Ninja Gaiden Sigma – Orientating Oneself in Tairon

July 14th, 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqsPWM_ouIw

Watch a few minutes of the video above. What do you notice about the nature of the environment? And what effect do you think these things would have on the player?

Here are some observations I made whilst playing:

The wall textures look similar throughout Tairon.
There are many realistically modelled doors, but most are static textures.
Tairon consists of a network of winding pathways which branch out in multiple directions.
The large hall near Military Gate looks appears to be a hub, but isn’t.
It’s possible to dash around the rooftops, yet only about half of the visible accessible elevated areas are actually accessible.
Blood splatters are non-permanent.
When you revisit areas, fallen enemies respawn anew.

The visual and structural design, as well as the lack of permanency, make it difficult to orientate oneself within Tairon. Because most rooms are narrow and bendy in shape, it is harder for the player to define the room as a simple shape, a technique which is useful when organising the town layout into a mental schema (for example, “the big round room comes after the narrow walkway”). The samey texturing and lack of landmarks similarly deny the player the visual resources with which they can make each room in their mental model of Tairon distinct from the rest. The constant respawning of foot soldiers every second time the player returns to a room prevents one from using the presence of enemies as a means of monitoring their movement through the environment. And, finally, the doors and ledges deceive the player into investigating unnecessary dead ends. Tairon, as a site the player must traverse in various ways throughout the adventure, is a somewhat sluggish stop gap that punctuates the otherwise linear and forward-moving sets of Ninja Gaiden Sigma.

DS Play Impressions (Before China)

October 2nd, 2008

ninja gaiden dragon sword

Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword

Ninja Gaiden is a series made famous by its crushingly tough demands of dexterity and coordination. You need to be one step ahead of your enemy and in full control of the situation at all times. It’s interesting then to observe how this title has been adapted to the most accessible console on the market.

While the PSone-styled, 3D-models-on-pre-rendered-backdrop production is fantastic and covers up alot of hardware limitations, the game design is really where it’s at. Basically Tecmo have taken this teeth-crunchingly difficult franchise, suited only towards hardened players and added some breathing space to the play mechanics so that it can be enjoyed by a wider group of players while still respectable to its roots. All actions are performed with the stylus; you draw a line to slash, tap to throw a projectile etc. Because the physical actions match the moves that Ryu performs on screen, understanding how to play requires little time and once you’ve conquered a few of the initial battles it doesn’t take long to become fluent.

Furthermore, the more complicated constructs aren’t really complicated at all. To perform “magic” you touch an icon on the minimalistic interface and then trace the on screen Japanese character to perform. Additional spells can be selected from the same menu, just a quick tap away.

The camera angle is also fixed and scrolls automatically if you move to the next part of the area. This reduces the player’s dependence on camera control, keeping the emphasis on the action. The other mechanics such as combos, karma and upgrades are all naturally blended into the gameplay and the game eases you in nicely.

Dragon Sword is a short game (8hrs) and you’ll probably not want to play it more than once. There’s a whole bunch of additional content which will please fans of the series looking for an added challenge. I warn you though, you’ll be doing the same thing again and again (room, invisible door appears, beat baddies, next room, puzzle). While this is essentially the formula of the whole game, by the time you get to the end you only then begin to tire of the same repitive process. There’s always just enough spice to keep you interested and the games combat; a wishy-washy-mish-mash of stylus acrobatics feel well honed and just a great way to kill time. Another successful franchise, re-engineered for the DS hardware, worth your gold.

Guitar Hero On Tour

Even though I shared my thoughts on this iteration of the Guitar Hero franchise sometime ago, just recently (as in probably a month ago now!) I managed to get some closer hands on impressions of the game so I wanted to document how my feelings have changed since then.

First things first, no matter how you hold the hand grip, On Tour is still going to cramp your hand, wrist and/or fingers to the point of arthritic torture. There is no way around it – for this game to function you need a peripheral, and that peripheral needs to be of certain dimensions and make up. It isn’t then so much the fault of the peripheral but rather a lack of alternative ways to experience Guitar Hero on a handheld. So when push comes to shove, I recommend that you try the game first.

Guitar Hero On Tour Ad

Peripheral aside, I honestly don’t think that the game itself could be improved to a substantial degree. I’ve heard a lot of negative criticism level towards the empty graphics and short track list but really, how much decent quality MP3 and bitmap graphics can you cram into a 128mb game card? Not much I’d say.

Everything else in the game is authentic to the franchise. The music is definitely teen friendly, which is another reason fans of the serious seem to lose their marbles over this title. Seriously, this game is marketed towards the a younger market, not yet ready for the insane note crunching of the bigger titles. In this regard On Tour is a winner and more than adequately cuts it as a portable rendition of the popular franchise. Fantastic marketing decision too and it shows from the sales.

Posted in Game Discussion | Comments (0)
Tags: Guitar Hero, ninja gaiden