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Great Sequel to Shinobi

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: November 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

If you liked Shinobi, You'll like this game.

If you DIDN'T like Shinobi only beacuse of difficulty... You will LOVE this game.

Basically it follows the same formula as Shinobi, with an even more modern/futuristic feel (good or bad, depending on your taste). Kick button has been added, but it's much more then just for variety: it's actually a big change to the gameplay. With some enemies, you have to use the kick to knock off thier armor, before you can put the sword to them. I think it's a great feature that adds extra depth to Shinobi fighting system. The environments are also more "jump-friendly" which means less of "I-thought-there-was-a-platform-there" scenarios. Bosses are much easier then Shinobi, as is the whole game. Don't get me wrong, you'll still die a lot, but not as much as in Shinobi.

Not the best, but better than Shinobi

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: June 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Nightshade is not a game to be taken lightly. The first few levels may seem easy, but it gets quite frustrating towards the end. The number of cheap deaths you accumulate by falls can get staggering if you aren't paying attention to where you're jumping and which enemies you're killing in order to stay airborne. Herein lies both a strength and weakness to Nightshade. The aerial combat is a great idea and is visually impressive when properly executed, but to force the player to rely on it in order to pass certain areas will most definitely turn off many gamers. Other weak points are the lack of a Japanese language option and the poorly written dialogue. Hibana's catch-phrases at the end of a completed Tate gets real tiring, real fast.

Still, the game's not all bad. The animation is crisp and fluid and Hibana's scarf is not as exaggerated as Hotsuma's was in Shinobi. Speaking of which, Hotsuma is an unlockable character in the game along with Hisui (a rival ninja) and Joe Musashi, the original Shinobi hero. There are also multiple costume options for Hibana and Hisui, my favorites being Hibana's scandalous second costume (you have to see it to believe it) and Hisui's cute second costume which is reminiscent of something out of Jet Set Radio Future. Despite the nicks in its blade, Nightshade should be given a chance by those disappointed with Shinobi.

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.

Action Fans Rejoice!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: February 26, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Nightshade is a good follow up to the PS2 shinobi. The controls transfer almost completely intact save improved charge attacks (for some characters), no sword timer (not really an improvement, one character *might* still have such a timer), the addition of a kick button and several new moves that go with it, and a chakra gauge (again, for some characters only). Despite these changes, Nightshade offers up the same tate-ing type gravity defying action that will keep your thumbs blistered and your reflexes at the very tip of human capability.

The game also improves strongly on level design in several ways and varies from improved backgrounds to slightly less frusturating jumping puzzles to simply things such as where enemies are placed throughout the level. In some places, air-tate-ing enemies offers a faster route through for the skilled player, for example. Furthermore, every level has several checkpoints that you can continue from, making it easier to progress piecemeal through a level rather than being required to perform flawlessly. For the most part the platforming "pitfall" style action is toned down considerably in the first part of the game, though "cheap" deaths will occur by the dozen in some of the later stages.

Boss battles are considerably less challenging than they were in Shinobi (particularly in the easier difficulties) simply because the new charge or "chakra" attacks allow you to Tate bosses with utter ease (chakra attacks are performed by simply holding down the attack button and releasing after a short charge). The chakra attack allows you to land the devastating final blow in a tate attack while being a considerable distance away from the opponent, making it very easy to make that final hit.

Character design is also well done. The new Kuinichi, Hibana, sports a costume that is sleek and futuristic while respectful of Joe Mugashi's oldschool Red on White look from the classic Genesis Shinobi titles. Her moves are sleek and her overall game-presence is almost as daunting as Hotsuma's was in Shinobi (almost).

Unfortuanately, if you tally story and dialogue in the total score of this game (which I have only done for the general public, such things don't really matter in a game like this), it would likely come out with a few problems.

Hibana's dialogue can be particularly annoying and redundant at times, which is a pity considering the voice acting is quite good. She seems much more disjointed from the affair than Hotsuma was in Shinobi. The story is pretty much recycled from Shinobi and centers around Akujiki again, so don't look for any grand surprises. The themes of Revenge, chivalry, and justice do serve the game well as they did in Shinobi.

Also, the absence of the dreaded sword timer (many people hated it), for better or for worse, definetely has had an effect on gameplay. There is no longer a direct need to Tate (survival), you simply do it for the highest score or for finesse. While this is fine in itself, it's less likely that finesse will prompt you to go for that challenging air tate on the final stage than the fact that you have little heath and are about to run out on your sword timer. I feel the absence of the sword timer reduces the sense of urgency throughout the game which directly impacts how some of the levels are played and thus how challenging some of those levels are, which of course, depending on personal preference, is for better or for worse. (As mentioned, some characters still have such a timer....)

And like Shinobi, this game is HARD (notice the caps). For some that will be a very good thing, to those who lack discipline, well, perhaps not. It still has a tinge of oldschool gameplay via luck and simple but clear purpose, to annihilate your foes in a very straightforward fashion.

