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Old school gaming without the old school

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 19 / 20
Date: April 04, 2005
Author: Amazon User

It has become rather difficult to find a game with such mixed reviews. I personally have seen everything from 3 to 8 on scales of 1-10. This often makes it difficult for people to deside if they want the game or not, so I am going to make an effort to balance the reviews that are out there.

Graphics: I am a firm believer that good graphics are not required for a good game. That being said, I like Red Ninja's graphics. There is a certain Zen quality to them. What I mean by that is that they lack the detail of many games, but still possess the depth necessary to make you feel as though you are a part of the world. The only draw back is that the animators seemed to have cut a few corners. Kurenai is very believably portrayed but most of the secondary characters have the grace of crash test dummies. All in all, you will either love the graphics or hate them, there seems to be little middle ground.

Sound: As with the graphics, the sound effects are simplistic. The voice acting is above par, though several of the characters (especially the villains) are overacted. The music is so mellow, you will hardly ever notice it, while the sound effects themselves have an arcade-ish feel to them that reminds me of many an old school game.

Gameplay: Gameplay is where a game is truely made or broken. The problem is, Red Ninja is both made and broken at this point. The controls are responsive, but stiff. Compared to the stealth/action genre, the controls work well, but compared to most modern action games, the controls are stiff and will leave you running of cliffs when you swore you hit the jump button.

In general, most reviewers were not put off by the controls, but by the camera. In general, the camera actually works well. The problems begin to occur when you are in tight spaces, which will happen at least a few times in every level. What hampers the camera is that it is designed to keep Kurenai in the center of the screen. So, in tight spaces, you can't see around your character. Also, since your character is the center of attention, when trying to orient yourself (or peek around corners), the camera will only offer you so much leeway to actually view the environment.

The other problem reviewers seem to have had is that they have grown accustomed to games holding their hands through the whole process (preventing accidental deaths). Red Ninja tries not to, although it does a lot to keep you from running off of cliffs. Wall running is an art in this game, not a game controlled feature like PoP. What this means is that the pace at which you hit the wall and the angle at which you do so determine the distance you will run along the wall. Additionally, you need to build up speed by running at the wall from a distance, not just jumping at the wall.

In short, if you were around to play some of the original 3rd person games (i.e., the first 3 or 4 Tomb Raiders and their kin) you will know what to expect from this game, especially in the area of the camera system. Red Ninja is not going to win any awards (even from the reviewers who liked it) but it has the ability to grow on people if you give it time. Red Ninja is a little rough around the edges, but it is worth playing (though many gamers may want to rent if first to see if its too rough for them).

Tenchu Called; It Wants Its Game Back

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: August 19, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Friends, has this ever happened to you? You've just chased the Thunder Demon up a tree. After scaling numerous branches, you find that you cannot quite strike the enemy. Sure, you can hit her; but nothing seems to have an effect. Finally, after a mix of timing, luck, and some kind of design flaw, your foe is vanquished. Although you don't know why...

Before I played this game, I really didn't understand the phrases: "What were they smoking," and "I honestly couldn't care less." I thought I did, but I didn't. Because after you play Red Ninja, you will ask the former, which will ultimately lapse into the latter.

After an introduction that is so overly dramatic it seems like it was written by a six year old (as said by our heroine: "I'm not alive, but...I'm not dead." What is she, a zombie?), the games begin. The story is actually not bad; although it reeks of Clint Eastwood's Hang `em High. A female ninja intends to avenge her father's death at the hands of enemy ninjas (whom you never really seem to fight, game-wise) using a weapon forged from the very wire used to hang her. Daddy's death was all part of a greater scheme to get a super weapon: the Gattling Gun! Script wise, however, the game suffers. And let's face it; the writers didn't want to make a video game. They wanted to make a small movie. Where else can you get four, count `em four, cutscenes in a row?

But getting back on the subject, this ninja couldn't avenge a snail. Even a small snail. She spends most of her time sneaking up on enemies and stealthfully killing them. Sounds kind of familiar, doesn't it? The controls also follow the same design as the Tenchu series, and some of the levels seems awfully similar to another game I've played (limestone mines? Abandoned temple with a giant Buddha?). However, Tenchu's controls were always clear. Red Ninja's controls can be confusing (hold B to crouch?). Also, while Tenchu gives your over half a dozen ways kill from behind, Red Ninja gives you about three. One of them involves the ninja seducing enemies and gutting them, but they usually get wise and flip out and kill her in the process of trying to get to know her better. You'll see. And in Tenchu, you stealth killed for a reason: to rack up points and to rack up your offense. Here, you stealth kill for the sake of spicing up the game: sure you kill for points and to get ninja items you'll never use, but it feels hollow. It's like a soulless Tenchu.

