Shadow Dancer

"Yeah...it *is* better than Revenge of Shinobi...but not by much."

Ah, another Shinobi flop of a game that seems to be yet another learning mistake that the creators allow you to play, just to gear you up for something that will potentially get better. The story is something rather refreshing, in which Joe is dead and you as the student of the legendary Shinobi must hunt down the killers and make them pay! The angle is slightly different, but you’re still playing a game that features mindless side scrolling action with an interesting mini-game and a dog that is about as useful as air conditioning in a snow filled cave. Through your little adventure, you’ll fight several different bad guys, and even a couple of bosses that seem to have been lifted from the original Shinobi game. While you’re doing this, you’ll also find that the lack of a double jump, the limitations on your ninja arts and even the fact that the old way of killing you in one hit {original Shinobi anyone?} is back and in major fashion that allows you severe frustrations in key points. However, the addition of a slightly longer ranged sword and limitless stars makes for a rather below average playing action game, even though it isn’t presented in the best way possible.

The game play is strictly your usual side scrolling adventure in which you control the Shinobi and battle your way through several different stages of ninja action. The basis of the game is more or less rescuing hostages in order to complete a stage, and even though you are timed, this is something that doesn’t take more than a minute or so to complete. Two things that match each other out with Shadow Dancer is the lack of multiple ninja art attacks {you can only select one} but this is offset by the ability to be able to attack with a slightly longer sword and your little furry companion! The dog that accompanies you is a new idea that I really had no use for, other than to send it out to ‘capture’ a particularly nasty opponent so Shinobi could dispatch him. While the dog and the sword are nice, you have to be up close to use the sword, and if the dog takes a single hit, then it’s taken out of play and you’re pretty much on your own again. Add into this that the difficulty isn’t all that hard, but you’re dealing with a superhuman computer apparently and all you have to do is take one hit and it’s lights out. This adds to the difficulty in which you have to use quite a bit of timing, strategy and learn patience in order to get through many of the stages, particularly the boss battles.

Controlling Shinobi is still no easy feat, in which the Genesis controller takes on the Ghost Control that you may find in fast paced action games of this type. Un-responsive directional movements and even attacking can be a chore, sending the frustration level to an all-time high! The use of your ninja arts has been toned down enough to where you really don’t have to worry about missing a particular jump, and even though the double jump is no longer there, you’ll find that with the small stages, you really don’t need it. Using the dog to attack isn’t anything that requires much thought and is a simple button press away. All in all, anyone of any skill level can pick up the game and play, but learning the timing involved in making it through the stages will require a bit of practice and some serious patience!

Visually, the game isn’t all that impressive, with most of the special effects being in the first couple of stages that you run across. The detailing on Shinobi, the actions of the dog and then that of the bosses and enemies is muted and fuzzy looking in most respects! Something that you’ll find is that the game has plenty of different background effects going on, and the gritty urban setting seems to fit the pace of the game, but you may find that the lack of detail throughout the different stages is enough to offset any part of the theme that the game is supposed to represent. One massively impressive point of the game play that I found to be particularly interesting was the bonus stage in which you fell down between two buildings and killed off as many enemies as possible. The scrolling found in that one portion of the game is enough to really catch your eye, but after that, you’re back to the lack of detail and imagination!

Audio wise, there is nothing in Shadow Dancer that I can honestly say that will be remembered. There is something to be said about the way that the game sounds while playing, in which the overall tone and pace of the music is something that matches the overall theme of the game. The different stages and tracks really make for a good listening experience without giving you too much on the downside to listen to other than the damned sound effects! The sound effects themselves sound like any other action game in which heavy tones are placed to the front and the small detailed sounds have little or nothing to offer you and fade into the background without a bang. Something that I did find interesting is that there was just enough effect with the dog, that you’ll hear it growling although it sounds more like a constant cat purr than anything else.

Shadow Dancer is just another stepping stone on the way to another Shinobi game. While not featuring the greatest of any aspect, the game is a leap above Revenge of Shinobi, yet it doesn’t compare to the mastery of Shinobi 3. With the extreme sense of getting through the stages unharmed {one-hit kill} and the addition of a dog, you may find that there is just enough to put this at an above average rating. However, with the lack of ninja arts available, and even the way that the game is laid out for you, you may find that this is merely a game to complete your Shinobi series rather than a stand alone type of game!

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 12/28/01, Updated 12/28/01