Poetry in motion
The year of the ninja continues to deliver. A few years ago, Sega announced the revitalization of a series of their older IPs. Among those was the classic ninja simulator known as Shinobi. It has been well over a decade since the last game in the Shinobi series, which was released on the 3DS, around the same time the follow-up to the PS2 3D sequel Nightshade. So, it has been a while since we stepped into the shoes of Joe Musashi. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance combines the classic game play with modern styles and hand-drawn visuals to create a stunning return of the series.
The story finds our protagonist Joe Musashi living a simple life. Starting a family with his wife and mentoring young students in his small village. There is always chaos afoot though as Lord Ruse and his evil paramilitary corporation known as ENE Corp has begun global domination. This of course spills into Musashi’s village and thus thrusting our hero into a killing frenzy. The narrative is straight out of goofy town, but it works. Lizardcube understood the assignment. Classic 80s arcade games always have to have a maniacal overlord bent on world domination.
MSRP: $29.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $29.99
Art of Vengeance is still an action game at its core but does retain some fun exploration and replay value. The game is broken down into chapters with each one having a set of levels. Each level has a percentage of completion, which includes collectibles and secret areas. Some of these areas are not accessible on the first play of said level, giving it a little Metroidvania flavor, complete with a map that fills in as you progress. This really kept me coming back to older levels to discover new secrets and upgrades.
Musashi gains new abilities throughout the game and can purchase new moves and magic from the shop. Tiers of upgrades are unlocked with collectibles, which adds to the replayability. Each of the 14 levels feels unique with fun locales such as a mountain peak, train rides, and steel factories. I loved exploring them and uncovering the map. It really spoke to my need to complete every area of each map.
None of this works though if the game play is not spot-on. Thankfully Lizardcube has nailed all aspects of that. We will start with platforming. Musashi flows like water and a dodge, double jump, and just smooth movement. Navigating through areas feels great and only gets better as I obtained new traversal items. Then we have the combat, which is simple, yet so satisfying. Musashi has standard attacks, magic attacks, and plenty of upgrades to extend combos and deal with various enemy types. What I love is that everything connects flawlessly. Dodging over a ledge, slicing up an enemy, then flying across the area to take down another enemy followed with an execution kill never got old. The game does an outstanding job of making the player feel extremely powerful.
Visually the game retains that familiar Lizardcube style. Very artistic animations and colors. Each stage pops off the screen with heavy bloom and colors. I loved how each area felt like its own thing, and the animations are outstanding. The enemy designs are great, and I loved the classic mix of ancient styles and modern military. They gave it their own flavor while remaining faithful to the original series. The music is equally impressive with Tee Lopes headlining, but we are blessed with additional tracks from legendary composer Yuzo Koshiro, who scored the original games. It really had me humming classic themes and loving the new ones.
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is an impressive first effort by Sega to re-ignite their classic franchises. The year of the ninja has delivered, and if the rest of their lineup is this good, we are in for a treat. The campaign is short enough to digest, long enough to keep players coming back, and overall is just a blast to play. Even if you don’t have nostalgia for the original games, this is worth checking out. Now bring back Eternal Champions cowards!
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
