Ninja Issen is a fast, furious cyberpunk platformer in the spirit of Shinobi, out today
Tenchu out of 10?
If you are in the mood for a game about dancing around screens full of energy beams and projectiles, searching for that fleeting window of space in which you can stop and perform an attack, I recommend trying the demo for Ninja Issen. If you miss 8 or 16-bit platformers like Shinobi or the original Ninja Gaiden, I also recommend trying the demo for Ninja Issen. If you liked The Messenger - classique Ninja Gaiden's greatest heir - but wished it was More Cyberpunk with cheesy PG-rated holographic dancing girls and Comix Zone-style story panels, I also also recommend trying the demo for Ninja Issen.
Out today, it's the work of solo Korean dev Asteroid-J, and based on the first level, is pretty decent. It does have quite a lot of dialogue for a ninja platformer, but the dialogue is tongue-in-cheek, and hopefully it'll fall by the wayside as you push beyond the tutorial sections.
Let's Talk Plot! You are a ninja found in an alley with his arm missing, like a lost kitten who is also a dreadful mass-murderer. You are rescued by some kind of benevolent scientist uncle, treated to a fix-me-up montage that leaves you with a fancy cybernetic arm, and packed off to Pixelart Cyberville (actual name forgotten) to murder waves of lesser cyber-ninjas, cyber-astronauts with jetpacks, cyber-turrets that shoot cyber-bullets, and cyber-hovertrucks with mouths that shoot cyber-lasers. Occasionally you fall into a cyber-deadfall, but that's OK, because you get lots of Continues and there's a checkpoint system. This isn't a one-hit-kill game, either - you can tank a surprising number of plasma bolts to the head, though I wouldn't make a habit of it.
Where ninjas of the Mega Drive era often had to make do with naught but a jump button, an attack button and a menacing attitude, Ninja Issen positively loads you down with high tech tricks from the off. You can blink-strike through conga lines of attackers, conjure orbiting fireballs that deal some damage while you're double-jumping and dodging, cloak yourself and hurl shurikens. I'm guessing there's more to follow. Ninja Iron Man, more like! Wait, is that genuinely a thing? Goodness me, it is! There's even a figurine.
The demo levels include some on-rails bits with people shooting at you while you ride an elevator platform, some Celestey platforming sections that hinge on reasonably timely feats of teleportation, and a few arena battles where you have to slaughter everybody to switch off a forcefield. It sets a good tempo. I have to say, though, I downloaded mostly because the city backdrop reminded me somewhat of Sonic's more built-up Zones, jiggling hologirls aside - Casino Night meets Scrapyard, perhaps? Where's my homing spin attack, Asteroid-J?