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Old-School

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 30, 2008
Author: Amazon User

If you're looking for a challenge, old school game play, or just some sweet ninja action, then this game is for you. It might be the hardest game I've ever played, its set up to be a straight forward challenge through the levels, and you're a futuristic ninja, I don't see what could go wrong.

Graphically speaking, the game is top notch for a PS2 game. It really is one of the best looking games of the last generation. It even has some decent textures, which was a rare thing at the time. Everything is really detailed, especially the character models. I never experienced a frame rate drop, which is important because the game play is very difficult and fast-paced. The thing that really stands out for me is the fluid animations. The way you move through the game just seem right, and very ninja-like, if that makes any sense. Plus your scarf seems like it had its own development team because its so detailed and has some of the craziest animations I've ever seen. This game is just gushing with visual style. There's well used blur effects, over the top gore, and just an awesome art design, that I find to be very appealing.

The soundtrack won't blow anyone's mind, but it fits the game's style well. It seems like a revamped soundtrack of all those old arcade games you loved to play as a kid. I find it to be especially awesome thanks to nostalgia. The sound effects themselves work just fine, no real need for improvement.

The game play is fairly simple, but hard. Not only do you have a small life meter that can drop quickly, but most of your enemies seem to have more life than you do, which wouldn't be that difficult except that you fight up to a bout 10 at a time sometimes. A cool twist, that also adds to the difficulty as well as the fun is that your sword will get stronger with the more enemies you kill, but if you go for a period of time without killing anyone, you health will drain. This helps to keep you in the action.

Unfortunately no game is without flaws. We all love a challenge, but sometimes Shinobi pushes it a little too far. Whenever you die, you have to start at the beginning of the level. Also, some of the bosses seem to flat out cheat. There's also not a whole lot of replay-ability. Despite its flaws, I consider this to be an awesome game. If you like ninjas, a challenge, or want to experience some nostalgia, then this is the game for you.

GOOD GAME BUT HAS FLAWS

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 12, 2008
Author: Amazon User

THE REASON I GOT THIS GAME IS BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE NINJA GAIDEN FOR PS2. NOW DON'T GET ME WRONG I DON'T REGRET BUYING THIS GAME, I'M JUST SAYING THAT NINJA GAIDEN WASN'T AVAILABLE FOR PS2. ANYWAYS, THE GAME REVOLVES AROUND HOTSUMA AND HIS QUEST FOR REVENGE. HE HAS SPEED, STRENGTH, INTELLIGENCE, SHURIKENS, AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST THE ALMIGHTY AKUJIKI. AKUJIKI CAN AND WILL KILL ANYTHING AND I DO MEAN ANYTHING. TANKS, HELICOPTERS, DEMONS, HUMANS, AND ANYTHING ELSE YOU CAN CONJURE UP IN THIS GAME. THE ACTION IS FAST AND INTENSE AND THE GRAPHICS AREN'T HALF BAD. THE GOOD STUFF IS THAT HOTSUMA CAN CLING TO AND CLIMB ON WALLS WHICH IS MANDATORY FOR A LOT OF THE GAME AND CERTAIN LEVELS. THE "TATE" IS A NICE TOUCH AS WELL. DEFEATING SEVERAL ENEMIES GOES TO A CUTSCENE OF HOTSUMA FROZEN IN TIME AND ALL THE ENEMIES FALLING TO PIECES AROUND HIM. THE STORY ISN'T HALF BAD EITHER. IT SHOWS IN FLASHBACKS HOTSUMA'S LIFE AND REASONS FOR HIS QUEST. NOW FOR THE FLAWS. THE STEALTH DASH IS GOOD TO A POINT. A LOT OF TIMES ENEMIES ARE OUT OF THE RANGE OF THE DASH WHICH IS A REAL PAIN IN THE [...] SINCE IT WILL MESS UP YOUR "TATE" SEVERAL TIMES. THE TARGETING SYSTEM WILL SOMETIMES TARGET THE ENEMY FARTHEST AWAY INSTEAD OF THE ONE CLOSES TO YOU. NOT TO MENTION AKUJIKI IS CONSTANTLY WANTING BLOOD AND IF IT DOESN'T GET IT, IT STARTS TO DRAIN YOU. A LOT OF OTHER REVIEWERS COMPLAIN OF REPETIVENESS WITH THE GAMEPLAY WHICH I CAN AGREE WITH ALSO. IT DOES GET A LITTLE BORING WITH THE DASH/SLASH REPEAT THING BEING THE FOCAL POINT OF THE GAME. AND LASTLY, I THINK SOME CHEAT CODES WOULDN'T HAVE HURT EITHER. BUT, ALL IN ALL I CAN SAY THAT I ENJOY PLAYING IT FROM TIME TO TIME.

