Like the perfect revivals, Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound feels prefer it may’ve come from a distinct period. Crafted by Blasphemous developer The Game Kitchen, Ragebound is a intentionally old-school motion sport that captures the essence of the basic Ninja Gaiden sequence, with sharp gameplay, difficult ranges, and gloriously retro visuals and music that may really feel proper at house on the Super NES. It additionally builds upon this basis with some good new mechanics, making it greater than a mere imitation of earlier video games.Rather than placing you in charge of sequence mainstay Ryu, Ragebound follows two new protagonists: Kenji Mozu, an untested trainee of the Hayabusa Clan; and Kumori, a mysterious kunoichi from the rival Black Spider Clan. When Kenji steps in to avoid wasting Hayabusa Village from a sudden demon onslaught, the pair’s destinies turn into entwined they usually kind an uneasy alliance, utilizing their mixed skills to face in opposition to the demonic forces threatening the world.Like so many different facets of the sport, Ragebound’s plot is pure Ninja Gaiden: scattershot, nonsensical, and in the end inconsequential. In their quest to cease the Demon Lord from being unleashed, Kenji and Kumori journey to varied websites all through Japan, battling grotesque monsters, commandeering the occasional car, and finally turning into entangled within the CIA’s affairs. It’s knowingly foolish stuff, and it affords the builders loads of alternatives to whisk gamers via a variety of memorable set items, from historical Japanese villages and castles to busy building websites, flooded pirate coves, and secret navy amenities.The opening acts shift focus between the 2 protagonists, every of whom has a definite taste because of the totally different skills at their disposal. Kenji performs like a conventional Ninja Gaiden hero, counting on his katana to dispatch foes. Kumori, in the meantime, favors ranged assaults, slaying foes from a distance together with her kunai. Both additionally share a number of expertise like a dodge roll, which can be utilized as an evasive maneuver or mixed with the assault button to execute a lunge. The actions are fluid and responsive, and each characters really feel fittingly acrobatic and lethal.On prime of this primary moveset, The Game Kitchen has launched a handful of good new skills that additional enrich the motion. Foremost is the Hypercharge. By defeating an enemy with a selected aura (or sacrificing a little bit of your personal well being), you possibly can enter a brief, supercharged state that dramatically will increase the energy of your subsequent assault, felling most foes in a single blow. It’s an exciting addition. Carving via enemies with well-timed Hypercharge assaults as you race via a stage is immensely satisfying and reinforces the sensation that you simply’re an unstoppable ninja.Equally very important is the Guillotine Boost, a spinning kick that lets you bounce off of foes and projectiles in midair. This transfer doubles as a defensive measure and a traversal talent; many levels would require you to Guillotine Boost off a sequence of airborne enemies to cross hazards or ascend to a better part of the extent, including a satisfying contact of platforming to the motion.Partway via the story, Kumori’s soul fuses with Kenji, imbuing him together with her skills and unlocking one other new talent: the namesake Ragebound Arts. These highly effective particular assaults will be unleashed after you have acquired sufficient Rage Orbs, they usually’re notably helpful throughout tense conditions, corresponding to if you’re overwhelmed by enemies or battling one of many sport’s formidable bosses. You may buy and equip totally different Ragebound Arts as you progress via the sport, providing you with a little bit of freedom to customise your play model.Despite merging collectively, the sport steadily splits Kenji and Kumori aside, requiring you to make use of each characters to progress. At sure factors in a stage, you may encounter a Demon Altar. Stepping into these will shift management over to Kumori, who should navigate a portion of the stage on her personal to succeed in an in any other case inaccessible change and open the trail ahead for Kenji. However, the kunoichi is tied to an vitality bar that steadily depletes as you discover, providing you with solely a quick window of time to finish your goal. It provides a satisfying puzzle-platforming ingredient to the sport, as you might want to rapidly maneuver via a winding part of the stage whereas additionally warding off enemies. Fortunately, there is no penalty for failing, so these segments by no means turn into irritating.That extends to the sport as a complete. Like earlier Ninja Gaidens, Ragebound is a difficult title, however it by no means feels unfair. Each stage is a gauntlet of enemies to chop down and hazards to navigate, typically in fast succession, and you will die steadily en path to the top. Crucially, enemies and traps are by no means cheaply positioned, so any setback you expertise looks like your personal fault. Checkpoints are sprinkled generously all through the levels, guaranteeing you will not must retread a lot floor if you do fail.The sport additionally supplies compelling incentives to replay ranges. Tucked all through are varied collectibles like crystal skulls and golden scarabs, the latter of which can be utilized as foreign money to buy equippable talismans and Ragebound Arts. You’re additionally ranked on the finish of a stage relying in your efficiency, with new objects unlocking within the store in case you obtain a sure rank, encouraging you to revisit earlier ranges to enhance your rating.For all of Ragebound’s profitable qualities, there are a number of blemishes. As nice because the pixel artwork visuals look, it is sometimes troublesome to tell apart which elements of the stage are surroundings and that are hazards, so there shall be occasions you unwittingly wander into hurt’s means. Moreover, some levels, notably within the again half of the sport, drag on a bit too lengthy, taking you thru the identical hazards and repeatedly throwing the identical sorts of enemies at you. This makes a number of of the degrees really feel extra repetitive than difficult.The total journey is on the brief aspect as nicely, spanning fewer than 30 levels between its foremost missions and secret ops ranges. The hidden collectibles do add some replayability, and also you unlock an much more difficult Hard mode upon clearing the story, however it in the end looks like the sport ends prematurely. There can be occasional slowdown within the Xbox One model, notably when too many enemies are onscreen directly. It would not have an effect on playability, however it’s noticeable simply the identical, so the best approach to expertise the sport is on a current-gen platform.Ultimately, these complaints do not detract from the general expertise. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is an exciting revival that efficiently channels the spirit of the basic sequence whereas additionally constructing upon it with some impressed new mechanics. It stays to be seen if the upcoming Ninja Gaiden 4 will likewise dwell as much as the sequence’ requirements, however Koei Tecmo’s Year of the Ninja is off to a superb begin.
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