Criminal Upper
Banned
Shinobi 3DS came out November 15th in North America for the 3DS, and in Euroland a few days before--BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT THIS OT IS ABOUT. This is about GAF dumping on this game from just about every possible angle ever since it was first announced. But most of the poo-poo was being shot out from two main trajectories; the graphics and the developer.
As we all know, Sega's Shinobi series was always about the graphics - on whatever system a Shinobi game appeared on, it was ALWAYS DONE THROUGH BLEEDING EDGE TECHNOLOGY - This is an irrefutable fact. We will go into detail below!
The other facet the GAF hive-mind seemed to love to sling poop onto is:
"Griptonite? Who? I never heard of them! So this game is garbage, and Sega is doomed...or even more doomed then they were yesterday."
"Griptonite? Looking at their development history, I see lots of licensed garbage that's for crying babies! BOOO-URNS!"
Yes, Griptonite has done licensed games, just like a lot of great developers have in the past. Griptonite is also responsible for some of the best licensed games for handhelds.
Spyro Eternal Night for the GBA
Spider-Man Web of Shadows for the DS
Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions for the DS
Wolverine for the DS
Captain America for the DS.
Assassin's Creed Discovery for the DS
Assasins's Creed Bloodlines for the PSP
If you like polished action games for handhelds with great combat, Griptonite is (was) very good at making them. A few months ago, Griptonite was swallowed up by a mobile company. Shinobi for the 3DS is their swan song.
And for the less than dozen people on GAF who bothered to pick it up, it's quite a song indeed! A GODDAMN GUITAR-WAILING NINJA SONG!
Shinobi will not win any handheld graphical awards based on screenshots. In fact, almost all official imagery of the game provided by Sega does a disservice to the game as a whole. This is because when the game is running at a silky frame rate, it's hard to care about ginormous polygon counts for background elements and high-res textures and lighting.
But having spent all weekend with it, I think it looks really good in motion. There's subtle comic-book style cell-shading that reminds me of Ultimate Spider-Man. Which does well to match the gorgeously animated cutscenes that bookend each level. The 3D is the sugar coating on top, it makes the comic-booky look pop out even more so.
I included a few screenshots that I think show off some cool moments - but again, still imagery does this game no justice. Because NOTHING wins the justice.
The UI/HUD is amazing to look at, everything is sharp, easy to read, and nicely rendered. It's just oozing with style and flash. Bosses are introduced by a camera zoom and an appropriate subtitle to show them off.
Each death is punctuated by Jiro Musashi's cutting through your top screen, and a incredibly large score read out and time played on the bottom screen constantly charts your progress to get the highest score. Everything from a visual standpoint is attractive, stylish, and does great honor to the original 16-bit games.
Shinobi is HARD AS FUCK. Even on easy, it's a more of a challenge than most handheld action games...but that's not to say it's on Contra 4 levels of insanity. There's four difficulties available at the start:
Beginner:
Infinite Lives, enemy damage reduced, hazard damage reduced, hurt recoil reduced, generous checkpoints and auto-saves at each map transition.
Normal:
5 Lives, infinite continues, normal enemy/hazard damage, same checkpoints as Beginner, but autosaves ONLY at the start of new levels.
Hard:
3 Lives, 3 Continues normal enemy/hazard damage, checkpoints on map transitions, but NO auto-saves.
Very Hard:
1 life, 3 continues, checkpoints on map transitions, no autosaves, added enemies/hazards not available in any other difficulty.
Parrying is the main gameplay mechanic of Shinobi, and you need to use it if you want to get anyway. You have to parry each individual strike an enemy makes, much like in Street Fighter III. Only then will you get the advantage to strike back. You can even parry machine gun fire and missiles for fuck's sake.
You have a huge arsenal of moves including kunai throws, katana combos, uppercuts, slides, ninja chains, ninja magic - TOO MUCH STUFF, EVEN.
Parrying also gives you biggest combo multiplier and point total, as your progress is constantly being watched, you get penalized for deaths, time, and even if you use ninja magic. There's 4 spells you can use at any time, but you cannot abuse it, as it will deplete from your score each time you do. You can only use these if you're absolutely stuck and low on life.
THE 2ND LEVEL STARTS AFTER YOUR NINJA JUMPS FROM AN EXPLODING HELICOPTER AND ONTO SPEEDING COMBAT JEEP THAT'S TEARING DOWN A HIGHWAY JUST AS VOLLEYS OF MISSILES COME STREAKING TOWARDS YOU.
I'm not done the game yet, as I'm currently stuck on level 4. Like I said, the game is very hard. You WILL swear when you loose a life.
An OT was never made for Shinobi, but I think it's one of the best revivals I've seen in a long time I only hope Sega comes to realize this, and maybe will port it to even more systems, as Griptonite deserves to see their final game in as many hands as possible.
ONE OF THE BOSSES IS A CYBORG MEGLODON SHARK!
With these ugly visuals, I was kind of hoping for 60.