Favorite Game - Shinobido: Way of the Ninja

I would to take a moment to talk about a ninja stealth action game that enjoyed playing oh so much.

Shinobido is a PS2 stealth action game made by Acquire, original developers of the Tenchu series. Personally though, this game is 10 times better then any Tenchu game because of its unique story, non-linear missions and awesome gameplay.

There are three different clans that are at war with each other and you can decide which clan you want to work with. You can work with one clan at a time, destroying the other clans in the process, or work with all if them if you so choice. When you've gained enough trust from the clan leaders, the soldiers from that clan will stop attacking and may even help you during missions.

The stealth action is awesome with all the different ways you can you can go about using stealth like using/setting up traps and stuff. There's different area sensitive stealth kills like with Tenchu. The ninjas you can play as are nice and speedy like a ninja should be unlike in Tenchu. And there are some fun extras like house defense and a level editor to make your own missions. The enemies in the game have decent AI. When spotted by a single enemy solider, they'll be very cautious with their attacks and try to call for help. When multiple enemy soldiers show up, they'll be incredibly aggressive and go all out on you. Also, there are rival clan ninjas that might show up from time to time during your missions and attempt to kill you, which is awesome.

The controls can feel a bit jerky and the graphics are very dated, but it's understandable since they wanted to make room for the game's physics engine which is freaking hilarious.

The game was released in both Japan and Europe, but never made it to the US, which sucks. The only way I got to play it was by having my PS2 modded, obtain a downloaded ISO copy, converted the ISO file from PAL to NTSC, and used a semi PAL compatible TV. I went through a lot just to play this game, but it was still worth it.

Anyone who likes to even pretend they like stealth action games owes it to themselves to play this thing. It isn't without fault, and it will be one of the least polished games you have played, but screw it if it all doesn't click and you're ninja flipping all over people's faces and flying around maps with the grapple wire.