Shinobi Art of Vengeance Review
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is a masterclass is how to properly reboot a dormant gaming IP, as it honors the tenets of the iconic series, but decisively plants a flag as the new identity for the series moving forward. Art of Vengeance is freight train of excellence with zero filler. Controls are precise, visuals are stunning, pacing is perfect, balance is fine tuned, soundtrack is great and best of all, it didnt need to change its identity as success was within all along.
Shinobi Art of Vengeance Review
There was a moment in time when Shinobi was one of Sega’s Crown Jewels. A series that was known for being ahead of its time in many ways. Unfortunately, in the mid 90’s, Shinobi lost its way like many series did as they attempted to navigate the changing landscapes and in 2011, after many attempts to reimagine the series in 3D, Shinobi finally went dormant.
At The Game Awards in December 2023, Sega showed fans that they had not forgotten their legacy titles with a trailer teasing reboots of five of their most iconic IP. Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage and of course Shinobi. The trailer touted a new era for these classic franchises and that’s exactly what Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is for the legendary series.
You once again play as Joe Musashi, Master of the Ninja Arts and leader of the Oboro Clan, who is at a later stage in his life and has settled down in the Japanese countryside. However, this peace does not last as the evil ENE Corporation seek world domination and Joe’s village stands in the way. At the forefront of the quest for world domination is Lord Ruse and once his Lord Ruse has burned the village to the ground, a fire is ignited within Joe Mushashi and just like John Wick he is pulled back in and will stop at nothing until Lord Ruse lies dead at his feet and the ENE Corporation has been stopped.
The bamboo forests that Joe used to call home is where you begin your quest, which serves as a tutorial on wheels, and provides just enough narrative exposition to engage you, but not slow down the pacing. The controls feel extremely intuitive, precise and in the blink of an eye you will be using every single button and trigger on your controller as Shinobi is the type of game that controllers fear, as you push the small plastic pieces to their absolute limits.
Your quest for vengeance takes you to over a dozen highly realized locations from crimson coloured dunes, neon soaked skylines, secret lairs hidden atop snow peaked mountains, submarines, labs and many other eye popping levels. I could recommend Shinobi: Art of Vengeance based on the visuals alone, as it feels like playing on top of concept art at times. There is an attention to the little details that greatly increases immersion from the docks, you will occasionally see a reflection of yourself in small puddles, on the submarine marine life will act realistically and at the fish market flies buzz around the rotting product.
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance felt like a freight train as the ten hours flew by because you are constantly being presented with something new. The environments quickly shift, the amount of different enemy types is astounding, new bosses constantly provided unique challenges, set pieces are peppered throughout, bonus stages between major areas that served as a respite from the platforming levels, but the most important thing was how your abilities constantly evolved with new equipment and skills, drastically altering the beast Joe Musashi is.
Armed with nothing more than a Katana and a handful of Kunai, Joe must quickly learn the Ninja Arts beginning with the Shinobi execution, which is a prompt over the enemy once you wear down their stance and allows you to instantly dispose of them instantly. Next is the art of Ninpo, which is a combat tool that allows Joe to harness the elements such as Fire and Water, which deal heavy damage.
However, the true Art of Vengeance is the Ninjutsu Arts, which are game changing abilities. The first one you learn is Karyu, where Joe summons the mythical dragons and deals immense damage to everyone on screen. You will also have the ability to find other Ninjutsus such as a healing one, which I found to be the most helpful, but as strong as all of these Ninja Arts are, they never feel overpowered.
In addition to the Ninja arts, Joe will also harness the power of Ningi equipment, which range from claws to hold onto certain walls, gliders to use wind currents to ascend, or learn how to smash through reinforced walls and floors. Although this might sound like a metroidvania, Art of Vengeance is a pure, 2D action platformer. You will pass areas in the early stages that are clearly gated by your lack of skills, but these areas aren’t required to advance the story or complete your quest for vengeance.
Instead, these areas serve as a teaser and compel you to return and achieve full completion on each level, which are full of hidden items ranging from oboro relics which expand the shop, secret chests which contain amulets that can affect your abilities, elite squads to fight and an ankou rift, which are where the most devious platforming sections reside and hold the hidden pieces of the dark katana. These diabolical sections had no checkpoints felt reminiscent of Celeste or The Lost Crown.
On your first pass of the levels, hidden areas and points of interest will be automatically marked on your map, along with fast travel checkpoints, which make returning a joy and not a punishment. Lizardcube also brought along their experience from Streets of Rage 4 as you will constantly be juggling and hitting enemies off the screen walls for triple digit combos without being hit, which is extremely gratifying.
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance will take at least ten hours, but easily double to see and complete everything. The journey is accented by a fantastic soundtrack and plenty of callbacks to the original trilogy including a familiar boss, a rocket surfboard level, falling rock levels and even Joe Musashi not saying a word. Even with all of the orignal trilogy woven into the fabric of Art of Vengeance, Lizardcube still create an experience that feels almost like Deja Vu. Something that’s wholly original, but evokes a feeling of familiarity.
CRITICISMS
The main criticism is that the narrative is one of the major elements of Shinobi that was heavily inspired by the original trilogy as it followed a similar blueprint with ENE being the new evil corporation in place of Zeed. The plot was fairly predictable, there weren’t any surprises and some of the voice acting lacked personality, not including Joe, who doesn’t say any words.
You are encouraged to return to earlier levels when you find new equipment to explore areas that you couldn’t access before, but returning to these stages doesn’t incorporate the events that transpire in the narrative like the village that burned down, but when you return to the first stage, life is still relatively pleasant.
I also found the font to be a very odd choice, was slightly hard to read and didn’t fit the overall style of the rest of the game.
IS SHINOBI ART OF VENGEANCE WORTH IT?
Earlier in the year, we pitted Shinobi Art of Vengeance and Ninja Gaiden Ragebound against each other as it was impossible to discuss one 2D Ninja reboot without the other one. Ragebound is a great game, but it pales in comparison to this immaculate experience. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is a fantastic return to form, as it will easily be the best Ninja game of the year, possibly the best 2D platformer of the year, and makes a strong case to be a game of the year candidate. With their passion for the series and their incredible artistic talents, Lizardcube have not only outdone themselves, but have also proven that the Shinobi didn’t need to move to 3D to evolve the series.
If Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is a sign of things to come from Sega rebooting their dormant, iconic franchises, then this might be the best time to be a Sega fan since they were still making hardware.
