Nightshade
- January 23, 2004 00:00 AM PST
Sword-wielding She-nobi stalks futuristic hell on Earth in Sega�s upcoming Nightshade.
Though the GamePro editors almost unanimously love ninjas (and the one who doesn�t at least loves Satan), all were divided over last year�s legendarily tough hack-n-slash, Shinobi. Some cried to mommy that it was too difficult and repetitive, while the more skilled of us found it a refreshing deviation from a veritable avalanche of games that make you simply run through familiar motions. After spending hands-on time with the upcoming Nightshade, it�s obvious that Sega is looking to please both camps by offering the same blissfully frenetic gameplay with an adjustable difficulty level and more level checkpoints�a surefire way to provide series fans with a much-needed jolt of challenge without alienating beginners, whiners, and weaklings.Starring a sword-twirling, wall-hopping insectoid femme, Nightshade is more Shinobi side-story than full-fledged sequel. You�ll jaunt through futuristic shipyards and abandoned subway terminals, contending with cyborg assassins, mutant caterpillars, and crabs spat straight from the maw of hell. Low-res textures and problematic camerawork notwithstanding, the playable build of Nightshade featured more responsive controls, better level design, and improved wall-running and aerial combat mechanics as compared to those in Shinobi. Good stuff so far? Definitely. But what will it take to get Sega to put back the Japanese dialogue with English subtitles?
