First Look; Ninja Blade

I really should hate this game. It's full of boss battles (I counted four during the second mission), It's chock full of QTE's and there's a huge range of swords and weapons to upgrade and things to collect oh and there's no mid level saving either.

Somehow though (and I should say so far.) I'm loving it. From Software have excelled themselves in the production values and graphics. The game is a lot of fun to play. Anyone whose played a modern action game of this sort will know what too expect. Yet it's not as annoying as it should be.

For a start there are loads of checkpoints so you're never left repeating huge sections if you fail. Each QTE is signified with a close up of your eye so you know it's coming. There's a large window for you to react and like Guitar Hero it scores how well you did. Nice for those who excel. Even better for sausaged fingered people with incredibly slow reactions like me. If you fail one you simply restart. None of this annoying "oh well you've missed a button lets give the boss another huge chunk of energy before you can have another go" marlarkey. Frustration is kept to a minimum.

Most importantly the combat makes sense to me (Again, so far) There's close attack on 'X' and ranged attack on 'Y'. There's your regular sword, There's two lighter swords for fast enemies and there's a heavy sword for amoured baddies.. None of this rubbish having your attacks blocked for ages.. Get out the big sword, smash his shield then smash him. The camera works great on the right stick and Right Trigger allows a quick dash. To either get back on with cracking skulls or to avoid an attack. It's simple but there's plenty of scope.

Secondly there's some great Prince of Persia style platforming with wall running and swiging on beams and that general feeling of covering large and complicated areas with the minimum of fuss and feeling like a ninja. Of course it's totally over blown and over the top. The end of one boss battle saw me riding a motorbike along the top of the cars and busses it was throwing at me and at the same time the QTEs keep you feeling involved in the cool stuff.

So far I'm really enjoying it. £15 well spent.