About three years ago, Sega announced that they are bringing back some of their classic IPs from the past. Games were shown was Crazy Taxi, Streets of rage, Golden axe, Jet set radio, and the one I will talk about today, Shinobi. Last month at the Nintendo partner direct, it was announced that the demo of Shinobi art of vengeance. I had downloaded it on my switch 2. You can play the demo on other systems too. How the demo is? Let’s found out.
First off I must say that i am not a big fan of the art style. The watercolor look is not speaking to me. For the story the evil paramilitary organization called ENE Corp. Lead by their leader Lord Ruse, ENE Corp has defeated and conquer armies across the globe. There is only force can stop them. It is the Oboro clan led by the legendary shinobi himself Joe Musashi. Knowing this Lord Ruse and the Corp invaded the location of the Oboro clan while Joe is heading towards the dojo leaving his pregnant wife Naoko behind. With his sword Oborozuki, Joe must stop the Corp from taking over the clan’s land, avenge the fallen people, and save the world from Lord Ruse.
The gameplay is fast, and action packed. For Joe’s basic moves, his have both and a light and a heavy attack with the sword. He can also do a jump, double jump, roll, diving air kick, and air dash. Joe can his throw kunai knives but be careful because Jos only have a limited amount of them. Basic attacks aren’t the only things Joe have in his arsenal. He can use ningi, ninpo, and ninjutsu powers to fight. Too me, Joe most bad ass attack is the shinobi execution. Your attacks build up the execution gauges underneath the enemy health bar. When at least one of the enemy gauges is full a red symbol appears above their head. You can kill many enemies quickly with this.
In the first stage they are a couple of hidden areas you can find and explore. In these areas you will fight the ENE Corp elite squads. They are harder than the regular enemies you will face in the first stage. As for them most of them will just stand still when shooting bullets, throwing shuriken, and shooting lightning arrows at you. You will collect gold coins by killing enemies and destroying boxes in the stage. You spend the coins in the Yokai shop in order to buy attacks and abilities. At the end of the stage, you will fight a boss named Kozaru. I will not spoil that part. Overall, I loved this demo. It is one of the best demos I’ve played in a long time. I think I will buy the game when it comes out on August 29.