Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound Comment – Cuts above

Like the best revival, Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound It feels like it could have come from another era. Produced by Blasphemous Developer The Game Kitchen, RageBound is a deliberately old-fashioned action game that captures the essence of the classic Ninja Gaiden series, with keen gameplay, challenging levels, and glorious retro visuals and music that will feel at home on Super NES. It also builds on some clever new mechanics, on which it is not just a parody of early games.

Rather than controlling the series Mainstay Ryu, Ragebound follows two new protagonists: Kenji Mozu, the untested cadet of the Hayabusa clan; and Kumori, the mysterious Kunoichi from rival Black Spider clan. When Kenji stepped in to save the village of hayabusa from sudden demonic attacks, the fate of the two was entangled, and they stood by their joint abilities with the demonic forces that threatened the world.

Like many other aspects of the game, Ragebound's plot is pure Ninja Gaidon: Scattershot, ridiculous, and ultimately irrelevant. To stop Lord Demon from being released, Kenji and Cuomori head to various locations in Japan to fight against weird monsters, command occasional vehicles, and eventually get entangled in CIA affairs. It's something intentionally stupid, and it offers developers plenty of opportunities to stir players through a range of memorable attractions, from ancient Japanese villages and castles to busy construction sites, flooded pirate bays and secret military facilities.

The opening behavior shifts the focus between the two protagonists as they can use different abilities, each with a unique flavor. Kenji relies on his samurai dog to send enemies like the traditional Ninja Gaiden hero. Meanwhile, Kumori prefers long-range attacks, killing the enemy from a distance from her Kunai. Both share some skills, such as Dodge Roll, which can be used as a evasion operation or in combination with an attack button to perform lunges. The movements are smooth and responsive, and both characters feel appropriately acrobatic and deadly.

In addition to this basic action, the game kitchen also introduces some intelligent new abilities to further enrich the action. The most important thing is the overcharge. By defeating enemies with a specific aura (or sacrificing your health), you can enter a temporary boost state that greatly increases the power of your next attack, hitting most enemies in one hit. This is an exciting addition. As you travel through a level, it is very satisfying to sculpt enemies with good over-cost attacks and enhance your own unstoppable ninja feel.

Also crucial is the guillotine lift, which is a spinning kick that allows you to bounce enemies and projectiles in the air. This move is twice as good as defensive measures and traversal skills. Many stages will require you to strengthen a series of air enemies of the guillotine to cross danger or rise to higher levels, adding a satisfying sense of platform to the action.

In this story, Cumorri's soul merges with Kenji, allowing him to be crammed with abilities and unlocks another new skill: the art of the same name ragebound. These powerful special attacks can be released after you get enough rage balls and are especially handy in tension, such as when you are overwhelmed by enemies or fighting a powerful boss in the game. You can also purchase and equip different Ragebound art as you progress throughout the game, giving you the freedom to freely customize your game style.

Despite being merged together, the game often separates Kenji and Kumori, requiring you to improve with two characters. At a certain level, you will encounter a demon altar. Stepping into these will move to Kumori, who has to browse part of the stage by himself to reach the switch that was otherwise inaccessible and opens up a path for Kenji to move forward. However, Kunoichi is connected to the energy bar that you gradually run out of while exploring, giving you only a short time to achieve your goal. It adds a satisfying puzzle platform element to the game as you need to quickly manipulate in the winding section of the stage while also being able to resist enemies. Fortunately, there are no fines for failure, so these segments will never be frustrating.

This extends to the entire game. Like Ninja Gaidens before, Ragebound is a challenging title, but never unfair. Each stage is an enemy glove that reduces danger, usually navigates rapidly and you will die frequently. It is crucial that enemies and traps are never placed cheaply, so any setbacks you encounter feel like your own fault. Checkpoints are sprinkled generously throughout the stage, ensuring you don’t have to reread the ground when you fail.

The game also provides compelling incentives for replay levels. There are various collections throughout the process, such as crystal skulls and golden lollipops, which can be used as currency to buy typical amulets and ragebound art. You can also unlock new items in the store based on your performance rankings at the end of the stage, if you get a certain ranking, encouraging you to revisit your previous level to improve your score.

There are some flaws in all the successful qualities of Ragebound. Just like the pixel art visual appearance, it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish which parts of the stage are landscapes and which are dangerous, so sometimes you will fall into the way of hurt without knowing it. Additionally, there are some stages, especially in the second half of the game, that delay for too long, taking you into the same danger and repeatedly throwing the same enemies at you. This makes some levels more repetitive than challenging.

Overall adventure is also short, with less than 30 stages in the range between its main mission and the level of covert action. Hidden collectibles do add some replayability and unlock more challenging hard modes when clearing the story, but it ends up feeling like the game ends prematurely. The Xbox One version also slows down occasionally, especially when there are too many enemies on the screen at once. It won't affect playability, but it's worth noting that the ideal way to experience the game is on the current platform.

Ultimately, these complaints do not harm the overall experience. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is an exciting revival that successfully conveys the spirit of the classic series while also building it on it as some inspired new mechanics. Whether the upcoming Ninja Gaiden 4 will equally meet the criteria of the series, but it remains to be seen that Koei Tecmo's Ninja Year has made a good start.