Legend Of Kage 2 (Nintendo DS) Review

Kage and Chihiro have both just become fully fledged ninjas of Iga and their very first job on their very first day is to escort the sole priestess, and possessor of extraordinary powers, Kirihime back to Iga. Hands up who can't see where this is heading? Okay, either you all have played games before or you are too embarrassed to put your hand up, but anyway things don't go to plan. Yoshiro Yukikusa, who holds a grudge towards clan Tougawa (your employers) has raised a demon army and kidnapped Kirihime so that he may combine his powers with hers and overthrow the shogun. After getting two shades of crap kicked out of you by Yukinosuke Kuri, Yoshiro's right-hand man, the priestess Kirihime revives you and grants you some of her awesome power so that you can go and rescue her. For me personally, plot carries a lot of weight and can make or break a game. Legend of Kage 2's basic storyline just doesn't cut it, but quite frankly in this case I don't give a monkey's right testicle. Legend of Kage 2 is not about plot, it's about old school thrills refined with modern tastes.

This is a semi-traditional hardcore platformer in the style of 16 bit classics such as Shinobi. You run, you jump, you hit people until they explode in a nice pyrotechnic (they are daemons remember). This action is fast, hard and well refined from the platformer genre's heady days in the mid 90's but throws in changes that make use of modern technology - but sadly not all of those are for the better. The game plays out over two screens which is a great feature as the action is seamlessly played over both screens vertically giving you a good sense of height allowing you to see what's above you be it platform or enemy and assists greatly with leaps of faith. The only annoying thing about this is that the screens are fixed so that your character is always on the bottom screen so while you have height you lack depth and the game normally plays on the higher platforms, missing out on a good opportunity.

Another wasted opportunity is the ninjitsu attacks. As you progress through the game you will come across orbs which you can use to create customised special attacks called ninjitsu. However, due to the small meter and high cost of these attacks you'd be luck to pull off more than two during a level without a refill and even then you are only likely to find one or two per level. The main issue is that the average enemy is quite weak, so while they are a bit overpowered to them they have little to no effect on the bosses. The unlockable skills on the other hand work considerably better. As you progress through the missions you'll be granted upgrades to individual skills or new ones such as Bodysplit and Slide. Don't ask me how you get them, though, as I have no clue; it's not mentioned in the instruction booklet or in the main game, so I'm still not sure if it's based on your end of level score, passing the level, meeting certain criteria or all of the above, and the seeming randomness to it is a little disappointing.

It might sound like I'm laying into the game but that's because these annoyances stand out like a sore thumb in what is otherwise a fantastic game. This game has forgone the blocky and definition lacking polygon visuals that are all the rage now and has gone with, well, still characters lacking in definition, but at least an art style that is glorious to watch. It is wonderfully coloured and oozes character, the backgrounds especially are absolutely stunning with the animation being fluid and gorgeous. With regard to music I'm not so well versed - I either hate it, feel a bit meh or love it, there is no gradient and no real explanation behind it - so forgive me if all I write about the music, the sound effects and the general audio presentation is that I absolutely love it. There is no insult to the ears, no deficiency in quality and while it lacks the oomph of a full Nobuo Uematsu piece it fully captures the mood of the game and is just, well fantastic. Did I already say I love it? I love it.

As I said earlier, this is a platformer of the classic Shinobi and Strider mould. It's hard, it's unforgiving and when you screw up (and trust me, you will screw up), it'll all be your fault. This game is a challenge but a fun and fair challenge. You can get through the levels button mashing, but you won't have a hope in the boss encounters with this strategy as they will kick you in. Each boss (and even the levels to a lesser extent) is a puzzle that you have to figure out and only once that has been achieved, either through some enlightenment or perseverance, can you move on. At first I thought the idea of a save feature would make the game too easy and I was severely mistaken. The game is difficult enough as it is without imposing a certain death penalty, but then again merely completing the game isn't the goal. The goal is to complete the game with S ranking in all levels; no, there isn't some special bonus at the end as far as I'm aware, the only reason you must do this is because it's there. The beauty in Legend Of Kage 2 is that it can be conquered and the game lets you know this and teases you with it - you've just got to be good enough to do it. You can start seeing how to get that fifteen kill combo to boost your score and once that has been done you've learned enough to see how the twenty kill combo can be achieved. The game lets you see where you want to be and then gives you a good old backhand to the face to put you back in your place.