I saw this game at PAX East with our fearless leader Barry Villatoro and I have been patiently waiting for this game to come out. Even though the game is a 2D side scroller, Mark of the Ninja captures the true essence of actually being a ninja better than almost any game before it. Shinobi and Ninja Gaiden may have cool “ninja moves” and magic but let’s face it… They aren’t really ninjas. Ninja’s are all about stealth and avoiding detection. Perhaps the only other game that I have played that captures the feeling of being a real ninja is Tenchu and there hasn’t been a new one in quite a while.
Use your ninja tools to kill the lights and be sneaky
Mark of the Ninja favors patience and planning over brute force. Even the ninja darts, think shurikens, are more of a tool than a weapon. Although they can be used to attack, they’re more of an annoyance to your enemies than dealers of death. Throwing one at a guard will just alert him to your presence and considering that they’re packing machine guns you don’t really stand a chance head to head. I don’t know if you’re aware of this but ninja’s aren’t usually sporting bullet proof vests. Something about hampering agility and being heavy…
Use sound to distract guards
The cell shaded art and style of Mark of the Ninja is visually striking and keeps with the familiar style Klei introduced in their Shank games. Most importantly though, the demo I played was miles ahead of Shank 2 in terms of controls and overall gameplay. Mark of the Ninja, just in it’s demo stage, felt tighter and more composed than Shank 2 and that’s a great thing. It shows that Klei, as a developer, is improving and growing. What I’ve seen from Mark of the Ninja so far shows a lot of promise and I fully expect Klei to deliver in spades. If this game lives up to my expectations, it could very well be one of the iconic stealth games of this generation of consoles and did I mention this is an XBLA exclusive?
