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Ninja Gaiden: past to present

These articles were originally published separately, but after posting them I felt they belonged together so I combined them into one big piece. As a result each article was slightly altered to prevent double explanations and to have the story flow better. As an extra this version includes a short epilogue about the Ninja Gaiden community. And lastly, this article was given a make-over to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Ninja Gaiden on October 2018. Enjoy! (一) CHAPTER ONE ninja gaiden 覚えゲー(pronounced OH boe GHe ) is a term often used to describe games that focus on the player memorizing the patterns of his enemies to continue through the game, loosely translating to “ remember the game ”. The original Ninja Gaiden on the Nintendo Entertainment System from 1988 was one such game. Filled with unexpected traps and combinations of foes that had to be circumvented to reach the end goal. The larger than life boss fights were equally pattern based, each with distinct

Depth versus Complexity

You are surrounded. The attackers are everywhere, angels reign down from the skies while the demons crawl up from the depths below. Bullets, energy blasts, axes and spears fly...Nowhere is safe. You have but a split second to decide what you’re going to do and how you're going to dispatch of your foes. That thoughtprocess can be one of the most exhilarating moments. The choices that ran through your head showed a deep array of possibilities, but what exactly is Depth ? And why is it often confused with another term: Complexity ? Let’s watch them square off: Depth versus Complexity In a sense, action games are a curious genre. Instead of being built around that single playthrough for maximum enjoyment, the meat of the games tends to come from frequent revisits. They up the challenge on higher settings in new ways , twist the structure around and promote experimentation above all else. Games such as these urge you to dig deeper constantl

Boss Battle Analysis: Azel - God Hand

Taking a break from the looks at a singular game, let us look at what makes a boss-fight function. What makes it good, what makes it bad; starting with Azel from the Playstation 2 game God Hand . If we were to categorize bosses, Azel would fall under the ‘dark version of yourself’ bosses. He’s the mirror to the protagonist Gene ; of what is possible with the game mechanics at offer, which makes him even more an intimidating foe. There are no ‘unfair’ fallbacks possible. If you have it so does he. It is due to this setup that beating him will give the feeling that you’ve mastered the mechanics of the game, as you’ve essentially beaten the ‘designer’ at his own game. Azel is the binary manifestation of the designers playing as Gene against your own Gene . God Hand is a game that allows four types of offensive when it comes to attacks. A fully customisable moveset on the one side, empowering yourself with the "God Hand" to gain temporary immortality and stronger attacks

What Makes A Game Unfair?

One glance at the content available on Youtube and we see a player getting hit. They quickly retort “ there was nothing I could do” followed by “ man that was unfair ” . This quick judgement is more and more public these days, making the term ‘unfair’ have a meaning that is slowly going out of control. Go to any gaming-forum and you’ll find a topic stating how that one boss breaks the rules or how that one scenario is impossible. But is this a case of them blaming the game for their own shortcomings, or is it really stacking the deck against them? It is worth considering: when is a game truly unfair, what makes it so and should a game even be fair to begin with? To do this we’ll mostly focus on three more modern titles; Vanquish , Nioh and the Souls games. The first element that plays a role in unfair-design is the expectation of the game going in. A title like Ninja Gaiden is known for its difficulty, but a game like Yakuza: Kiwami is not - if the latter is just as hard as t

Weapon-switching: quality or quantity?

If there is one nail in the coffin for action titles it’s when a review begins by saying: " the game lacks combat-options or depth ", while this is often not the case. Games like Bayonetta offer a huge variety of weapon combinations to the player while others like Killer is Dead only have a single weapon. One can assume the former is better but it goes much further than that. A mechanic like weapon-switching - which allows the player to switch between weapons, abilities or even complete move-sets on the fly - has to fit the vision of the game to be work; thus it needs careful consideration. This article will cover the different ways action games have handled weapon-switching, together with the up and downsides to each one and what it does to the overall game. Not every usage is done perfectly and some don’t even fit the games used in the example, but I hope this article will show that the combat system of games like Devil May Cry 4 and Bayonetta 2 aren’t the only one worth

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