The other half of the time, Red Ninja seems to be trying to take after the Prince of Persia. While the stealth killing controls are both simplistic and clumsy, the acrobatics are the stuffs of nightmares. The controls are not nearly tight enough for the kind of punishment you are put through; causing you to over or under shoot many goals. Luckily, your ninja-like reflexes usually allow you to recover. Usually. Also, those same controls are backwards (to drop from a ledge press A?), and the camera is nuts. It tries to follow you, except it's so hyperactive, you usually just get a nice, long look at the wall, the ninja's underpants, or a dizzying, sickening swarm of images as the camera tries its very best to focus. And any game in which the controls and camera are that bad, and expects you to perform do-or-die jumps and flips over bottomless chasms, should not grade you on continues. Or time.

Every now and again, you are swamped by mobs of enemies (who all look mysteriously alike, but hey, the samurai factory must have been out that day) and will fall back on a barrage of melee attacks. The coolest of these is flinging your wire-weapon into an enemy, using said wire to trip up other opponents, then rip it out of your victim, usually resulting in him being split in two. And the fighting controls are "okay" (block is Y?), and as long as there is enough space in the level for the camera not to go psycho on you, the battles are fine. However, also similar to the Prince of Persia, your fightin' is not always up to par. If knocked down, it is very likely that enemies will pummel you the second you get back up, resulting in a great loss of life on your part.

What's really sad is that this is a good game trying to get out of a bad box. Graphics, music, story, it's all good. But those flashes of nice-ness just can't compete with...everything else in the game. Red Ninja's problem was trying to be something it clearly wasn't. It's like training a monkey to golf; then giving him a crowbar, and telling him to chop down a mighty oak. It's just not going to happen. If they'd scrap a little stealth and acrobatics, and pump up the fighting system, there could be another game in the future. But if they don't, the close-ups we get of her underpants will begin to represent pain and anguish; and nobody wants to see that.

Needed polishment...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: April 10, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I think that if this game had more time to be developed it would have been great. I think that if the developers could make a remake with better graphics, a better camera system, a harder gameplay and more options it will be much better.

Frustrating.........

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: April 10, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Let me begin by saying that the camera is the most frustrating thing I have ever experienced. Every time I wanted to do something I ended up looking up her skirt. The only gold in Red Ninja is the story. Electronic Gaming may have mocked it, but I can actually see it becoming a movie. Gameplay is a bit stiff and wall running is difficult to get started sometimes. RIght now I am in a level, where I have no idea what to do. I may be forced to use a walkthrough with this game. I would suggest to you people to buy it when it when the price comes down to $20.

Tenchu this is not

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 8
Date: April 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I really like tenchu...but this game is not tenchu. It does have the stealth kills, but good luck being able to see good enough to do one. The camera angles suck so bad. Not worth buying. Maybe rent it...maybe!!!

Red Ninja: End of Red Ninja

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 7
Date: May 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

50 bucks for crap!? The graphics, well not bad but.. not good. You will be fighting the horrid camera angles instead of your enemies. The ninja lady, I forgot her name, sounds constipated. Also, ninjas don't wear red. And she has no pants! WTF? The voice acting is more terrifying than Michael Jackson himself. DONT EVEN BUY!

Sold my copy of Tenchu, but I'm keeping Red Ninja

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 25, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Tenchu Fatal Shadows is like a PG-13 movie, and Red Ninja is like a rated R movie.

It has lots of blood and gore, which is what I love especially since I'm a long time Manga anime fan. You will see blood gushing from the necks of decapitated enemies.

There are some platform jumping sequences that can be frustrating, but by using trail and error multiple times I was able to pass those areas.

idk

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 13, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game is lovely as is all other ninja games ive played, i guess if you dont like stealth or kunoichi then you wont like this game, but the cover says it all.. unless intruth one doesnt know anything about ninja then i guess they wont have any idea what to expect.. sad really... anyway as for gameplay its overall fun, nice to see games using more then just ninja-to aswell. as for the controls i had no problem at any time nor with any master. i hope they make a part 2 someday for 360.

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