Ninja knockout

by ERIK LEIJON

The convergence of interactive video gaming and action-packed cinematics is taking too damn long to come to fruition. Oh sure, the odd Gears of War or Killzone will come a-roaring in the room on a steed of epic, Hollywood-style cutscenes and cold sweat-inducing, itchy trigger finger killing action, but the mythical complete package—with a timeless storyline and action-packed gameplay coming together in an inextricable gooey romance of synergy—is still stuck on the starting block.

It arrived with nary a whimper on this side of the Pacific, but the Japanese action-slasher Ninja Blade (X360/Microsoft, From Software) is a surprisingly ballsy and confident attempt to bridge that eternal divide, and is as successful at opening potential new doors for future iterations as it is at demonstrating precisely why there is a considerable ways to go before developers can truly perfect the interactive experience.

The camera is a nuisance, there are too many distracting objects hovering around and the hack-n-slash ninja combat meets God of War context-specific button pressing events is old hat, yet every so often futuristic blade wielder Ken Ogawa would get thrown into a new gameplay situation that would floor me with ambition, if not occasionally in execution.

Taking place in Tokyo, where a post-parasitic infection has turned the population into hunchbacked mutants, Ken typically starts his mission in a helicopter above the city, brimming with life as the bright skyscrapers and moving traffic below give the city unparalleled energy considering it’s just the background. The urban environments eventually come into play as Ken leaps from building to building, or even scales them from the side, usually while accosted by some huge bug-like enemy.

The gameplay here is quick and timing-based, but the sheer scope of starting from a point above the city and then being able to interact with the buildings below takes away the feeling that you’re stuck on a rigid path from level to level.

Shenmue created them and God of War popularized them, but Ninja Blade proves quick time events (QTE) can still be an effective method in keeping players involved during cinematic sequences. Compared to Ninja Gaiden, the mutants here are considerably more inventive and are simply more interesting to kill, especially with Ken’s extensive collection of weaponry.

The problem with QTEs is how when a player fails to press a button on time, there are no branching paths where the character’s inability to succeed can actually alter gameplay. If you fail, it simply rewinds a few seconds and let’s you try again without consequence. Ninja Blade doesn’t have all the answers to making the perfect interactive game, but it’s a game that inches us oh so closer.

Zombies ate my flowers

Zombie games have undergone quite the renaissance, and Plants vs. Zombies (PC, Steam/PopCap) is one of the most eclectic and memorable entries yet. Taking place on a simple looking 2D surface, zombies will slowly make their way towards your house, and the only way to dispatch them is to grow as many undead-fighting flowers as possible.

The game occurs in real-time, so when three waves of zombies are surrounding your front and back lawns, the mouse clicking gameplay of accumulating sun points and trading them for plants will be all anyone can handle. There are quite a few offensive and defensive plants one can choose, so simply picking the right combination of flowers is a major component of the strategy element involved. I don’t know which side would win in a fight, but I am sure Plants vs. Zombies will test your juicy, delicious brain. Check it out on Steam or at popcap.com/games/pvz.