you lay the smack down with your sword and shuriken. Konami has done nothing to promote the release of Ninja Five-O, which is sad, because it’s truly a gem in the midst of the GBA’s immense library of shovel ware. Do yourself favor and pick this one up. Not only because ninjas are the master of the universe, but because it’s a fantastic little game, too.
|
