Hands On: Kunoichi Attacks at TGS

Altough offering a very similar experience to Shinobi, the sequel does manage to improve the formula. Details inside.

At last week's Tokyo Game Show, we got the chance to play Kunoichi, the follow up to Shinobi on PS2, fresh from Sega's newly named Sega Wow studio - the product of Overworks and Wow Entertainment. The new game, produced by Sega CGI veteran Masahiro Kumono, will be released on December 4 in Japan and early next year in Europe and North America.

However, by the time Kunoichi reaches the North American market, it will sport a new moniker: Nightshade - with the new name more than likely making its way to Europe as well.

In Kunoichi, the city that was taken over by evil powers continues hurtling towards doom, a year after the events of Shinobi. The female ninja, Kunoichi, has to put a stop to it by kicking every ass in sight.

The gameplay is almost identical to the original, with the same controls allowing you to dash between enemies and attack, hopefully racking up a multiple-enemy combo. Running along walls and performing airborne attacks is a speciality in Kunoichi - the female ninja is obviously more graceful in the air than her predecessor.

The same graphics engine is used in Shinobi, however it has more opportunity to show off during the cut-scenes, which look very nice indeed. A new range of characters - including the lead female herself - look great up close.

In game, however, only one level was played throughout most of the show, mainly because prizes were up for grabs by competing for the best score. The level, which took place underground, was far from spectacular, but pointed towards strong potential later in the game.

Those who found Shinobi a little on the difficult side will be pleased to hear about the addition of a Beginner's Mode in Kunoichi, which simplifies the game by allowing you to automatically home in on enemies. It is for learning how the game works for younger gamers, but really defeats the point of racking up combos by using skill to target enemies positioned in a group.

We sat down for an interview with the game's producer Kumono-san on the first day of the show, to grill him on what exactly makes Kunoichi better than the original, and how it will stand up to other similar titles. We're editing it together now, so you'll be able to download the video interview shortly.

We'll have hot direct feed gameplay videos in the next few days, along with the video interview. Stay tuned for more on Kunoichi, which is shaping up beautifully and will certainly keep fans of Shinobi happy.

Adam Doree
Director, Kikizo.com