Accessories

Old-School
If you're looking for a challenge, old school game play, or just some sweet ninja action, then this game is for you. It might be the hardest game I've ever played, its set up to be a straight forward challenge through the levels, and you're a futuristic ninja, I don't see what could go wrong.

Graphically speaking, the game is top notch for a PS2 game. It really is one of the best looking games of the last generation. It even has some decent textures, which was a rare thing at the time. Everything is really detailed, especially the character models. I never experienced a frame rate drop, which is important because the game play is very difficult and fast-paced. The thing that really stands out for me is the fluid animations. The way you move through the game just seem right, and very ninja-like, if that makes any sense. Plus your scarf seems like it had its own development team because its so detailed and has some of the craziest animations I've ever seen. This game is just gushing with visual style. There's well used blur effects, over the top gore, and just an awesome art design, that I find to be very appealing.

The soundtrack won't blow anyone's mind, but it fits the game's style well. It seems like a revamped soundtrack of all those old arcade games you loved to play as a kid. I find it to be especially awesome thanks to nostalgia. The sound effects themselves work just fine, no real need for improvement.

The game play is fairly simple, but hard. Not only do you have a small life meter that can drop quickly, but most of your enemies seem to have more life than you do, which wouldn't be that difficult except that you fight up to a bout 10 at a time sometimes. A cool twist, that also adds to the difficulty as well as the fun is that your sword will get stronger with the more enemies you kill, but if you go for a period of time without killing anyone, you health will drain. This helps to keep you in the action.

Unfortunately no game is without flaws. We all love a challenge, but sometimes Shinobi pushes it a little too far. Whenever you die, you have to start at the beginning of the level. Also, some of the bosses seem to flat out cheat. There's also not a whole lot of replay-ability. Despite its flaws, I consider this to be an awesome game. If you like ninjas, a challenge, or want to experience some nostalgia, then this is the game for you.

GOOD GAME BUT HAS FLAWS
THE REASON I GOT THIS GAME IS BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE NINJA GAIDEN FOR PS2. NOW DON'T GET ME WRONG I DON'T REGRET BUYING THIS GAME, I'M JUST SAYING THAT NINJA GAIDEN WASN'T AVAILABLE FOR PS2. ANYWAYS, THE GAME REVOLVES AROUND HOTSUMA AND HIS QUEST FOR REVENGE. HE HAS SPEED, STRENGTH, INTELLIGENCE, SHURIKENS, AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST THE ALMIGHTY AKUJIKI. AKUJIKI CAN AND WILL KILL ANYTHING AND I DO MEAN ANYTHING. TANKS, HELICOPTERS, DEMONS, HUMANS, AND ANYTHING ELSE YOU CAN CONJURE UP IN THIS GAME. THE ACTION IS FAST AND INTENSE AND THE GRAPHICS AREN'T HALF BAD. THE GOOD STUFF IS THAT HOTSUMA CAN CLING TO AND CLIMB ON WALLS WHICH IS MANDATORY FOR A LOT OF THE GAME AND CERTAIN LEVELS. THE "TATE" IS A NICE TOUCH AS WELL. DEFEATING SEVERAL ENEMIES GOES TO A CUTSCENE OF HOTSUMA FROZEN IN TIME AND ALL THE ENEMIES FALLING TO PIECES AROUND HIM. THE STORY ISN'T HALF BAD EITHER. IT SHOWS IN FLASHBACKS HOTSUMA'S LIFE AND REASONS FOR HIS QUEST. NOW FOR THE FLAWS. THE STEALTH DASH IS GOOD TO A POINT. A LOT OF TIMES ENEMIES ARE OUT OF THE RANGE OF THE DASH WHICH IS A REAL PAIN IN THE [...] SINCE IT WILL MESS UP YOUR "TATE" SEVERAL TIMES. THE TARGETING SYSTEM WILL SOMETIMES TARGET THE ENEMY FARTHEST AWAY INSTEAD OF THE ONE CLOSES TO YOU. NOT TO MENTION AKUJIKI IS CONSTANTLY WANTING BLOOD AND IF IT DOESN'T GET IT, IT STARTS TO DRAIN YOU. A LOT OF OTHER REVIEWERS COMPLAIN OF REPETIVENESS WITH THE GAMEPLAY WHICH I CAN AGREE WITH ALSO. IT DOES GET A LITTLE BORING WITH THE DASH/SLASH REPEAT THING BEING THE FOCAL POINT OF THE GAME. AND LASTLY, I THINK SOME CHEAT CODES WOULDN'T HAVE HURT EITHER. BUT, ALL IN ALL I CAN SAY THAT I ENJOY PLAYING IT FROM TIME TO TIME.

shinobi
this is fun game for people who like ninja's its fast paced fun uses ninjitsu (ninja magic) probably one of the better ninja games to be created for the ps2. warning shinobi not an easy game. you wil have to try it a few time's but its still fun and not as hard as ninja gaiden.

Shinobi means Stealth...
Just wanted to correct the guy below me, often people have IQ's of 20/15, but then again some people just don't know. Anyways Shinobi means Stealth. This is a great game, I got the Sega Master System version of this game.

