Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z is a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It knows it’s a schlocky, zombie hack and slash and it embraces it fully. It’s got cheesy cutscenes, gratuitous violence, gore, swearing and fan service abound.
It feels like Suda51 lite, which isn’t a bad thing. Taking away everything on the surface though, is there a game worth playing? Fans of the Ninja Gaiden franchise and hack and slash in general are in luck, for underneath Yaiba’s whacky exterior beats the heart of a solid action game that fans are going to have a ball with.
The titular Yaiba has spent the night drinking in the forest when we meet him at the game’s commencement. He’s drunk and angry and wants to kill Ryu Hayabusa, the protagonist of the Ninja Gaiden series. We’re not exactly sure why; maybe he’s jealous of his ninja skills, maybe Ryu stole his girl or maybe he just doesn’t like him. What’s clear though is that Yaiba is no match for Hayabusa and is easily cut down by his nemesis.
Quite literally.
Yaiba loses his left arm and part of his skull in the battle and succumbs to his injuries. Thankfully, a seedy underground organisation rebuilds Yaiba and tasks him with doing the very thing he wants most. Killing Hayabusa. Fitted with a new robotic arm and occular implants Yaiba heads off to track down the heroic ninja and put a stop to him once and for all.
That part is clear. What wasn’t so clear to me was why this was all going on at the same time as a zombie apocalypse. I’m certain all will be revealed during the game’s proceedings, but for now the addition of zombies seems like a very videogamey plot and gameplay device. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just unexplained at this point.
What it does provide for though is literally hundreds of enemies on screen at a time. An undead horde makes more sense in numbers than dozens of ninjas so in that respect it works and it’s in keeping with Yaiba’s more anime sensibilities. In my hands on I was dumped into a crumbling Russian city filled to the brim with zombies dying — puntastic — to get their hands on me.
Yaiba of course has a stack of ninja moves and special powers to keep the horde away from his tasty flesh. Standards for the genre are your basic attacks. A combination of Square, Triangle and Circle (X, Y, B for you 360 players) will see Yaiba use his sword, fists and flail in a huge number of combos that literally take his enemies apart at the seams. Think previous Ninja Gaiden games, but with more zip and more over-the-top flourish. Combat is fast paced and Yaiba is funneled from one section to another as soon as he’s dispatched the last remaining foe. Yaiba is also able to grab and throw weaker enemies, block incoming attacks, dash to avoid or quickly approach enemies and enter a berserker mode.
Once enough damage has been dealt and his meter is full, Yaiba enters berserk mode and time slows down making the zombies an even easier target. Body parts rain down in slow motion as blood spurts and covers the environment. It’s gross, hilarious and totally overdone. It’s a perfect description of the game itself. Big, dumb, obvious fun.
Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z is a fun, fresh take on an existing formula and thankfully a game that refuses to take itself seriously. Think Lollipop Chainsaw and Mad World and you’ll come some way to understanding the tone and humour found in Yaiba. It’s not just jokes and blood though, the funny is built on a foundation of gameplay mechanics that are both fun and solid. It may not do anything vastly different than we’ve seen before, but if it gives a few laughs, a few thrills and entertains you for a few hours it’s done it’s job and done it well.
Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z will be available for PS3 and Xbox 360 from 27 February 2014.
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