The music consists largely of a Techno/Rhythmic-like score. Opinions vary as to whether it's better than Shinobi's though it's definetely different and seems to fit the game's pace better.

Overall, there's a lot in this game to love. It doesn't really do anything revolutionary, but the top-notch gameplay and character design are simply to die for. An excellent follow-up (I won't say sequel) to Shinobi in almost every regard, it plays every bit as well and in some ways even better.

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!!!!!!!!!

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.

not quite as hard as Shinobi, but still a contender

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: September 10, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Hello again, once again I have fired up my computer to review another game. A game for the Playstation 2. A system in which some pretty beautiful graphics can be created if the developer would like to spend a little extra time on the game. But whoever created Shinobi and it's pseudo-sequel Nightshade obviously only had enough time to squeeze in the added effort to make the scarf in Shinobi and the pony-tail type things hanging off your head in Nightshade really look cool. Because once again, I found myself running around in circles just to make cool air designs.

But besides the under-developed graphics, this game is also lacking one other thing. Real true fun. Sure, it's a pretty decent ride the first time through, and there are unlockable secrets, but is the game really worth going all the way back through to unlock some extra costumes and characters? My opinion is...maybe. You see, the first couple of levels are pretty enjoyable. First you start out on the top of a stealth jet that's flying through the conjested streets of the city. You must fight the enemies that are dropped on top with you and also fight the two jets that are accompanying the one you're on. Then you are taken to the rooftops of the tallest buildings in the city for another pretty fun level. But after the next couple levels, everything kinda goes to pot.

And the main thing I'm getting sick and tired of in games like these is the freaking level design in the later levels. Mutated levels full of stupid platforms and monsters on all sides of you to screw with your camera. Why do these people feel these kind of levels are necessary? Especially when they can't put better graphics in the levels to spice things up. If the level design and environment graphics were touched up even a little bit, this game would be a little better. But graphics don't make the levels any more fun. Some of the later levels don't even make sense. And along with the difficulty curve, most of them will just frustrate you beyond insanity. And this game doesn't even scratch the surface of Shinobi's difficulty, which is one of it's key positive points. Because this game really is difficult, for the computer. Sure, it can't fall off the edge 800 times in a row because for some reason it wasn't responding to me smashing the freaking buttons to avoid certain peril. And as annoying as some of the enemies are, they are nothing compared to the destroyed bridge level. Where I found myself falling down into the river more times than I thought I would stand. But the game remains on a constant aggrivating level throughout, until the final boss, which just comes from left field to kick you in the face with a bevvy of attacks that leave you trying to think of why the developers made this guy so freakin' hard. I mean, sure, the other bosses were kinda difficult, but they had a pattern, and once you figured out what that pattern was, they were cake to beat. In fact, not once did I die during a boss fight, up until the last one that is. He has no solid pattern and his attacks are ridiculously unfair.

But anyway, if you liked Shinobi, you'll enjoy this game. If you didn't enjoy Shinobi because of the difficulty, you'll enjoy this game because it's pretty much the same game with a different main character and it's a helluva lot easier, mainly due to the fact that you don't have a weapon that's draining your life meter the hole time. Which is quite a relief. It's only twenty bucks, so it's not too bad a purchase, but I'd highly recommend renting before buying. Trust me, I'm kind of an expert...

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Sound-2
Control-3
Overall-3

Better than Shinobi but still HARD

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game upgrades many things that Shinobi failed at. One the graphics are better and smoother, those complaining that the graphics arent too good are just griping. The storyline is good from what Ive seen and the controls are better this time around. Its easier to move around and do 'tates' etc BUT......yes, theres a BIG BUT. The game still has many things that hamper it and keep it in the "exclusive" set for those who loved Shinobi and/or LOVE ultra hard games. The platforming is still an issue along with the camera etc. Nightshade suffers from almost the same fate as "Shinobi" making it a bit too hard to enjoy at times and you have to toggle the auto target off at time or you get knocked off etc. Problem is, is it a game you'll REALLY come back to after youve pulled your hair out so much from the insane hard levels offered in both games? If you like torturing yourself OR was a fan of Shinobi this game is for you!

Fun, but extremely difficult

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: August 08, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I just bought Nightshade for the PS2, and it's a good game, but extremely difficult. The levels start off very easy, but they turn hard VERY quickly. More off the time I find myself with game overs not because the enemies have killed me, but because Hibana will target something obscure; causing me to fall down a bottomless pit or into the water e.t.c. I won the game in beginner mode, and that was a challenge within itself. I can't even pass stage 4 in easy due to the fact the controls are VERY difficult and fickle (you can only stealth dash one time when you're in mid-air... I hate this because it takes more than one stealth dash to reach the enemies sometimes. They should have an option so you can use beginner controls in any mode not just beginner). To sum it up, if you're looking for a good challenge and are willing to become a little annoyed, buy this game. If not, stay away from it.

K@zami Am!

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