In terms of stealth action, the PSP has one game that has been released and one other on the way. We admit, we may have been a little generous with Tenchu: Time of the Assassins but it was a first-run PSP title and had some capacity for fun and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops is just around the corner. Remarkably, Shinobido actually manages to replicate both the good and the bad parts of Tenchu, with some parts better and others just as bad.
In Shinobido: Tales of the Ninja, you reprise the role of Goh the Crow, an elite ninja from the Asuka clan. However, he’s brought along a couple of friends this time. Seemingly, the game looks like its carrying on from the last one, but sometimes its hard to tell. In the last game, Goh was tasked with helping control the peace of the region by working for three Japanese warlords - Ichijo, Sadame and Akame - carrying out missions for each. In return, he was able to collect soul orbs that would help revive his memory. This time around, the warlords are still feuding and you’re back to help put things straight, while fighting off the rival ninja clan.
Running up walls doesn't count for much...
The game is split into a large amount of small missions – well over fifty in fact. The story more is spread across a map that allows you to pick missions and choose paths as you please. So you could complete the game without completing every mission. Each mission takes anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes, possibly 10 if you’re slow. There are a huge variety of missions, from Total Destruction, Assassination, Capture, Kidnap, Transport, Robbery, Thievery and more. They’re quite self-explanatory but a portion of these missions feel arbitrary, as you only complete them for the sake of progressing.
Every so often, you’ll come across a mission that advances the story. However, all story advancements are made through text, with no cut scenes at all. Furthermore, there really isn’t much to the story at all. It seems as if your playing dress-up ninja, because all of the missions are really there just to facilitate stealth kills and general ninja tomfoolery. In reality, this is the least of the concerns, because it doesn’t really derail the game. In fact, it’s a good thing that the developers have decided to stick with making missions short and sweet. They’re nicely facilitated for portability and really are good for a quick fling on the go. Apart from the story, there is the single mission mode, ad-hoc multiplayer for up to four people and the ability to download the mission builder if you have the PS2 game. Unless you have the PS2 game and/or friends with the game, you’re going to be stuck with only the Story mode.
In terms of the actual gameplay, the results are mixed. Shinobido main strength is in the ease and simplicity of the stealth kills. When you sneak up behind someone, you get a sound queue and a small flash over your weapon that notifies you when the stealth kill is available. It can even be used when you jump off the top of buildings. Furthermore, environments are built so that you’ve got places to hide and to get enemies from above and from behind. So the game really does let you play ninja fairly well.
... when you fight like a scarecrow.
Goh and co. have a couple of advantages over Rikimaru and co. from Time of the Assassins. They’re a bit more nimble, so they can do wall runs and double jumps up walls and jump higher and further. Some of the levels have pitfalls and very-light platforming elements. It’s a serious indictment that there are still many occasions where you fall off roofs or overshoot your marks, through no fault of your own. As with Tenchu, the game provides you with numerous items, such as smoke bombs and poisoned food, to help your exploits but for the most part, they end up being redundant. Apart from the grapple, you can easily complete the game without using any of them once.
While the game is certainly functional and it does facilitate for some of those ninja fantasies, we can’t pass a blind eye over the game’s shortcomings. These come in the form of gameplay and technical issues and in reality, it’s a poor effort. In terms of gameplay, the controls aren’t great, only serviceable. However, this is when you’re playing stealthily. When your cover is broken and you need to fend for your life, the controls are not substantial enough to carry your through. In the very least, the block and lock-on are functional and you can get around the combat once your characters gain higher levels. Either way, when you’ve got bears and other trained/armoured monstrosities on your tail, this engine simply won’t do.
To an extent, the game is very easy. This isn’t just because the levels are so short but because the AI is downright brain-dead. These are a rather dull bunch of mugs, for example, there are occasions where you are performing a stealth kill and another enemy will walk past right in front of you and take no notice. When the game does try to get harder later on, it’s through pilling on enemies and cramming them into spaces where you can’t pick them off quietly. Interestingly, you’ll get up to 36 characters to pick from. However, all bar four or five are virtually useless, as they consist of Samurai and other characters with no stealth ability. Given the combat engine is so weak, you’re left in the cold if you pick one of these characters.
A person or a statue, who can tell?
Technically, we’ve already discussed how there are no cut-scenes and things don’t get much better, apart from the reasonable load times. The biggest issue that affects gameplay is the camera. It just manages to be serviceable but it will still cause a lot of unnecessary frustration. You don’t have much control over it and there are times where is will go off on its own without regard for your position. You’ll have trouble spotting enemies sometimes, unless you resort to standing still and using the manual view. Frankly, put the technical and gameplay faults together and the result is often laughably poor.
In terms of graphics, the game is almost covered by the same black veil that all but ruined Tenchu on the PSP, where you could barely see anything in front of you. However, Shinobido allows you to see a little further and the veil doesn’t affect indoor environments. That, and you have assistance with which way to go. Still, this fails to save the game, as it looks rather poor on all fronts. The animations are stiff, the models are unvaried and low detailed, the environments are as blocky as an early PS1 game, there is no flair in the level or character design and the textures are awful. There are no real voices in the game, but sometimes a guard will say something, in an English accent, no less. The lack of variety hurts, as in one occasion we were guarding an important individual, and the assassins accused us being the “intruder”. Go figure. The music and sound effects get the job done but lack variation and flair.
Shinobido: Tales of the Ninja is fundamentally flawed and a rather poor effort. At it’s core, there are the makings of a game that has the potential for fun and ninja-fantasy fulfilling. In fact, we did enjoy a few of the assassinations and massacres that we took part in. Amazingly, the game replicates almost all of the strengths and faults found Tenchu but loses out on depth and the fact that it debuts on a system in its third year of circulation, as opposed to a launch title. If your desperate for some ninja action and already own a PSP, Shinobido: Tales of the Ninja might scratch the itch a bit. If you're desparate for stealth, import MGS: Portable Ops. However, the fact remains that there is just too much wrong here to really consider a purchase at all.
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