shinobi

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 10, 2008
Author: Amazon User

this is fun game for people who like ninja's its fast paced fun uses ninjitsu (ninja magic) probably one of the better ninja games to be created for the ps2. warning shinobi not an easy game. you wil have to try it a few time's but its still fun and not as hard as ninja gaiden.

Shinobi means Stealth...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: April 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Just wanted to correct the guy below me, often people have IQ's of 20/15, but then again some people just don't know. Anyways Shinobi means Stealth. This is a great game, I got the Sega Master System version of this game.

Hardcore gamers, enjoy! Casual gamers, beware!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 23, 2006
Author: Amazon User

With its neon-lit visuals that are spare yet beautiful, its atmospheric sound and music, and above all, its innovative and well-implemented game play mechanics, Shinobi is sure to be a winner with any true connoisseur of Action/Adventure games. A word of warning, however: Shinobi is not in the least for casual gamers, i.e., those who are unwilling to be trounced time and time again before being able to successfully complete a level or defeat a boss, and/or those disdainful of gameplay mechanics or control schemes that are in any way a departure from the norm.

The player-character, Hostuma, controls very responsively and has a host of groovy ninja moves at his disposal, including wall running, double jumping and a very neat dashing ability which can be executed consecutively on the ground, once in the air under normal circumstances, and an additional time immediately after striking an opponent while airborne. This means that if you have a swarm of aerial opponents about you, you can leap to one, strike him down, dash to the next, and repeat until the entire group is decimated, all without touching the ground. Hostuma's dash also has another, special application, aside from the fairly standard uses of evading attacks, reaching and attacking enemies quickly, and traveling longer distances in the air by combining it with double jumping every time Hotsuma dashes, he leaves behind an after-image. If you dash away from an enemy and leave them standing before an after-image, most of the time the foe will attack it instead of pursuing you, giving you a window of opportunity to strike. This can be a life-saver at times (particularly on Level 3-A, in which you are set upon by hordes of highly aggressive, sword-wielding zombie dogs).

Even with just the mechanics described above, Shinobi would have had very good gameplay. What really makes the gameplay great, however, is the Tate (pronounced tah-tay) system, the proper employment of which allows you to cut down a large group of opponents quickly with a minimum of hassle. Every time you defeat a foe who is by his lonesome, he falls immediately. However, if you are fighting two or more foes, each foe leading up until the last will be frozen in place a short time after defeat and your sword will become just a little stronger, making it much easier to "freeze" successive foes. After the last opponent falls, or when you wait too long before defeating the next -- at which time the frozen enemies fall regardless of those remaining -- your sword returns to its original power, so it is in your best interest to hit your enemies as quickly as possible. Killing three or fewer enemies in rapid succession, however, while advantageous because of your sword's power accretion, is not a true Tate; that comes into play when you quickly defeat four or more opponents, whereupon you are rewarded with a stylish cutscene in which Hostuma performs a sword flourish and all enemies fall together. It is especially advantageous to attack all the weakest enemies of a group first, since that makes it easier to down the real toughies, direct, drawn-out confrontations with whom might result in significant damage to yourself. In fact, some tougher foes take much more trouble and time to defeat if you don't Tate them. This goes doubly true for the bosses; it is far more satisfying, but far quicker to defeat a boss by quickly freezing the various demons he/she has conjured until you have amassed enough power to Tate the big baddy along with them. Nothing feels more awesome than vanquishing a big, bad boss beast with one sword stroke! A final word about Tate: Hotsuma's demon sword, Akujiki, requires constant nourishment in the form of dark energy, which you gain automatically upon defeating a foe. Wait too long between feedings, and the sword will begin to drain your life. A Tate however, will usually fill up your sword's hunger gauge, and if you make it a habit to Tate whenever possible, Akujiki will almost never go vampiric on you.

