From Software’s Ninja Blade gives Xbox 360 owning wannabe ninjas the opportunity to live vicariously—and cinematically—through protagonist Ken Ogawa, a super ninja tasked with saving futuristic Tokyo from parasite-infected Japanese schoolgirls, yakuza and salarymen.

If Ninja Blade looks familiar, that’s because it is so unapologetically derivative, borrowing game design elements wholesale from Japanese action-adventure titles like Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry and Onimusha. Ogawa can pull off killer combos, upgrade his weapons with harvested orbs—here called Blood Crystals—and topple foes of any size and shape. Even crab shaped!

Like every other action game, Ninja Blade pits its hero against deadly, world-threatening demonic bad guys, from rank and file zombies… err… Carriers to gigantic, skyscraper hugging worms. Where Ninja Blade differs is in its heavy use of “Quick Time Events,” the rapid reaction button presses that From Software hoped would make the game feel “cinematic,” and its “Ninja Vision” gimmick, which slows down the action and lets Ogawa see what non-ninja can’t.

Does Ninja Blade flatter the games it imitates? Or is From Software’s borrowing just an insult?

Loved
Never, Ever A Dull Moment: Outside of some rather uninteresting cut scenes, the action in Ninja Blade never lets up. You’re either fighting batches of low-level Carriers, engaged in a big boss battle, tapping out button presses, or manning a mounted machine gun. With very little in the way of exploration, players likely won’t find the experience dull, as the game’s pacing is carefully delivered. The ludicrous Quick Time Events ensure that anyone watching the game won’t be bored either.

Hilarious In Its Absurdity: We hate to spoil, but the game’s rampant ridiculousness is noteworthy. Not only will Ninja Blade star Ken Ogawa ride a motorcycle down the side of a regurgitated bus in the sky, he’ll use that motorcycle’s gas tank as an explosive to finish off the giant worm that had just vomited it forth. Ogawa can also stop a runaway jetliner by himself, braking it with nothing more than the strength of his sword and powerful ninja feet. Ninja Blade is full of riotous attempts at cool that result in “WTF?” laugh out loud moments.

Character Customization: Adding to the silliness of Ninja Blade are the game’s unlockable outfits. If you’re unsatisfied with standard ninja black, go fluorescent green, go leopard print, then edit your own colour scheme. It makes the ride that much more insane.

Hated
Constant Quick Time Events: If you even remotely dislike reflexive button jamming, you’re going to despise Ninja Blade. From Software piles on the QTEs, even though they really don’t have much of an impact. You can simply replay them over and over again until you get them right. With the exception of the stylish combo kills one can pull off for extra Blood Crystals during regular combat, the overused QTEs quickly become annoying.

Ugly Aesthetics: While technically capable in the graphics department, Ninja Blade’s art direction is horribly dated and unattractive. Everything’s black, shiny, and lifeless, with sickly green lighting that feels like an imitation of the imitation of The Matrix. Enemy designs, while occasionally interesting, generally boil down to giant crustaceans and mutated insects. Ogawa himself looks dopey, exactly “how silly Ryu Hayabusa would look without the mouth piece of his ninja outfit” to quote Mike Fahey.

Clunky Controls and Camera: Ninja Blade doesn’t control nearly as well as the games it steals from, with a combat system that’s just capable enough to get the job done. Ogawa bounces back and forth between enemies with little ninja grace, sliding toward his foes in a way that evokes flashbacks to Too Human and hacking away mindlessly. Camera issues can make wall running far less fun than it should be, resulting in unnecessary deaths and a general feeling that ninja aren’t actually that cool. That camera can also make combat, especially when sprinting down the side of a skyscraper, annoyingly chaotic. Good thing button mashing works so well.

Technical Problems: When the action gets heavy, Ninja Blade can suffer from some serious frame rate issues. Unfortunately, this is exactly when we need the game to behave at its technical best.

My ten hours with Ninja Blade reminded me often of another game I’d recently played, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand. Both are just-capable-enough action games that liberally swipe from titles of higher quality and better value. Both saturate the player in ludicrous conversations and far fetched situations. Both should only be played by gamers who have absorbed every ounce of gameplay from their forebears, because what’s been done in Ninja Blade has been done better by games released in previous generations.

Players will likely forget about Ken Ogawa and the events of Ninja Blade quickly, as the game doesn’t offer particularly memorable mechanics—that “Ninja Vision” gimmick actually becomes a hindrance when used to exhaustion—nor does it introduce us to a likable hero. It does offer some spectacular motorcycle stunts though, making it worth watching when someone else is driving.

Ninja Blade was developed by From Software and published by Microsoft Corp. for the Xbox 360, released in North America on April 7th. Retails for US$59.99. Completed main campaign, spent way too much time customising outfits.

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Kotaku AU Note: Ninja Blade currently does not have a release date for Australia.

