Mark of the Ninja is basically a 2D side-scrolling Metal Gear Solid without the frustration, the bat-shit crazy story, and the 6 hour cutscenes. The Metal Gear Solid comparison isn't lost on the developers who've actually included a funny nod to Konami's game in the form of an unlockable I won't spoil. By moving from 3D to 2D, Klei remove all the frustrations and limitations that are inherent to stealth in 3D games and create a streamlined platforming experience that's still full of depth and an absolute joy to play.
As a Ninja, the game involves you infiltrating a number of secure facilities to reach your target. These places are crawling with guards and while you can try and take the guards on directly you won't last long (they have guns, you do not). So in true Ninja-style you have to go sneaking around and silently taking out guards. Just like Metal Gear, guards have a cone of vision but since you only have to worry about 2.5 planes it's a lot easier to manage how you hide and you don't have to worry about fiddling with the 3D camera. I say 2.5 planes because you can actually hide in the same plane as a guard is looking if you hide behind certain objects - so even though a guard is looking to his left, and you are standing the in the same x-axis to his left, you're hidden behind an object.
A guard's cone of vision is increased if there's more light so a large part of the game is trying to stay hidden in the shadows. You can take out the lights by either switching them off (the more civilized way) or smashing them (the more fun way) but the latter can alert guards from the sound of breaking glass. Sounds you make create are represented visually by a bubble that radiates from where the sound was created. If a guard is within this bubble then he's alerted.
Speaking of alerted, like Metal Gear, there are a couple of states of alertness that guards can exhibit. If you make a sound or a guard spots you briefly (before you jump away into the floor above or below) he doesn't panic but instead goes to investigate the disturbance. If he doesn't find anything then he goes back to his station or previous patrol route. Wherever he saw or heard you last is represented by a fading circle on the screen. This can then be used to lure guards where you want them to go (into traps or into isolation). If a guard sees you for more than second then he goes into full-alert mode, calls the cavalry and starts shooting. During this period if you get out of sight there's a 10 second count-down on screen until the guards step down and return to the first level of readiness.
My favourite guard response, however, is when one becomes 'terrified'. If you're able to kill a guard in a particularly gruesome way and allow another guard to find his body (or see his death) then he'll completely lose his shit and sometimes even start firing his gun randomly and take out other guards!
There's nothing like stringing up a dead guard from a lamppost (Batman: Arkham City- style), drawing over a pair of guards to his body and then seeing the first guard absolutely lose his shit and shoot the other guard in a panic! It's brilliant.
Of course, it's not just the guards that can detect you but also dogs (that have massive cone of detection for sound) and automated defense mechanisms such as trip-wires and lasers.
What Mark of the Ninja does masterfully is the generous checkpointing and the lack of punishment for being detected. The game check-points so frequently that whenever I was detected I would just let the guards kill me and then restart a screen or two away from where I was detected. This totally takes away any of the frustration you'd get in other stealth games from being found out. Likewise, you don't get punished for failing - each level has certain goals and challenges (like getting to a certain area without being detected or without raising an alarm) - dying and re-starting doesn't affect the status of these challenges so you don't find yourself swearing and needing to go back to the beginning of a level if you want to complete a challenge. These may be two minor points but they make a world of difference.
There are more than half a dozen assassination methods (pull a guy into a dumpster to kill him, drag him from underneath a ledge, etc) and each has a mini-skill component to it - when you sneak up upon an unsuspecting guard an X button prompt appears to initiate the kill. The moment you hit X an arrow appears on the screen and you have a 1-2 second window to move the right stick in that exact direction. If you pull it off then you complete a silent kill. If you don't, you still kill your target but he's able to make a noise to alert surrounding guards. It's a small touch but it adds another layer of skill to the game.
Different guards also require different tactics - the plain vanilla guards can be sliced and diced any which way you want but then there are elite guards with riot shields (so you have to attack from behind), snipers who can one-shot kill you, guards with gas-masks (in areas where you're exposed to poisonous gas) and more.
Like in Metal Gear you have a tone of gadgets at your disposal such darts (which can be thrown to destroy lights or switches), to smoke bombs (to let you pass laser beams and hide your location), fire-crackers (which can be thrown to draw a guard's attention elsewhere) and many more.
Each of these are unlocked in an RPG-style progression. As mentioned before, each level has certain goals and challenges. Completing these challenges as well as completing moment to moment gameplay tasks (such as staying hidden while a guard passes you or silently killing a guard) earns you points. These points are then used to unlock new gadgets, new fighting/assassination moves and, later on, new abilities.
Tying everything up is an amazing art style, genius level design and a great story.
This game looks absolutely gorgeous. Not only are the visuals crisp and clean but the hand-drawn aesthetic really steals the show. By going with a stylized, rather than realistic, look they're able to maintain a congruency to the visuals that really draws you in. You're playing a dark, gritty, ultra-violent version of a Saturday morning cartoon.
Animations are brilliant and often you'll find yourself wincing as the main character slices and dices his way through the game. Lighting and the way you're presented both in darkness and in the light is also masterfully done. When you're in shadow everything dims and has a highlighted glow to it. When you pop into the light everything gets saturated.
The stages themselves are amazing with tons of detail and vary from ancient dojos to skyscrapers and subway tunnels. The weather effects are also very well done. My two favourite parts of the game are a stage early on when you're trying to infiltrate a compound during a thunder storm. The rain effects and the intermittent lighting are stunning. Likewise, towards the end of the game you're in the desert and have to battle sand-storms. What's neat is that both the lightning and stand-storms also have an effect upon the gameplay in terms of your visibility.
Level design is very smart and I never once got lost. The way the stages are designed also afford you at least more than one way to get past an obstacle.
The cherry on top is a solid and really well told story. You play as a Ninja who has been chosen by his clan to bear 'the mark'; a tattoo using ink that bestows heightened senses and abilities to the recipient. The only downside - the longer you have the tattoo the more you begin to lose your sanity and eventually you're expected to kill yourself before you lose your mind. It's a very cool concept and the end chapter has a very neat narrative twist.
This game, for me anyway, came completely out of nowhere. If it wasn't for a friend's post on a forum I don't think I would have even tried it. Ironically, I had just started playing Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker HD on the 360, finished the first level (20 minutes gameplay, 40 minutes cut-scene...I'm not joking) and then downloaded Mark of the Ninja. I'm not sure how I'm going to go back to Metal Gear after playing this.
If you're a fan of action-stealth games you should get this game and even if you're NOT you should still check it out because it takes all the frustration out of stealth action and, all in all, I think it's the best game I've played this year and at $15 it is an absolute steal.
Lavan
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