{"id":628705,"date":"2024-07-25T13:03:43","date_gmt":"2024-07-25T10:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/ninja-slayer-neo-saitama-in-flames-delivers-weak-ninja-action\/"},"modified":"2024-07-25T13:03:43","modified_gmt":"2024-07-25T10:03:43","slug":"ninja-slayer-neo-saitama-in-flames-delivers-weak-ninja-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/ninja-slayer-neo-saitama-in-flames-delivers-weak-ninja-action\/","title":{"rendered":"#Ninja Slayer Neo-Saitama in Flames Delivers Weak Ninja Action"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I had a feeling that <\/span>Ninja Slayer Neo-Saitama in Flames<\/span><\/i> wasn\u2019t going to be good when I noticed that <\/span>its trailer<\/span><\/a> spent most of its time obscuring the action instead of properly showcasing the game<\/a>play. A part of me still hoped that this could be a basic but decent, 7\/10 2D action-platformer with satisfyingly violent combat, but those hopes started to melt as early as the tutorial when I discovered that striking enemies felt less satisfying than hitting a curtain.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ninja Slayer Neo-Saitama in Flames <\/span><\/i>is based on a manga<\/a> series<\/a>, which is itself based on a novel series by<\/span> Bradley Bond<\/b> and<\/span> Philip \u201cNinj@\u201d Morzez<\/b>. There\u2019s also a <\/span>TRIGGER<\/b>-produced anime, <\/span>Ninja Slayer From Animation<\/span><\/i>, which was directed by the GRIDMAN UNIVERSE series\u2019 <\/span>Akira Amemiya<\/b>. If, like me, you weren\u2019t familiar with <\/span>Ninja Slayer <\/span><\/i>before, the game quickly explains through a non-animated and unvoiced cutscene as to why the main character, who has a ninja soul possessing him, is on a quest for revenge against the forces of the Sokai Syndicate. Despite the revenge theme<\/a>, the game isn\u2019t very serious, with the limited quantities of writing embracing a bland, pulpy tone.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

That quest takes Ninja Slayer into the city of Neo-Saitama, where he has to get to the end of several stages \u2014 most of which can be tackled in any order \u2014 using basic side-scrolling platforming and combat. Combat in this game is a strange experience. The most basic enemies will die in one hit, which meshes well with the ability to attack while maintaining full speed, but everyone else \u2014 ranging from sumos and yellow-suited men to lions and helicopters \u2014 is too tanky to be enjoyable to fight, even when I mix in dash attacks and shurikens. You can use several variants of the hard-hitting Hissatsu Waza attacks, which deplete charges that are built up by defeating enemies, to take out the stronger enemies quickly, but I found it much more fun to run away whenever killing them wasn\u2019t compulsory for the progression of a stage.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Completing a stage provides a new ability or special attack, the most fun and useful of which is the humble double-jump, or a tiny health increase. Finishing them all unlocks a final tower that contains a series of boss fights. I didn\u2019t make it to the top of that tower, which is why this isn\u2019t labelled as a review. The reason for that is because, after several \u201cboss stages\u201d that only consisted of cutscenes, I ended up facing a speedy flying boss with a persistent bug that causes him to take no damage whenever he\u2019s not attacking. This unintended invulnerability period made the battle so tiresome that, after spending around two of my nine total hours on this one boss, I decided that it wasn\u2019t worth persevering.<\/span><\/p>\n

That boss is called Hellkite, and his stage, which is two rungs below the final boss, does better than any other (a rooftop-set stage does come close, though) to highlight the issue with <\/span>Neo-Saitama in Flames<\/span><\/i>\u2019 camera: it\u2019s too damn close to the action. Environmental hazards, traps, and some enemy attacks often are unpleasant surprises, and the fact that the traps in Hellkite\u2019s stage are instant-death spikes makes things worse. Often, I would narrowly avoid those spikes and jump or dash my way back up to the small platforms where the action primarily took place, only to run into a stun or a swift charge. In one attempt, I died from a sudden dive attack that I couldn\u2019t meaningfully react to in time. An annoyance that\u2019s more specific to this stage is how mid-air jumping or holding dash \u2014 which suspends Ninja Slayer in place for a time, even in mid-air\u00a0 \u2014 would sometimes fail to trigger and cause Ninja Slayer to just drop into the spikes without resistance.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Aside from the camera and Hellkite, many elements in the game made me ask, \u201cWhy?\u201d For instance, there\u2019s an unlockable grappling rope that hard counters one of the regular stage bosses, but is much less useful against everyone else because it only stuns that particular foe. Hit detection is shoddy when you and an enemy are up against a corner, which happens often enough to be annoying. At certain points, the game mindlessly floods the area with enemies. Outside of doing wall jumps, <\/span>Neo-Saitama in Flames<\/span><\/i> just feels unsatisfying to play.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Some of the frustration is alleviated by Naraku Mode, a special ability provided by the ninja soul inside our protagonist. It activates when you die for the first time, and becomes available again when you die a second time and restart from a checkpoint. Naraku Mode provides a second-life opportunity, as well as a temporary period of invulnerability and a lot of extra damage. It\u2019s a neat thing to have since health pickups aren\u2019t that common, and it also feels essential against most bosses. For the majority of the boss fights, I resorted to carefully chipping away at their health \u2014 Hissatsu Waza attacks are greatly nerfed against bosses \u2014 until they could be finished off with Naraku Mode. There wasn\u2019t a single boss I enjoyed battling.<\/span><\/p>\n

Level variety is one of the few places where <\/span>Neo-Saitama in Flames<\/span><\/i> does a decent job. The verticality and fiery hazards of the burning Abandoned Building contrast starkly with the much flatter Kokeshi Mart, which lets you knock the bodies of squids around (for some reason, the squids enable you to do more damage to enemies). In the Homeless Camp, you have to find <\/span>ohagi<\/span><\/a> for an NPC who\u2019s addicted to the snack so that he can recover and continue to knock down walls, allowing you to progress. The boss areas at the end of these levels are less memorable, but some do contain features like teleporters or traps that set them apart from their peers.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The comic-inspired visual style for <\/span>Neo-Saitama in Flames<\/span><\/i> gives it a veneer of identity. As part of the visual flair and a replacement for in-game enemy voices, Japanese text will frequently appear in the air, which was how I figured out that I needed to find ohagi for the previously mentioned NPC. The game looks best when it\u2019s night and neon lights and hazards light up the screen, but general<\/a>ly, it just looks a little dated and blurry. And despite the giant flashes that accompany attacks and the semi-frequent splash screens, it never feels stylish enough.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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I\u2019ve been told that a <\/span>time attack mode becomes available after completing the main content. <\/span>You can also replay stages that you\u2019ve already cleared for a better score or to find secrets, which allowed me to confirm that Abandoned Building is much easier to go through with double jumping, which for some reason is the first unlock instead of a default ability. Unfortunately, the ability to revisit Neo-Saitama isn\u2019t tempting in the slightest when the bones of the game are this brittle. Ninja slaying sounds like a badass activity, but in this game, it just feels underwhelming.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Played on: PC (Steam)<\/span><\/p>\n

Available on: Steam, Nintendo Switch<\/span><\/p>\n

Release date: July 24, 2024<\/span><\/p>\n

Developer:\u00a0Skeleton Crew Studio<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Publisher: KADOKAWA (KADOKAWA Game Linkage)<\/strong>, ABC Animation\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>\n <\/div>\n