Surprisingly Good.
This is probably the most pleasant gaming surprise for me in years. With mediocre or worse reviews across the board, I thought I knew for sure I was wasting my $34.99 buying a used copy. Lucky for me, I love ninjas.
The graphics are pretty standard, nothing special, but not bad either. If anything it looks like a really nice original Xbox game with some textures that wouldn't be possible previously. Unlike many games of the current generation, I have experienced no technical problems whatsoever. That means no frame rate stutters, reasonable load times, and no object pop in. As for the art design, if you love Japan, or ninjas for that matter, you'll love the visual style of the game, although the scenery does change quite a bit as the game progresses, but I won't ruin that for you.
The sound is perfect for what the game needs. The sound effects work great, and I can't imagine them needing to be any better. The soundtrack itself is very subtle, but can build up at times, creating effective tension as you stalk through the shadows.
The controls are all responsive enough, and work just fine for taking down your enemies. The character animations are very fluid, and its awesome to go from rooftop to rooftop. This is probably the only ninja game I've ever played to actually use stealth, and trust me, if you don't want to die, you'll use it.The stealth kills are especially awesome, and are always a pleasure to execute. The gore is over the top, making it all the more satisfactory when you kill a target or guard. There's a fair amount of character customization, but its mostly just in looks so it doesn't effect much, and the only item I ever really bought from the shop other than new costumes is med kits. The rest of the items really aren't all that useful.
I have a few problems with this game. The main one being that the combat is pretty stale, and sometimes even irritating when you aren't assassinating someone. My other complaint would be the graphics, I know i said they were fine, but I would like them to be better than fine if you know what I mean.
I enjoyed this game a great amount. Just another prime example of why you shouldn't pay that much attention to one single review. I actually find user reviews to be the best indicator on if a game was good or not, because they seem to focus more on if the game was fun, rather than nitpick at technical problems, or if its not revolutionary. That why I wrote this review, I felt that Gamespot wronged this game with a terrible score, and i want people to see another side of it. If you like Japan, Ninjas, or stealth, please at least give this game a rent.
