First, note that this is not a review, as I haven't played the entire game...  I just wanted to throw my 2 cents out there.

Ninja Blade is the kind of game that I hate loving.  By that I mean that I know I have no reason to love it, and probably shouldn't...  But I still do. (See also: Jeff's feelings towards Punch-out)  The gameplay doesn't have any innovative features to offer, and in my eyes, quick time events are never a good thing.  But I just can't stop playing this game.

When not in the QTEs, it throws you into a battle with brain-dead AI opponents that will rarely even land a hit on you, and generally you'll just be mashing X with no real strategy.  Often you'll be set in a room with respawning enemies, and in some cases, it just never seems to stop.  Combat becomes a repetitive task with no gameplay values. But...  It's absolutely fantastic!  No matter how many times I see the same old combos, it doesn't seem to get old.  I may just be a shallow gamer, but it's extremely entertaining to me.

The Quick time Events are what really made me think I would hate this game.  I had never played a game where I actually enjoyed the QTEs.  But the moves are so over the top and ridiculous that I'm on the edge of my seat the entire time.  This wasn't caused by the QTEs themselves, but rather the quality of the cinematics.  Saying that, I realize that the fun and exciting part of the QTEs wasn't my involvement in the scenes, but watching the madness.  This makes me feel that while the cinematics are great, the QTEs have no real purpose, and could have easily been left out of the game.

The game also has almost no replay value, because once you've seen the cutscenes...  You've seen them.  You're done.  I personally find no reason to ever play through it again.  There are the costumes, but those are just kind of worth a chuckle for a minute or so, but definitely not worth a second play.  This game isn't worth $60 in my opinion, but totally worth a shot if you have Gamefly or want to rent it, as the game will only last a week even if you pace yourself.

In conclusion...  When you break down each aspect of Ninja Blade, it's a terrible game.  But you just need to experience it one time, if only for the thrill of the ride.

 tl;dr: Ninja Blade sucks, but it's awesome.