If you haven’t had your fill of ninjas, cyborgs, or zombies, then Keiji Inafune’s upcoming action title Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z should be written on your wishlist in blood. Gameplay videos depict over-the-top Ninja Gaiden action set in a comic-book world. Team Ninja is even involved with the project and Ryu Hayabusa of Ninja Gaiden fame will be the game’s primary villain.
The catch? You’ll have to stomach some dreadfully immature humor along the way. Watch the trailer on mute if you want to be impressed.
From what I’ve seen the gameplay looks like Ninja Gaiden on uppers: anti-hero Yaiba slashes hoards of zombies in half with one whirlwind slice, then streaks ahead to slice off legs and impale survivors from the scalp on down. Blood splatters, gushes, and erupts everywhere as Yaiba grabs, slashes, and dismembers everything in his path.
It remains to be seen just how challenging the game will be, and I feel the difficulty level will make or break this one. Yaiba looks like an unstoppable force in the videos, and his zombie foes hobble-wobble around like you’d expect. Whether Yaiba: NGZ proves worthy of bearing the Ninja Gaiden name depends entirely on how these enemies can adapt to Yaiba’s carnage. Since Team Ninja and Mega Man’s producer are involved with this one, there’s hope that this doesn’t turn into a button-masher or mindless hack-n-slash.
It does look a bit more mindless hack and slash than what I want from Ninja Gaiden, but still looks a little fun.
I’m eager to try a demo, but like you said I fear this one will succumb to button mashing at point. Ninja Gaiden, on the other hand, is poetry.