893rd played so far
Genre: Action
Platform: Mega Drive
Year of Release: 1989
Developer: Sega
Publisher: Sega
I’m sure I’ve mentioned wanting to make sure I spread out entries in a series, but I haven’t done a great job with Shinobi. I played the previous one just over two years ago, but here we’ve got the second of its platformers while the Playstation 2 3D action/adventuer still waits (the box is in our big pile right now). With a three entries series, I should probably start the second before we reach the final 100, so here goes…
Our Thoughts
I guess this is the point where I mention that there isn’t that much that I feel I can add to the game. The game still looks nice, considering the time in which it was made, as before, and that helps make it nice to play.
At the same time, there are its differences. You’re no longer scurrying around the level to rescue different hostages – your only goal is to reach the end of the level, as your one hostage is there. It’s a bit of streamlining of the design, but in this case means it just blends in further with the many other action platformers that we see here.
On the other hand, the moves you get feel a lot better. You get several different attacks. They’re limited by ammo counts – making the game even more difficult – but there are some options. The enemy variety is still great enough that you can keep planning around that, which helps build up that combination.
Final Thoughts
Like Shinobi, Revenge of Shinobi takes the existing genre and executes it well, creating a game that’s varied but also very, very difficult – too difficult to show too much of itself to me, but it’s clear there’s still a reason why it’s this notable. I’m not sure it’s an improvement over its predecessor – I’d style it as a step sideways, showing something different to be done within the series.