User Reviews (11 - 16 of 16)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

Way Better than Shinobi

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: February 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Shinobi split the ninja-lovin' world cleanly in twain: the haters who reviled it for being too hard and the lovers who attained sacred oneness with their PS2 controllers, proclaiming the gameplay a work of unique genius and professing that the others just didn't "get" what developer Overworks was trying to do. Here, now, is Nightshade, her touch hoping to heal. Nightshade puts you in control of a female ninja named Hibana, who is on a mission to recover the shards of the shattered soul-sucking blade Akujiki (the one that nearly killed poor Hotsuma in Shinobi). Despite the fact that there's a new character taking the lead, the structure is pretty much the same as Shinobi's. The unique-once-you-figured-it-out gameplay of Nightshade's predecessor has been left entirely intact: dashing is still important, and linking together attacks plays a huge part in battle as every successive enemy you kill in a row adds to your attack power (a key technique for some of the later levels). There are no puzzles to solve or shops to visit; fighting and finesse are the whole crux of the game. A number of things have been done to make the gameplay simpler for those who were instantly frustrated by Shinobi's. The blade doesn't suck your life out if you don't perform killer combo attacks. A handy little timer also shows you how much time is left before the combo chain "breaks" and you go back to square one. There aren't nearly as many overly treacherous, evilly placed gaps; incorrectly performing a midair combo no longer means instant death and frustration. Even when you do die, you can retry indefinitely at more frequent intervals. By no means does this make Nightshade an "easy" game; it's still a challenge (some bosses, especially) and quite rewarding if you're particularly skilled at the combat system, but if you beat Shinobi, this will seem like a training mission. The graphics in Nightshade are stronger than those in Shinobi with more varied character and enemy designs, and levels that don't rely so heavily on right angles and hallways. The enemies and structures still consist of rather simple polygons, but the game moves quickly enough that you'll barely have time to take close stock of your surroundings. Well-crafted CG sequences, decent voice acting, and sound effects round out things nicely.
The control scheme is sublimely genius, letting you perform midair attacks and dash around foes with poetic ease. The manual camera is still a bit too loose, though, and leaping and running against walls isn't as reliable as you'd like it to be. Nightshade is a strong follow-up to a clever game that was a bit too nuanced for its own public profile's sake. No, the hardcore Shinobi fans may never see their skills so rigorously tested again, but it's still good to see a misunderstood idea given another chance to prove its worth.

Sister Shinobi

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: February 16, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Nightshade is basically a sequel or more like a spinoff from the previous shinobi game 2 years ago. although the graphics,character designs and music are simular the gameplay itself has improved and far less frustrating than it's predescessor. your character can perform mid-air sword attacks and even combos.the stages vary from fighting atop of stelth bombers,rooftops,a convoy of exploding trucks and more.
the objective within the storyline takes you on a quest to recover all the pieces of the akuji sword (the cursed sword that drains the life from it's welder, as previously noted in SHINOBI)
and bring a former master now traitor to justice.
this game is a must for SHINOBI fans, but also serves as an "appetizer" till NINJA GAIDEN (a shinobi cookie cutter game albiet a very good one)appears on the X-BOX.

why this game is so cool

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 12
Date: February 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I think this game is cool because it has the best story in a ninga game.

the end!!!!!!!!!

Suffers from repetitive backrounds and gameplay

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 10, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Nightshade, Sega's new Shinobi spin-off for PS2, isn't quite the classic fans have been hoping for. Besides the newly added kick button and chakra projectile attacks, the gameplay remains very similar to Shinobi. The story now focuses on Hibana, a female ninja whose mission is to retrieve pieces of the soul-hungry Akujiki sword. With the absence of the energy draining sword in hand, the difficulty is slightly reduced and the player is now free to advance through the levels at their own pace. However, the levels designs, the enemies, and the story is a bit ho-hum this time around. After having to slice through meaningless wave after wave of hellspawn insects on repetitive backrounds, boredom quickly sets in. I hate to say it, but the whole package smacks of a game system that has reached it's limits...maybe the PS2 doesn't have much life left in it. Whatever the case, gamers looking for an action platformer should think twice before purchasing Nightshade. Unless you are a hardcore fan of Shinobi, I recommend checking out Ninja Gaiden or Onimusha 3 instead.

Hack-n-slash ....... nothing more

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 18, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This kind of games are what the PS2 don't need, Im a RPG guy so maybe this may see a little harsh ...... Really i don't care

Lets start with the basics, the game its about a ninja that works for the japanese goverment, here name is Hibana, she is very nimble, smart and good fighter (she is perfect in every sense) and the goverment order her to stop an evil race from another dimension and the game unfolds itself upon the fact that the evil race boss was Hibanas former master.

Ok now with the game, the tutorial its a little bit stupid (even for a tutorial) it shows you that you jump with th X buton (yeah, that lame) but its a good way to learn how to do the tricks.

Theres a cool thing in this game, its the Tate, basically when you kill an enemy a 20 sec timer starts to run, if you kill another enemy the timer fills again and so on and so on, each enemy that you kill this way give you twice the amount of points and when you killed all the monsters on the screen Hibana strikes a cool pose and usually mocks of her fallen enemies. The first 50 tates are cool but when you kill 3 monsters in a row she strikes the pose, mocks of the enemies and starts a new row it begans to be anoying

Fun factor = Play it when you dont have anything to play or you are just bored, stop playing when you are hungry or got yourself another cool game like Final Fantasy or Shin megammi tensei

Playability = The camera could be anoying at times but the in-game adventure gives you the feeling of been a ninja (a sexy one), Oh, and theres no re-play value unless you want to beat your scores in each stage

Music = Didnt even know it had.... the music its kind of cool but you just focus on killing monsters so you dond even listen to it, if you want cool music, play guitar hero I, II, III

Sound = You keep hearing the clash of steel (even if you hit a box) and the voice acting wasnt that bad, for better voice acting play Valkyrie profile (Lenneth)

Graphics = The best thing this game has its the shadows Hibana leave every time she dash..... And her Bandana. The enemies are a little .... Well they look like paralyzed monsters, For better graphics play the Metal gear sagas

Dificulty factor = you will die a lot and theres no save points in the middle level, it could be a good test for your playing skills

Habilities to play this game = Quick tumb, Patience (desireble) and dont have a better game to play

Over all = There are better games out there for the PS2, just keep looking

The game isnt that bad but if you could buy another, do so

Almost all of the game is great

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 23, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The first stage of this game where you are fighting on the aircraft against the cyborg ninja is horrible. Miraculously, from the second stage on, the graphics look great, the music is great, the maps and enemies are more interesting, and the game is just more fun in general. Did a different team create the first level?

That aside, Nightshade is an action/adventure game similar in control to the PS2 Shinobi. The difficulty is not as high as in Shinobi at the default setting, but this can be increased or decreased in the options. If you want to evaluate this title, I recommend a play through of at least the first 2 levels to see what this game is really all about. I found the aerial maneuvering, special moves, and controls to be very good; at least as good if not better than Shinobi.

Review Page: 1 2 

Actions