Shinobi's graphics are quite simple when compared to most games of its generation, but they are beautiful in that simplicity. There is no gross over-texturing, as evident in disappointments like Halo 2 and The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, as each object is textured just enough to give it personality. Also, neither the character models nor environments are polygon-rich, but the hard angles resulting from the relatively low-poly count never look ugly, having been placed so that they fall into line with the game's art design. Due to this graphical economy, slow-down is almost completely absent. The dark, brooding colors highlighted by bright neons, along with the game's unusual character and enemy designs, lend the game an 80's anime aesthetic. Since all of the game's character models have so much personality in-game, it is easy to imagine that they lost little in the translation from design to implementation; the enemies, and most especially the boss characters, are all very interesting to look at and well-animated, and Hotsuma himself, with his flowing red scarf, four-eyed helmet and confident demeanor, will surely go down in video game history as one of the most stylish player-characters ever.

Overall, Shinobi's sound is exceptional. The grunts, slashes, clashes, explosions and the like are all pretty standard, though never inadequate. The chorus of death cries let out by a flock of enemies during Tate, however, is really titilating! The Japanese voice acting, though there is little of it, is excellent, and really lends itself to atmosphere-building. Kudos to Sega's U.S. branch for not excluding the Japanese track and forcing us to listen to the kind of lack-luster English dub-drivel that has marred many a game imported from Japan! By far the best part of Shinobi's sound is its wonderful techno music. It has a fast enough pace to perfectly compliment the quickly-moving gameplay, yet is so thoughtfully composed that at the same time it projects an atmosphere of complex mysticism.

If you are up to the challenge, I cannot recommend this game enough. I am at a loss to understand why so many supposedly hardcore gamers, even editors at some major video game review mags, regard it shabbily. I can only surmise that they are indeed not hardcore gamers, that they are only willing to scarf down one deriviative FPS or cookie-cutter sports title after another, completely unknowing of what a great Action/Adventure truly is. What happened to you, Sega? Put Sonic on ice for a while and get back to making games like this!

plays like a rock in a hard place, but still rocks

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: September 28, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Ok before i give my two cents on whether the quality and fun value is above par, i just want to note the things in this game that might be difficult and down right annoying.

- rallying up enemies during a boss fight to execute a tate on it using one hit
- platformless levels that require adequate execution of jumps and dashes
- progressing on in a level, with too few of enemies while trying to maintain your health and appease the life sucking sword
- trying to aquire as many secrets in the game and pass the level without losing in order to save it
- figuring out to whether keep going or just die and go to sleep.

Whelp, that sums up the pains and aches of the game. And yes, as much as i hate to use codes in a game, this game requires it in order to access the secrets that are damn near impossible to get. But I love this game more than any other game on the PS2, (ZOE2 comes second) I guess because of it's simplicity, great color pattern of levels and the art work. I only own one the older shinobi titles, which they all bore me except for Shinobi Legions, but this game's got speed and drive. A drive to kill or be killed not only by enemies but also by the sword you wield. I come from an RPG world of games, and after playing this, I was instantly hooked, yes it will piss you off and cause your brain to tell you things you normally would think is insane, like throwing your PS2 out the window or biting the controller's cable, to check if there is a problem with either your controller or your fingers due to endless deaths of pit falling. But if you like a SERIOUS challenge, just play it and enjoy.

Disgrace to the original

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: July 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I remembered playing Shinobi (the original arcade version) when I was a kid and it was the first game I ever beat. That was a great feeling and I'll never forget that. I was really looking foward to this and I bought it the first day it came out. All the other reviews are correct, after level 2 it got repeative (even the graphics)and really difficult. If anyone decides to play this I recommend gameshark codes, you'll need them. I like challenges but this was more frustrating than a challenge. I was very dissapointed with this, they could've done so much better. This game I wished I waited till the price went down, definately not worth the $50, but I went ahead and bought it anyways; bad mistake on my part. Some will like this and some will not.

PS2 is still great!! but this could have been better !!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 6
Date: January 04, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I kinda!!!!!! liked it at first then more than 2 stages into this game,i started to get fed up of the repeatitive meaningless gore , bad camera angles and horrible gameplay if you like it you don't know what a good game is!!!!!!!!!!! then try ninjagaiden (xbox )then tell me whats wrong with this boring trite excuse for a ninja adventure or did i dog the story line???????????????????? its pitetic but!!!!!! what do i know i live in a third world country , Trinidad!!!!!!! some how we know hog wash when we see it, have a good time playing a bad game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sega What happened to Yuzo Koshiro ?

