After years spent weeping in the shadows, Mark Of The Ninja resurrects the neglected stealth game and reminds us all of the awesome potential of the genre.
Shh! I’m a ninja!
All right, hands up all those who enjoyed Shank or its sequel? Me neither. While I did play both demos and adored the late night cartoony animations, I did feel both games lacked any real substance, which ultimately kept my digital MS points firmly in my digital wallet.
However Klei (pronounced ‘clay’) Entertainment’s latest digital release, the 2D stealth ’em ’up Mark Of The Ninja, had the coins gushing from my wallet in a stream of glorious release after toying around with its demo.
Lurking in the shadows
What makes Mark Of The Ninja so good, and what raises it high above other (so-called) stealth games, is that it actually has you behaving like a ninja. Run about like a crazed Samurai, and you’re going to be gunned down in a hail of bullets; much like the warriors in that Tom Cruise film. So you want to be calculating, quiet and out of sight.
Each level has dark and light areas for our nameless hero to skulk about in. Obviously the darkness is your friend, so you’ll want to extinguish any light the enemies employ, for if they get a good look at our hero, you’ll not only have them on your arse till you break the line of sight, but you’ll also lose crucial points for your level score – more on those soon.
You’ll also have to be aware of the noises the ninja makes, or that of his prey. Gripping tightly to the ceiling above the unsuspecting guards (that’s right, you can climb just about anywhere, kinda like a Japanese Spiderman), I patiently waited for my victim to place himself directly below me. I leapt off the wall and plunged my sword deep into his soft body. Yet I hadn’t executed the move perfectly and the gurgles that emanated from his mouth alerted the attention of the guards in the next room. Luckily, I managed to drag my fresh cadaver into a vent nearby and confound the idiotic sentries. It’s an intense, if slightly sadistic joy to perfectly dispatch your enemies in true ninja-like fashion.
Should all this furtive homicide prove a little too bloodthirsty, it’s perfectly within our assassin’s power to spare all the guards and tiptoe on by. Whether you mercilessly dispatch everyone or not, you are rewarded for you efforts.
Fear is the true opiate of combat
At the end of each level, Mark Of The Ninja collates the points you’ve racked up while lurking about and rewards you for your ninja-like skills. These points can then be used to buy new techniques or items to unleash upon your enemies.
My personal favourite has to be Hangman’s Hymn. Our hero dangles down from a ledge on his grappling hook, kills his prey and strings them up for the rest of his troops to see. Upon finding the mutilated corpse of their fallen comrade, guards begin to panic and to shoot wildly, hopefully mowing down other baddies in a hail of friendly fire.
In each level there are both required and optional objectives for our ninja man to complete as well as collectables to find and hidden levels to clear. These optional targets pose quite the challenge, yet reward you well. Replaying the game trying to best your friends’ score could become your next obsession… if you’re into that kind of thing.
忍者野郎
As with all of Klei Entertainments’ games, Mark Of The Ninja looks bloody beautiful. The cut scenes, though they make little sense really, are brilliantly animated, like your very own cartoon to control. The flashes of lightening in one of the levels, not only look great, but also add an extra element of stealth to contend with.
The only gripe I have with the game is that all the levels look pretty much the same. Though to be fair, this matters little as each level plays differently and forces you to apply new tactics. As you progress through each level, the baddies seem to up their game and learn to protect the chinks our ninja finds in their armour. For example, in later levels most lights are protected from being smashed; dogs sniff you out from cover; guards shot flares, and alarm systems try to catch you out. It’s going to take all of your skill and cunning to get past the later levels.
Go ninja, go ninja, go!
Feeling the urge to creep about in the dark, toy with your enemies and strike from the shadows like an actual ninja? Then get this game. If you’re into ninjas, stealth or any kind of fun at all, then I urge you to buy this game. Mark Of The Ninja is out now on Xbox Live Arcade.
