So we know Ninjas are often awesome, but occasionally you’ll
get a stinker that just used the name Ninja as a marketing gimmick (Ninja Bread
Man leaps to mind) and you have to take the risk. That’s what I thought when I
randomly stumbled upon today’s game. I had never heard of it or even the company
on the label (Sammy Studios) so I took a chance. Let’s look at my random find
and continue 8-bit Ninja month *GONG* with Ninja Crusaders for the Nintendo
Entertainment System.
Last week, when I talked about Shadow of the Ninja, I had
compared it a lot to Ninja Gaiden. While
I found the two games comparable, I felt it was only because it was also an
8-bit Ninja game on the NES. But at no point did I feel like Shadow of the
Ninja was trying to be Ninja Gaiden. That’s not the case with Ninja Crusaders:
it very much feels like a knock off even from just looking at the game. The
sprite style looks like they just tried to copy Ryu, but didn’t quite succeed.
Furthermore, I mentioned that Ryu was bright while the enemies are dark in my
review of Ninja Gaiden 2. This is not the case with Ninja Crusaders, as the
player character is a dark red, but the enemies range from dark blue and brown
to bright pink, so that contrast doesn’t exist.
Even the animations, poses and backgrounds are all done in the same
manner as Ninja Gaiden. It really starts feeling like The Asylum started
publishing video games.
The game play is… second rate. Don’t get me wrong, it’s
still “left-to-right-hit-the-enemy” goodness, but there are some things just
off about it. The jumping, for example, fells more like floating up and down in
the air. Oddly enough, swimming feels more like you’re jumping onto water, as
you sink about as quickly as you would if you were stepping on a memory foam
mattress. Hit detection really feels iffy too, as I’m never sure if I’m hitting
the enemies. It’s just all a bunch of things like this that makes me wonder
it’s just half-assed or if they didn’t know how a really good game feels.
A common complaint (among the 3 other reviews I could
actually find) is that this game is unfairly hard due to the player character
dying with one hit. This not only goes against the inverse laws of Ninjas, but
turns it from an action game to more of a memory test. Trial and error games
aren’t inherently bad (look at Battletoads) but this is too chaotic, and only
being able to take one hit only allows you inch forward.
That’s the last negative thing I’m really going to say about
this game, as there are good things. For example, like in Shadow the Ninja, you
can find other weapons to switch to. There are 4 different ones, which I can’t
really list (a mix of the sub-par sprites and my lack of knowledge of Japanese
weapons), but it does help you tailor the game to how you want to play it. For
example, I enjoy the whip, because with only one chance to make a mistake, I
enjoy taking down my enemies from as far as possible. Others might enjoy the
stronger bow weapon that will take down most enemies in few hits. Another thing
to consider is that the weapon you choose will also allow you to play as one of
4 animals. Each weapon corresponds to a different animal, so you may want to
test both out and see which weapon suits you best for both cases.
“But Leo” you might be asking “can’t I just change weapons
when I want a different animal?” I recommend not doing that. First off, weapons
are found on the field, so the weapon you want might not be available at a
given time, or you might switch to weapon that you’re not good with and may not
be able to switch back for a while. Secondly, every time you run into the icon
for the weapon you already have, you get an extra life. Since getting hit once
kills you you’ll want to stock up as much as you can.
Ninja Crusaders isn’t really a great game, but it’s not
really a bad game either. Perhaps it’s just my habit of being too nice while
reviewing things, but for an obvious Ninja Gaiden rip-off made by some company
I’ve never heard of, this could have been a lot worse. It feels off, but it’s
not broken. It gets hard at some points, but not due to poor programming. It
doesn’t get my blood pumping, but I’m neither bored nor angry after it. Though
it doesn’t come highly recommended, I’m also not going to say to stay away from
this game. Just feels a little cheap, so if you can deal with that, go for it
maybe. I give Ninja Crusaders for the NES 6 levels out of 10.
No comments:
Post a Comment