From Software’s Ninja Blade is coming April 7th. Today, you can decide whether that’s the day you’re buying Ninja Blade or not, as the North American demo hits Xbox Live today.

It’s an expanded version of the demo we played at Tokyo Game Show this past October. While the trial version has certainly been improved upon and extended on both ends, the gameplay remains largely the same.

If you’re a fan of ninja, particularly the motorcycle-riding, quick time event-reacting kind, go grab Ninja Blade.

From Software has released a new batch of screenshots for Ninja Blade, demonstrating how blur effects can make getting punched by a guy in a business suit look exciting.

Xbox 360 exclusive Ninja Blade may not have a North American release date yet, but that doesn’t mean you can’t own an English version. Right now.

The Asia region has English language support (text and voice). It’s also region free. Interested parties, import away!

Ninja Blade Ready In English, Just Not Here [Siliconera]

Japan was gifted with a demo of From Software’s upcoming Xbox 360 game Ninja Blade on Monday, and the guys at Inside Digital Foundry were nice enough to play through it for our enjoyment.

Upon first glancing at the video I was hard pressed to notice much of a difference between this and Ninja Gaiden, but extended viewing reveals the game’s more colorful side. By colorful I am of course referring to the four colours of Xbox 360 controller buttons, which appear on the screen with disturbing regularity during the 9 minute demo, indicating possibly too-frequent Quicktime events. They’re lovely when used sparingly, but too many and you might as well be playing Dragon’s Lair for Dummies.

Then the gigantic spider arrived, I peed myself, and ran away. Check out the full video below while I go clean up.

Ninja Blade Demo: Playthrough & Analysis [Inside Digital Foundry]

From Software has announced that its Xbox 360 title Ninja Blade, which is about a ninja who comes from a family of ninjas, is getting a free demo.

It will be released on Japanese Xbox LIVE on December 29. See, there’s this demo will be a demo from a family of demos…

フロム・ソフトウェア、Xbox 360「NINJA BLADE」
臨場感溢れるアクションを満喫できる無料体験版を配信 [Game Watch]

Seeing Ninja Blade at Tokyo Game Show this year didn’t leave us wanting for From Software to hurry up and get the thing out the door. It looks, well, a bit bland.

But when you ratchet up the cinematic silliness, making the titular ninja rope in and ride a motorcycle mid-air on the side of a bus which is also plummeting to Earth, we’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, From. (For the record, that’s a ninja who can land a plane, then bring it to a halt with his feet.)

Perhaps six minutes worth of Ninja Blade cheese-play will win you over?

The theme comes bundled with wallpapers and the Avatar backgrounds seen above, all for just 250 Microsoft Points. Pricey? Maybe, but you really can’t put a dollar figure on something this useless. Expect even more wallet whittling microtransactions for the next… forever.

Ninja Blade Pre-Launch Events [Impress Game Watch via Siliconera]

Ninja Blade feels mostly adequate at this point. It’s joined by a handful of gimmicks that could eventually turn out to be refreshing. The main character, ninja master Ken Ogawa, can sprint down the face of a building, slicing up hellspawn en route to the ground floor. In the Tokyo Game Show demo version, this was more than a bit jarring, as each attack on the winged demons that plagued Ogawa forced a transition to a new camera angle. Unsettling, in its current form.

From Software’s other tactic for making Ninja Blade feel cinematic are its numerous timed button presses. We call ‘em Quick Time Events round these parts. Ninja Blade’s are a bit more exciting than some of its action competitors and certainly far less frustrating. Miss one and you’ll simply do it again.

There’s some variety in these QTEs. The button press for a “Dodge!”, “Wire!” or “Endure!” may change with each attempt. It keeps you on your toes, but unless there’s some tangible penalty, they don’t really feel very tension-filled.

We’ll admit though, that our battle with the giant rock skinned spider attacking Tokyo was made better by the cinematic Quick Time Events.

The standard combat isn’t that exciting, though. Button mashing seemed to do the job, our hack, slash and jump attacks quickly whittling down the zombie-like hordes who pestered Ogawa. On-the-fly weapon switching helped to add some spice, as did Ogawa’s wind manipulating ninjitsu skill, but the swordplay felt a little dry when inevitably comparing it to Ninja Gaiden.

Ninja Blade’s “ninja vision” mode, flipped on with the Xbox 360 pad’s left bumper, didn’t quite sell itself in our hands-on. It slows the action down a bit, giving Ogawa an improved — and more orange-hued — look at the action. It didn’t, however, showcase its usefulness quite yet. Perhaps in a more complicated boss fight.

Our brief time with Ninja Blade left us wanting. The action doesn’t yet seem solid enough to dethrone titles like Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry 4, nor does the visual design help us to overlook some of its gameplay faults. It’s dark, dreary and all too familiar at this point. Hopefully, though, From Software will surprise us with something we’ve yet to uncover in the game soon. Otherwise, the game may be deserving of its “Ninja Bladen” me-too nickname.