SHINOBI Art of Vengeance – Review

Hoo-wee, that was an intense rush from start to end. SHINOBI Art of Vengeance is the latest entry to the Shinobi series set forth by SEGA and released for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One, not to mention on PC (via Steam). The game seems to follow in the footsteps of the 3DS Shinobi release in terms of style, while following the storyline of the original series from the looks of it, and has carried the action to newer heights, which I’ll elaborate further in the article. On with the review!

The story picks up sometime after Shinobi 3 all the way back from the SEGA Genesis, at the destruction of Neo Zeed (probably still setting Shadow Dancer up or a possible alternative counterpart to release at a later date), with Naoko still pregnant with hers and Joe’s child when the ENE Corp. attacks, destroying the Oboro village and leaving most of its ninja turned to lifeless statues, hinting at the hard lean on the supernatural despite the earlier titles’ lean towards sci-fi or a mix of the former and the latter. The ENE Corp, with a massive demon on leash is led by the mysterious Lord Ruse, wreaking havoc in the area.

As the story progresses, the reason for Ruse’s overwhelming power gets revealed as a mix of both supernatural and sci-fi once progressed enough, bringing it back to a good balance of both. Will you be able to unearth everything and finally avenge everyone from the Oboro village? What were Ruse’s motivations to even do all that chaos and destruction? Find out for yourself and play until the very end!

The gameplay is enhanced way more, combining the previous titles into a well-formed layered cake of combat goodness along with great platforming. Combos are great to pull off the more moves you unlock and when you combine it with Ninpo plus the ability to reset the combo at will by executing a flip after a few hits, you’d be farming easily tens if not close to hundreds of hits which puts you at an advantage when you equip the right Amulet, but don’t expect too much because it only triggers the buff at a certain hit count and never stacks again. It is more or less just an incentive to keep attacking and keeping it active to gain an upper hand.

The Ankou Rifts are good challenges to really push your knowledge of the game’s moves and mechanics further to unlock the 2nd weapon, the Dark Katana which deals better damage than the Oboro Katana which is your starting weapon. Each Ankou Rift has a challenge focusing on one skill or ability (or every single one when you count the very last one) that will give you insight on how to further your mastery of it. Very well thought-out because you’d need every trained knowledge against the game’s ever-mounting level of challenge the closer you get to the end.

Boss battles are a whole lot of fun as well, giving you a mix of both classic and more modern feel to it too. They still follow a basic pattern, but still made to keep you on your toes so that you never get too complacent or attack-happy, with some moves becoming stronger once you pass certain HP thresholds.

Another good addition is the throwback to PS2 title’s Tate mechanic, the Shinobi Execution. With this, instead of managing to kill enemies within a certain time limit, you set enemies up, lowering their HP and increasing the Execution gauge to max to string forth as much as you can to earn much more money and kunai than just regularly defeating them with the usual moves, sometimes even netting you easy heals from a particularly-nasty bout.

The Ninjitsu are useful in multiple situations, like the Karyu which deals damage to every enemy onscreen and the Raijin which lowers your damage output but increases the Execution Gauge gain for a limited time, allowing you to set up a long Shinobi Execution string far easier than regular setups. Another handy Ninjutsu is the Shisui which recovers your HP to near-full or the all-or-nothing Mijin which deals massive damage to everyone, but casts from HP as well, using up nearly everything and leaving you with a small sliver just to survive.

The music is fitting with every zone you play through. From the ambient start of the Lantern Festival stage, even to the frantic chase scenes in the Bonus stages, you’re in for a rollercoaster ride. The feel of ever-creeping righteous vengeance coming for the aggressor on the Freight Train stage, it all feels just right and very well-suited for the situation, something you’d enjoy from start to finish, with the map screen’s calming music kind of fitting in between every mission, like allowing yourself a chance to catch your breath after a long and frantic boss fight.

SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance is a well-made game which brings back both the feel of the classic Genesis games while adding something special to the table, namely adding more to it by means of upgrades you gather along the way, the Ankou Rifts to gather every piece of the Dark Katana, or even exploring areas you were not able to earlier, and ties everything up with a great ending that’s always a treat to watch. In the immortal words of “Joe Bob” Briggs, “Four stars! Check it out!”