The number of games that come out with Ninja in the title somewhere is actually getting quite alarming, especially as a lot of the time the game is pretty naff once you get into it, so when this new title was released it was with some trepidation that I put it into the disk drawer of my 360.

However, Ninja Blade is actually an awesome game packed with some outstanding moments of action with a terrific storyline and some quite diverse gameplay. It is not a perfect title and I will explain my reasons for that in a moment but it is certainly one that is worth purchasing and worth sticking with throughout.

The game tells the story of Ken Ogawa, a ninja battling against a horrific outbreak of parasitic creatures in modern day Tokyo. These creatures will stop at nothing to try and turn the entire city and all its population to rubble and the only person who can save it is the athletic Ken Ogawa.

I say athletic because at various points of the game you will find yourself diving out of helicopters or grabbing a motorbike in mid air or possibly scaling down the side of a multi-storey building and that is just in the first few levels. Infact there is more fighting and action in the opening introductory level then some games have in the final end of game boss battle.

The game ‘borrows’ ideas from various games that have gone before it, in that it is similar to Ninja Gaiden with a dollop of the kind of action found in God of War and also the platform levels of something like the Prince of Persia series and normally that would be enough to discredit this game and knock it down to the level of the mundane but for some reason when you are playing this game it dosent seem to matter.

For one thing the majority of the time you haven’t got time to think where you have played that bit of the game before because there is always something going on and you will get wrist pain very quickly playing this.

In fact that is my main problem with the game, the length of time between save points. The levels on this game are huge, detailed and full of action but unlike the majority of games of its type it dosent have save points scattered throughout the levels and you quite literary could have to play for an hour plus before you will get to the next save point. This is not the game to play for half an hour before you go to work or bed for example.

Graphically everything moves very smoothly animation wise and some of the designs of the monsters and characters you meet are very well done. The city itself is a mixture of interesting and bland bits with a lot of buildings not looking much different to each other but I guess that could be said of any game set within a modern city or even modern cities themselves.

Sound wise, strangely the vocal acting is a mixture of English and Japanese. It could be that the developers have done this to try and add some authenticity to the proceedings but infact all it does it nerve jangle a little bit. However the music and effects are excellent and really add to the game especially during the excellent cinematic cut scenes.

Overall as I think I made clear at the start of the review I like this game a lot despite the fact that perhaps I shouldn’t considering the number of games it steals ideas from. It even steals some from the ancient Dragons Lair at various points where you have to push the button indicated on screen to achieve your purpose. I know many reviewers will probably have marked the game down because of this but actually it all gels so well that the many parts make quite an excellent whole.

Certainly the best game with the work Ninja in the title for a long time.