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: November 05, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Revenge of Shinobi and Shinobi 3 are Masterpieces. This game is far from that. Difficulty is not based on skill but rather on how long will u play before u smash the controller over your head. I played this game until the last boss with the strategy guide. I could not beat the last boss, this is actually only the second time I have not been able to finish a game in my life.

Yuzo Koshiro synonymies with Streets Of Rage and Shinobi, made some of the best 16-bit Music. Why did Sega abandon this guy?

It's worth checking out if u are a fan of the original Shinobi, but this is not Joe Musashi.

What happened to killing enemy with shrunken, in this game your shrukens are good for nothing. Also blocking has seemed to have disappeared. That's what really frustrated me about this game there were little things that could have been tweaked.

Overall it's still a good action game but not up to par with the rest of the series.

The hardest freakin' game ever created

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: September 05, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I've never played the original Shinobi games, but I heard they were cool. Then I bought a magazine that came with a demo disc featuring the highly anticipated rebirth of the Shinobi game. After getting home, I put the disc in and began the demo level (I think it was the second level in the final version), anyway, the first thing I noticed was his scarf, which is like a big wisp of blood running from his face and following him everywhere. Which was pretty cool, then I started fighting.

Now the game isn't bad. But it's certainly not stellar. And one of it's downfalls is the fighting. Not so much the button configuration or anything, but the delay of action after you do something. For example, if you swing to slice somebody in half, and you know there is an enemy ready to strike from behind, after you attack the first guy, there is a bit of a pause and you get hit. There is no avoiding this, even when you scoot across the screen like in all the magazine ads. Somehow, enemies always seem to hit you if they want. I just wish it were that easy for the player.

While not incredibly long, the game certainly isn't short. And the extras it provides are a real challenge to unlock. Mainly the ones that require you to first beat the game. Which, in itself, is one of the most difficult tasks no gamer should have to suffer. My friend and I would stay up all night trying to beat some of the later levels, and still not win. In the beginning though, it is fairly easy. Until you get to the platforming levels that is.

This game's camera acts like an alcoholic behind the wheel Jaguar. If it's not directly on you, it's nowhere. You might be on your 100th attempt at a frickin' hole you're supposed to jump from panel to panel to get across, and you'll be doing fine, until an ungrateful bastard of an enemy pops up and canstantly attacks you until you kill him. But wait, he has friends, so you have to kill all of them too. And of course they are flying, so you find yourself over a bottomless pit, cutting up enemies when all of a sudden you trigger this "tate" cutscene, which is supposed to make you look like a badass as all of your enemies fall to pieces at the same time in the background, but guess what, you can't see those aforementioned foes because the camera is directly on top of you. So all you see is your character sliding his sword back in it's sheath, making some "badass" remark under his breath, and the blackness of the pit you find yourself hovering over. So as soon as you regain control, you must frantically try to find somewhere to land, which you will find only happens ten percent of the time. Which, in turn, will give you the urge to slice up your television and everything else in your room. And that's just the first couple platforming levels, you haven't even begun to feel pain yet kids.

The later levels are vast and sprawling, in the most linear terms possible. They are quite large, and you'll actually see alot of them in great detail as you find yourself searching for enemies to kill before your soul-sucking sword kills you. Enemies are few and far between, and the ones you do find, will either kick your ass, or find some friends to help kick your ass. Sure, you could try and use some skill and dash all over the area, slicing and dicing, but you WILL get hit. And as far as skill goes, there is none involved in this game. The only way you can beat this monster of a title is to get pissed off, yell at it, then hope for some incredible luck. Which, by the way, only works about half the time.

On the graphics side, they're decent. Nothing special, kind of bland (the environments especially). The only thing that really sticks out is that cool looking scarf, which is more distracting that the monsters, but in a good way, I suppose. Well, you can probably find the game for around 15 to 20 dollars, so it's not too bad a deal. I recommend it to anyone looking for a challenge, but be careful, you might break it before you beat it.

Oh yeah, that difficulty I was talking about, that didn't even skim the surface of the insanely hard bosses, which thankfully, don't come until atleast halfway through the game. Well, that's all I have to say. Buy it if you are massochistic, pass it if you like your sanity.

Graphics-3 (the scarf gets a 4)
Sound-3
Control-3
Overall-3.5

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