Hardcore gamers, enjoy! Casual gamers, beware!
With its neon-lit visuals that are spare yet beautiful, its atmospheric sound and music, and above all, its innovative and well-implemented game play mechanics, Shinobi is sure to be a winner with any true connoisseur of Action/Adventure games. A word of warning, however: Shinobi is not in the least for casual gamers, i.e., those who are unwilling to be trounced time and time again before being able to successfully complete a level or defeat a boss, and/or those disdainful of gameplay mechanics or control schemes that are in any way a departure from the norm.

The player-character, Hostuma, controls very responsively and has a host of groovy ninja moves at his disposal, including wall running, double jumping and a very neat dashing ability which can be executed consecutively on the ground, once in the air under normal circumstances, and an additional time immediately after striking an opponent while airborne. This means that if you have a swarm of aerial opponents about you, you can leap to one, strike him down, dash to the next, and repeat until the entire group is decimated, all without touching the ground. Hostuma's dash also has another, special application, aside from the fairly standard uses of evading attacks, reaching and attacking enemies quickly, and traveling longer distances in the air by combining it with double jumping every time Hotsuma dashes, he leaves behind an after-image. If you dash away from an enemy and leave them standing before an after-image, most of the time the foe will attack it instead of pursuing you, giving you a window of opportunity to strike. This can be a life-saver at times (particularly on Level 3-A, in which you are set upon by hordes of highly aggressive, sword-wielding zombie dogs).

Even with just the mechanics described above, Shinobi would have had very good gameplay. What really makes the gameplay great, however, is the Tate (pronounced tah-tay) system, the proper employment of which allows you to cut down a large group of opponents quickly with a minimum of hassle. Every time you defeat a foe who is by his lonesome, he falls immediately. However, if you are fighting two or more foes, each foe leading up until the last will be frozen in place a short time after defeat and your sword will become just a little stronger, making it much easier to "freeze" successive foes. After the last opponent falls, or when you wait too long before defeating the next -- at which time the frozen enemies fall regardless of those remaining -- your sword returns to its original power, so it is in your best interest to hit your enemies as quickly as possible. Killing three or fewer enemies in rapid succession, however, while advantageous because of your sword's power accretion, is not a true Tate; that comes into play when you quickly defeat four or more opponents, whereupon you are rewarded with a stylish cutscene in which Hostuma performs a sword flourish and all enemies fall together. It is especially advantageous to attack all the weakest enemies of a group first, since that makes it easier to down the real toughies, direct, drawn-out confrontations with whom might result in significant damage to yourself. In fact, some tougher foes take much more trouble and time to defeat if you don't Tate them. This goes doubly true for the bosses; it is far more satisfying, but far quicker to defeat a boss by quickly freezing the various demons he/she has conjured until you have amassed enough power to Tate the big baddy along with them. Nothing feels more awesome than vanquishing a big, bad boss beast with one sword stroke! A final word about Tate: Hotsuma's demon sword, Akujiki, requires constant nourishment in the form of dark energy, which you gain automatically upon defeating a foe. Wait too long between feedings, and the sword will begin to drain your life. A Tate however, will usually fill up your sword's hunger gauge, and if you make it a habit to Tate whenever possible, Akujiki will almost never go vampiric on you.

Shinobi's graphics are quite simple when compared to most games of its generation, but they are beautiful in that simplicity. There is no gross over-texturing, as evident in disappointments like Halo 2 and The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, as each object is textured just enough to give it personality. Also, neither the character models nor environments are polygon-rich, but the hard angles resulting from the relatively low-poly count never look ugly, having been placed so that they fall into line with the game's art design. Due to this graphical economy, slow-down is almost completely absent. The dark, brooding colors highlighted by bright neons, along with the game's unusual character and enemy designs, lend the game an 80's anime aesthetic. Since all of the game's character models have so much personality in-game, it is easy to imagine that they lost little in the translation from design to implementation; the enemies, and most especially the boss characters, are all very interesting to look at and well-animated, and Hotsuma himself, with his flowing red scarf, four-eyed helmet and confident demeanor, will surely go down in video game history as one of the most stylish player-characters ever.

Overall, Shinobi's sound is exceptional. The grunts, slashes, clashes, explosions and the like are all pretty standard, though never inadequate. The chorus of death cries let out by a flock of enemies during Tate, however, is really titilating! The Japanese voice acting, though there is little of it, is excellent, and really lends itself to atmosphere-building. Kudos to Sega's U.S. branch for not excluding the Japanese track and forcing us to listen to the kind of lack-luster English dub-drivel that has marred many a game imported from Japan! By far the best part of Shinobi's sound is its wonderful techno music. It has a fast enough pace to perfectly compliment the quickly-moving gameplay, yet is so thoughtfully composed that at the same time it projects an atmosphere of complex mysticism.

If you are up to the challenge, I cannot recommend this game enough. I am at a loss to understand why so many supposedly hardcore gamers, even editors at some major video game review mags, regard it shabbily. I can only surmise that they are indeed not hardcore gamers, that they are only willing to scarf down one deriviative FPS or cookie-cutter sports title after another, completely unknowing of what a great Action/Adventure truly is. What happened to you, Sega? Put Sonic on ice for a while and get back to making games like this!