The Ninja Blade demo is plagued by a ton of quick time events instead of actual gameplay.
After Resident Evil 5, it doesn’t seem like there’s much coming out in the next couple of months that will be interesting for me. I guess that’s a good thing, since my backlog isn’t getting any shorter. Ninja Blade comes out soon though, and as a Ninja Gaiden fan, I felt it may be good to share what I thought about the demo.
Ninja Blade comes from From Software, the development studio most famous for the cult classic Otogi games on the original Xbox. I also believe that they worked on the Armored Core games as well. In any case, From Software is definitely a smaller Japanese development studio that is trying to become more mainstream by making a game similar to Ninja Gaiden.
So is the game good? Just from the demo, I will have to come right out and say that it isn’t. The demo consists of one level where you jump from a dropship and fight your way across building rooftops in the night while taking on enemy ninjas and eventually a large spider boss. It sounds like it could be an entertaining action game but there are two main negatives the demo had going for it.
The first negative is the lack of tightness in combat. The game just has somewhat of a floaty feel – it’s hard for me to explain, but it’s not unlike the “lower quality” Japanese developed games I’ve played in the past. While it’s relatively minor, I felt like my guy wasn’t moving as fluidly as I liked, and even the swings and hits from my weapons (you can choose between four different sword types with the D-pad) didn’t register in a way that was satisfying to me. Considering how similar this game looks to Ninja Gaiden II, people are going to compare the two games. And at the end of the day, everyone will most likely agree: the combat in Ninja Blade just isn’t as satisfying or enjoyable.
The other main nigling that I have is the over-reliance on quick time events. They seem to be more and more popular these days, where you have to press a button at the right time during a cutscene to progress. Shenmue started it, but we’ve seen it in games like God of War, Resident Evil 4 & 5, etc. While I’m no longer a fan of them, I have to admit that both Resident Evil 4 and 5 do a pretty good job with them and they feel more natural in the design of the game. But with Ninja Blade, I would say that a large amount of “gameplay” in the demo revolved around these dang QTEs. It just got to a point where it felt like actual gameplay was sacrificed so you could simply pass a part by hitting the correct button at the right time. It’s like an easy way out for the developers. Is that supposed to be fun for us?
I expected Ninja Blade to be more of a hardcore game like Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry, but it seems like Ninja Gaiden “Lite”. For some that may be a good thing, as many felt Ninja Gaiden II was too frustratingly difficult. But as a hardcore gamer, I loved Ninja Gaiden II. Once you learned how to play, you felt like a total badass as you could just mess up anyone you encountered. With Ninja Blade, I don’t know if there’s anything to master – maybe the right buttons to press during the QTEs that will probably take up half the game? I think I’ll be skipping this at launch.
i tried this too… seemed to play worse than Ninja Gaiden 1 (haven’t played 2)