Ninja Blade (ニンジャブレイド Ninjabureido) is an action-adventure game developed by From Software and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360 and [[Microsoft Windows. The game has been categorized as a "Cinematic action game," combining a mixture of hack and slash elements with context sensitive commands.
The characters were designed by Keiji Nakaoka while the soundtrack is by Norihiko Hibino's GEM Impact studio. The animation was produced by Production I.G and the game was released in 2009.
A demo for Ninja Blade was released in Japan on December 29, 2008. The demo was released in North America on March 10, 2009.
Ninja Blade is thought to share a worldview with another From Software game, Metal Wolf Chaos, which includes Agent Michael Wilson, who is set to be the father of Metal Wolf Chaos's protagonist Michael Wilson Jr. (no Jr. in the original version) .
Gameplay[]
The player plays as a modern day ninja. The player can use a katana, twin swords and broad sword as the main weapon to kill parasites and other creatures. Combat is similar to Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry. The gameplay also revolves around a chi bar. The chi bar is used up when ninja vision or ninjutsu is used. The player also has ninja traits such as the ability to run along walls and ability to run at super fast speed.
The gameplay is highly cinematic. It relies on quick time events (QTE) to finish missions. After attacking a boss until the health bar is empty, the player must do a "todome". Todomes are cinematic finishing moves.
Story[]
In 2011, UN peacekeeper force during a mission to track down unlawful weapon trafficking stumped upon a small village in Africa that was attacked by unknown creatures in the form of oversized rats. After disposing the rats, the survivors were moved to a research facility where they underwent examination. While at the research facility, the survivors began to show symptoms of necrotizing fasciitis. When further examined, the researchers found an unknown type of hook worm. It was classified as "Alpha-worm". Conventional medicine had no effects on the patients. The worms deformed the victims, but the infection increased the strength and resilience of the people infected.
The infected eventually broke free and attacked the researchers. A few researchers survived, only to find that they had been infected as well. Due to a fear of an outbreak, the military assaulted the facility and destroyed all traces of the infected and the Alpha-worms.
Development[]
The concept for Ninja Blade initially came when From Software thrived to create a game that conveyed to the gamer the same intense sequences from those of Hollywood action films. From Software worked with Microsoft in creating the game's protagonist, Ken Ogawa. Ninja Blade producer Masanori Takeuchi states "We worked closely with Microsoft in creating Ken. They provided us with lots of useful feedback and insightful consumer research of worldwide gamers. By cooperating and working together, Ken has become more appealing to a wider audience." Character Ken Ogawa was designed by Capcom 2nd Character Development Studio designer Keiji Nakaoka.
Ninja Blade was commonly referred to as Otogi 3 by various sources before its official announcement. Ninja Blade planner Kazuhiro Hamatani noted that while not a direct sequel or spiritual successor to Otogi, that the game would contain action-adventure elements of which fans of the Otogi series would like.
