Tough ninja

by ERIK LEIJON

A popular topic of conversation among hardcore gamers is bragging about one’s proficiency at beating the toughest games ever made. It’s been said that they don’t make games like they used to; in the ’80s and early ’90s, games were so mind-numbingly difficult that the mere act of defeating that final boss was an achievement worthy of folk legend.

Let’s face it, one of the main reasons YouTube was created was for gaming experts to post their greatest feats—from finishing that ridiculous never-ending Battletoads hoverboard level to the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game, the one with the one-hit kill seaweed.

Ninja Gaiden II (X360/Microsoft, Team Ninja) is part of a dying breed: the insanely difficult game meant to try your patience and the structural integrity of your controller. The only problem is back in the day, games were tough as a means of providing good replay value. The priorities of gaming have changed, and Ninja Gaiden II is of a bygone era.

HACK ATTACK:
Ninja Gaiden II

Starring the legendary masked ninja Ryu Hayabusa, Gaiden II is a third-person hack and slash game similar to the God of War titles. Every level pits Hayabusa against hundreds of monsters and undead creatures, in addition to epic boss fights. The sword-wielding, star-throwing ninja literally cuts up his foes into multiple bloody pieces, a feat all the more impressive because the bodies lay there indefinitely, creating awesome looking piles of hacked limbs. These fights aren’t particularly difficult since Hayabusa can heal himself at any time with ease.

Where the game needed to excel, and ultimately stumbled, was during the frustrating boss fights, which are hard as a result of horrid camera angles and questionable controls. Certainly not lacking in the design department, these breathtaking bosses throw every possible attack at Hayabusa, most of them being unblockable.

Unfortunately, too often you won’t even see what’s killing you because the camera reset button doesn’t properly centre behind Ryu. The third boss is this flying metal fish with a human head, an otherwise easy boss provided the camera doesn’t get caught swinging around the tight-fitting tunnel. Also, many of the special moves are done in a similar fashion and are context-specific, so in the thick of battle, Ryu can be unresponsive.

There’s nothing wrong with a difficult video game but fighting the same boss dozens of times will get anyone’s blood boiling. If this were 1990, Ninja Gaiden II would have been the norm, but today it seems like a cheap way to make the game memorable. With such a great storyline and elaborate level designs, it seems pointless to be stuck on the same fight scenes.

Depth perception

Things are not as they appear in Echochrome (PS3/SCE, Japan Studios), the Lemmings meets M.C. Escher puzzle game available on the PS3 as a Playstation Store download and the PSP. Inspired by the works of Escher and the impossible constructions of Oscar Reutersvärd, players must guide a tiny black and white character across 3D structures that defy logic.

By shifting the camera around each structure, lines that weren’t connected from another angle will all of a sudden connect as you alter perspective. The best comparison would be the gravity defying Escher drawing “Relativity.”

Featuring sleek, black lines and a punchy classical music soundtrack, Echochrome manages to be both trippy as well as a highly intelligent puzzler.

The 56 levels coupled with a level editor will provide sufficient challenge for anyone, although the game inexplicably contains a time limit, which makes the tougher stages less enjoyable as you fight the clock. Echochrome is a triumph of outside the box thinking.