The most jank 6th gen game I’ve played
Red Ninja: End of Honor’s problems are apparent as soon as you start the tutorial. The camera is inverted horizontally, which is a nightmare. Your character, Kurenai, is far too fast. She runs around like a madman while turning in any direction results in the camera spinning all over the place, disorienting the player. There’s also so many inconsistencies with the controls. Crouching is a hold while getting on a wall is toggle. You also can’t go into crouch mode while moving, which doesn’t sound that bad, but it destroyed the flow and is impossible to get used to. When locked on to an enemy, the A button (X on PlayStation) now rolls, but only sometimes? Sometimes it jumps and sometimes it rolls. The control scheme is also terrible. Since the crouch button is B and Attack is X, it’s impossible to press both at the same time without using a claw-shaped hand.
There’s also wall running in this game. Words cannot describe how bad it is, but I’m going to try. While Kurenai runs, she gradually builds up speed and once you reach max speed, she can run on walls. The problem is that you need to steer her on the wall as well as aim her at the right angle into the wall. For example, let’s say you’re holding up on the thumbstick. As soon as she starts running on the wall, you must IMMEDIATELY hold the direction you need to go (left or right) or she’ll just slip off the wall. It takes dozens of attempts at every wall running portion.
So what we have here is a clusterfuck of jank. Every aspect of controlling Kurenai is working against you, except the grappling hook. At least that seems to work well and has some nice momentum to it. I’m not the type to get filtered by jank. I like jank games more than the next guy, but this is shit.
It’s not even worth talking about any other aspect of the game. It’s completely ruined by the camera and controls. Red Ninja’s faults are so fundamental and basic that aspects like level design, AI, balance, etc. don’t even factor into the quality of the game. From what I played, it was too linear. Stealth games without some sort of open ended design fail because there’s needs to be multiple approaches. Having only one way to tackle a challenge makes for poor replay value and a lack of player agency. The balance is terrible as well. Kurenai’s tetsugen is extremely powerful, making the use of stealth more of a hindrance than a vital mechanic.
There’s nothing redeeming about Red Ninja: End of Honor besides the sex appeal of the leading lady. It’s a shameless rip-off of Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven and doesn’t even come close. Red Ninja is the most mechanically flawed game I have ever played.
2/10
Red Ninja: End of Honor’s problems are apparent as soon as you start the tutorial. The camera is inverted horizontally, which is a nightmare. Your character, Kurenai, is far too fast. She runs around like a madman while turning in any direction results in the camera spinning all over the place, disorienting the player. There’s also so many inconsistencies with the controls. Crouching is a hold while getting on a wall is toggle. You also can’t go into crouch mode while moving, which doesn’t sound that bad, but it destroyed the flow and is impossible to get used to. When locked on to an enemy, the A button (X on PlayStation) now rolls, but only sometimes? Sometimes it jumps and sometimes it rolls. The control scheme is also terrible. Since the crouch button is B and Attack is X, it’s impossible to press both at the same time without using a claw-shaped hand.
There’s also wall running in this game. Words cannot describe how bad it is, but I’m going to try. While Kurenai runs, she gradually builds up speed and once you reach max speed, she can run on walls. The problem is that you need to steer her on the wall as well as aim her at the right angle into the wall. For example, let’s say you’re holding up on the thumbstick. As soon as she starts running on the wall, you must IMMEDIATELY hold the direction you need to go (left or right) or she’ll just slip off the wall. It takes dozens of attempts at every wall running portion.
So what we have here is a clusterfuck of jank. Every aspect of controlling Kurenai is working against you, except the grappling hook. At least that seems to work well and has some nice momentum to it. I’m not the type to get filtered by jank. I like jank games more than the next guy, but this is shit.
It’s not even worth talking about any other aspect of the game. It’s completely ruined by the camera and controls. Red Ninja’s faults are so fundamental and basic that aspects like level design, AI, balance, etc. don’t even factor into the quality of the game. From what I played, it was too linear. Stealth games without some sort of open ended design fail because there’s needs to be multiple approaches. Having only one way to tackle a challenge makes for poor replay value and a lack of player agency. The balance is terrible as well. Kurenai’s tetsugen is extremely powerful, making the use of stealth more of a hindrance than a vital mechanic.
There’s nothing redeeming about Red Ninja: End of Honor besides the sex appeal of the leading lady. It’s a shameless rip-off of Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven and doesn’t even come close. Red Ninja is the most mechanically flawed game I have ever played.
2/10