Over all review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8dK71r3XGg&t=217s
Oh my god! Its wall jump, screen based tomb raider!
Lol, seriously, its not tomb raider, but if you squint and try to forget that the game description calls "ninja" a guy, you could convince yourself that you're playing a tomb raider de-make. and I'm not even being disingenuous; before I read the description, i seriously thought that the main character was a woman, with the tomb raider comparisons, metroidvania ish gameplay, and character with long flowy hair.
Just to recap, we've had ronin, dag, imp/fiend and now some guy who literally goes by the name "ninja", and ninja is an archaeologist, with there being so much cross over in the world of feudal wars and ancient grave robbery. The story starts out in some ancient Mayan refuge that's been taken over by red robots and security drones, and your job is to get some treasures from the site. But after venturing around, you'll find that the treasures are actually keys for opening locked doors, and then the key hunting puzzles are on.
The metroidvania elements make a return, but ninja isn't ronin or impfiend by any means. There's no double jumps or air dashing in this game, instead the jumping is like mario meets later megaman. So theres wall jump and slide, but you can jump higher and faster if you're moving faster.
The game is still solid, and i like the art style of this one.. its another screen based wall jump platformer, but its trying to be more action adventure than wall glider simulator. Once again it is impressive, if frustrating, but i have 3 Major gripes about the game, none of which are game breaking, but something the developer might want to keep in mind at any rate.
(1) DO NOT PUT TWO SCREENS IN THE SAME AREA THAT ARE NEARLY IDENTICAL!!! Identical screens/areas back to back can be used in horror games to instill a feeling of fear or confusion (and later on,the similar room area can be used as a point of navigation). and a series of repeated screens from a long forgotten part of the game can be used to bring the character back and hint that your character is going back in order to discover some secret. BUT IN THIS GAME near the end of the last level, i kept getting turned around because 2 of the "forks in the road" looked incredibly similar, and since i had completed both dead ends on one fork, i was now neglecting the other.
Once again there's no map, but the game locks you out of completed areas and levels aren't a confusing mish mash like they were in "... pixelated fist", so it doesn't really need one, it just requires the player to think, which is actually a welcome change of pace, as long as trick identical screens dont turn you around
(2)KEY CARD FRACTALLING IS ANNOYING! I'm grateful that this is mostly left up to near the end game, once, but making a HUGE journey through the level to get other keys just so you can get another key to the main puzzle is really easy to get wrong. Done right it can feel like a quest within a quest, or a stand out in the adventure. here there's really nothing telling you that this is what you're doing and it FEELS long and arduous to do so (EVEN IF ITS NOT). SO by the end of the pathway that i was following it feels like a slap in the face as my reward is a key card to another door that gives me... a key card. either make the fractal journey a test of the some new skill that we HAVEN'T BEEN USING or make it feel special to the player in some other way like a new means of getting around or the reward can be a fun freebee level or SOMETHING. The way it's done here feels like i was just getting key cards for one other key card. AND I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT THE MID GAME WHERE THE PUZZLE IS FINDING WHAT DOOR TO GO THROUGH FIRST, that specific section is well done and its just the right length accounting for distance and "key card layers". And the night level, getting the card FOR THE DAY SECTION is in itself a good example of this, so why fractal within the night level to get keys for keys sake? ITS RETARDED!
(3) DON'T CHANGE THE RULES OF THE GAME FOR THE FINAL BOSS FIGHT. the final boss can only be attacked for .5 seconds right after it attacks, and for the FIRST TIME IN THE ENTIRE GAME: GOOMBA STOMPING IT DOES 0 DAMAGE. through the game, your opponents don't have a rhythm of attack and counter, and head stomping always works. So getting used to this for a very hard to get to level was its own pain in the neck.
I would like to suggest a final cut scene where ninja is going back home with the alien tech, given the nature of the subsequent games.
Still is it good, yes, it is. but i cant help but feel that blaze epic is falling into bad habits. If all of his games had been one form or another of the first samurai jazz; that is, a top down hack and slash game like a cross between the legend of Zelda and kingsfield, i'd have been worried then too. I'm begging to think that blaze is losing faith in his ability to design new games, not only from the atmosphere of each game fluctuating between feeling immersive and feeling like a pretty background picture but seriously some of the platforming tropes and puzzles are starting to feel very familiar... and as I've played all 3 ninjahtic games already, i can say (with certainty) that feeling isn't going to go away.
