Ninja Gaiden 3 is an attempt to really bring the classic game into a full franchise. The plan is to create an ongoing, episodic Ninja Gaiden story, starting here. Ryu gets new friends, new enemies, and new gear, including a suit of plate mail and a pair of kunai boots for special climbing moves. The character will get more fleshed out, as the studio wants audiences to develop an emotional connection to their character—something missing from the previous chapter. In addition, and possibly for the same reason, Ryu will have forgotten how to remove limbs from people—or perhaps his enemies have simply learned to armor their joints more effectively—because that’s not happening anymore, despite being one of the strongest gimmicks of Ninja Gaiden 2. There will also be more options for stealthy solutions and more intelligent enemies who are capable of using teamwork against Ryu, and whom will individually each take a bit more effort to defeat. In addition, the game introduces several multi-player modes, including basic deathmatch and cooperative play.
Angry Birds Space! is like Angry Birds, but in space. The basic mechanics of sling-shotting birds with different abilities toward structures built by inept pigs is still here, but now the levels are constructed with odd physics based around tiny planets, each with their own gravity. Players will need to think more about orbit than arc when sending their birdy friends off to assault the enemy with their light, feathery bodies.
In Sine Mora, players control a little ship shooting at other little ships in a side-scrolling environment. That’s not new. The gimmick in this one is the unique power-ups which give the player the ability to control time. With high production values and an ‘integrated’ plotline to go with the time-control stuff, Microsoft is claiming to have ‘rebooted’ the side-scrolling shooter. I’m dubious, but it does certainly look pretty.
This week’s Icrontic Spotlight shines a vengeful glow from the bright wings of Kid Icarus: Uprising. Announced at E3 2010, at the same time as the 3DS itself, it was originally thought that this would be the major launch title for the visually stereoed hand-held. It soon became clear, however, that the game was still only a concept and that the release was well away. Finally it arrives this week. Unfortunately for our bewinged protagonist, the 3DS is not living quite up to Nintendo’s expectation, though recent sales have been improving. In this sequel to a Nintendo classic, the player takes on the role of Pit, a sort of cross between the mythological Icarus and a Christian depiction of a young angel. The game strongly utilizes the 3D screen of the system to bring the player into an over-the-shoulder flying shooter combined with a third-person adventure game. There is none of the 2D platforming or shooting which was the core mechanic of the original games. Pit gets multiple weapons and other bits of equipment to help in his fight against the evil forces of Medusa. The game also has a multi-player deathmatch mode, and some AR mini-games played with special AR cards. Will this be the first must-have game for the 3DS? I feel like I’ve asked that question before.
Following is a full list of this week’s North American releases
Windows
- Angry Birds Space
- Yesterday
Wii
- Samurai Showdown IV: Amakusa’s Revenge (VC)
3DS
- Kid Icarus: Uprising
- Zombie Slayer Diox
Xbox 360
- Armored Core V
- Kinect Rush: A Disney-Pixar Adventure
- Ninja Gaiden 3
- North America Rayman 3 HD
- Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
- Sine Mora
PS3
- Armored Core V
- Ninja Gaiden 3
- Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
- Warriors Orochi 3
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