Nightshade

by Sega Of America, Inc.

Product Features

• Take to the air as you run along walls, hop across rooftops and battle demons in mid-air
• Improved fighting engine offers unlimited combos and much wider variety of powerful attacks
• Stunning graphics bring you the fight against ultimate evil -- you'll face demonic creatures on moving trains, fighter jets, industrial cranes and more
• As you battle your Chakra Gauge will fill, for unstoppable ninja magic -- or unleash the deadly Shadow Dance on the forces of darkness

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00015MFYI
• Item Weight: 8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: February 11, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,366 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Game Informer Review

The release of Shinobi in 2002 disappointed a lot of people by taking a revered series and turning it into an unfortunately average action game. Its follow-up, Nightshade, is also depressingly lackluster, though it does manage to fail in different ways than its predecessor.

The main focus of this title is aerial combat, zipping from enemy to enemy and slashing them up without touching the ground. In a game where you spend so much time in the air, you wouldn't think that there would be so many ways to plummet to your death. However, due to the imprecise controls, you are bound to end up falling off of every building, truck, and elevated walkway you encounter, and thus being forced to restart the entire level.

The game has hordes of uninspired cybernetic goons, dull level design, and a plot thinner than water soup. In fact, the only thing that saves Nightshade from being entirely unplayable is the fun you can have stringing together kills while dashing through the air. You feel pretty stylish when your ninja strikes her pose as you see all of your foes fall to pieces around her. Unfortunately, the sense of accomplishment fades quickly, and then it's back to the mundane chore that is Nightshade.

Concept:
Take an idea like "super-powered flying ninja" and somehow make it not fun

Graphics:
Instead of a long red scarf, Nightshade has an equally captivating bandana that is easily the graphical highlight of the game

Sound:
Generic techno-thumping does nothing to enhance the experience

Playability:
Mournfully inadequate. I died more often due to clunky controls and poor auto-targeting than at an enemies hand

Entertainment:
For every one time you think the game is fun, there are nine times that you're cursing life due to either boredom or frustration

Replay:
Moderate

Rated: 6.5 out of 10
Editor: Joe Juba
Issue: March 2004

2nd Opinion:
Hack. Slash. Yawn. Repeat. If there is one word to sum up Nightshade, it's "uninspired." Take away the flashy gimmicks like tates, and there's nothing here that you haven't seen in dozens of other games. It's not a bad game, just one that doesn't do anything to move past stale genre conventions. You see something; you kill it. That is all.

Rated: 6 out of 10
Editor: Jeremy Zoss


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Product Description

Nightshade makes you the savior of Tokyo, as a powerful female ninja facing demonic forces alone! The city of Tokyo is repairing after the invasion of the demon Hiruko, when the evil forces return again. But this time they've enlisted Hibana, an incredibly powerful ninja. She'll use her combination of martial arts & magic to face the demons one-on-one!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nightshade continues the ninja saga, February 21, 2004

By 

Brendan T Doran (Plymouth, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nightshade (Video Game)

The reason for the two star rating is because although it was a great game with a good storyline most people would wind up pulling there hair out playing this. The bosses are very hard, The camra angles are not good at all, and there is to much jumping involved. 2 parts of a level involved jumping while avoiding waterfalls that could knock you down and enemies shooting at you from all sides with a small wall to cling to unless you are a master at this this will drive you insane.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fun, but extremely difficult, August 8, 2005

By 

Kazami "Ami" (Cleveland, OH USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Nightshade (Video Game)

I just bought Nightshade for the PS2, and it's a good game, but extremely difficult. The levels start off very easy, but they turn hard VERY quickly. More off the time I find myself with game overs not because the enemies have killed me, but because Hibana will target something obscure; causing me to fall down a bottomless pit or into the water e.t.c. I won the game in beginner mode, and that was a challenge within itself. I can't even pass stage 4 in easy due to the fact the controls are VERY difficult and fickle (you can only stealth dash one time when you're in mid-air... I hate this because it takes more than one stealth dash to reach the enemies sometimes. They should have an option so you can use beginner controls in any mode not just beginner). To sum it up, if you're looking for a good challenge and are willing to become a little annoyed, buy this game. If not, stay away from it.

K@zami Am!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Action Fans Rejoice!!, February 26, 2004

By 

Shanghaied (Carrollton, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nightshade (Video Game)

Nightshade is a good follow up to the PS2 shinobi. The controls transfer almost completely intact save improved charge attacks (for some characters), no sword timer (not really an improvement, one character *might* still have such a timer), the addition of a kick button and several new moves that go with it, and a chakra gauge (again, for some characters only). Despite these changes, Nightshade offers up the same tate-ing type gravity defying action that will keep your thumbs blistered and your reflexes at the very tip of human capability.

The game also improves strongly on level design in several ways and varies from improved backgrounds to slightly less frusturating jumping puzzles to simply things such as where enemies are placed throughout the level. In some places, air-tate-ing enemies offers a faster route through for the skilled player, for example. Furthermore, every level has several checkpoints that you can continue from, making it easier to progress piecemeal through a level rather than being required to perform flawlessly. For the most part the platforming "pitfall" style action is toned down considerably in the first part of the game, though "cheap" deaths will occur by the dozen in some of the later stages.

Boss battles are considerably less challenging than they were in Shinobi (particularly in the easier difficulties) simply because the new charge or "chakra" attacks allow you to Tate bosses with utter ease (chakra attacks are performed by simply holding down the attack button and releasing after a short charge). The chakra attack allows you to land the devastating final blow in a tate attack while being a considerable distance away from the opponent, making it very easy to make that final hit.

Character design is also well done. The new Kuinichi, Hibana, sports a costume that is sleek and futuristic while respectful of Joe Mugashi's oldschool Red on White look from the classic Genesis Shinobi titles. Her moves are sleek and her overall game-presence is almost as daunting as Hotsuma's was in Shinobi (almost).

Unfortuanately, if you tally story and dialogue in the total score of this game (which I have only done for the general public, such things don't really matter in a game like this), it would likely come out with a few problems.

Hibana's dialogue can be particularly annoying and redundant at times, which is a pity considering the voice acting is quite good. She seems much more disjointed from the affair than Hotsuma was in Shinobi. The story is pretty much recycled from Shinobi and centers around Akujiki again, so don't look for any grand surprises. The themes of Revenge, chivalry, and justice do serve the game well as they did in Shinobi.

Also, the absence of the dreaded sword timer (many people hated it), for better or for worse, definetely has had an effect on gameplay. There is no longer a direct need to Tate (survival), you simply do it for the highest score or for finesse. While this is fine in itself, it's less likely that finesse will prompt you to go for that challenging air tate on the final stage than the fact that you have little heath and are about to run out on your sword timer. I feel the absence of the sword timer reduces the sense of urgency throughout the game which directly impacts how some of the levels are played and thus how challenging some of those levels are, which of course, depending on personal preference, is for better or for worse. (As mentioned, some characters still have such a timer....)

And like Shinobi, this game is HARD (notice the caps). For some that will be a very good thing, to those who lack discipline, well, perhaps not. It still has a tinge of oldschool gameplay via luck and simple but clear purpose, to annihilate your foes in a very straightforward fashion.

The music consists largely of a Techno/Rhythmic-like score. Opinions vary as to whether it's better than Shinobi's though it's definetely different and seems to fit the game's pace better.

Overall, there's a lot in this game to love. It doesn't really do anything revolutionary, but the top-notch gameplay and character design are simply to die for. An excellent follow-up (I won't say sequel) to Shinobi in almost every regard, it plays every bit as well and in some ways even better.