Red Ninja End Of Honor

Ninja games have always been something that has been present within the sphere of gaming, however, these titles do vary in terms of quality. On one hand, you have the very challenging and popular series, Ninja Gaiden Sigma and recent blockbuster Ghosts of Tsushima which represent the high end of the genre. While on the flip side, you have games like Tenchu, Ninja Blade or Way Of The Samurai that don’t cover the genre in a great deal of glory. The series in question here, Red Ninja, has always been on the wrong side of this debate, often offering budget titles that were poorly received by the gaming populous. However, Red Ninja: End Of Horror would be yet another attempt to turn the tide and have fans flock to the series.

This game plays rather like other Ninja related titles such as Tenchu: Fatal Shadows, Shinobodo: Way Of The Ninja or Nightshade, aiming to offer a mix of intense martial art and melee combat while still incorporating a good deal of stealth mechanics into the core gameplay.

Same Old Story

Like we said, the Red Ninja series is synonymous with low quality games and this one does nothing to buck that trend. This becomes apparent right from the offset through the mediocre visuals, the braindead voice acting and a lifeless story that doesn’t pick up at any point throughout the game. The poor visuals have seemingly been supplemented by adding more visceral attacks, more gore and more interesting weaponry such as the main characters Tetsugen. However, this feels completely superficial and does nothing to fool the player into believing they are playing a competent title.

The other key issue we had with this ninja based game is that it doesn’t really encourage you to live in the shadows or be stealthy at all. Don’t get us wrong, you absolutely can do this, but if you don’t the game will not punish you. If a group of enemies spot you, you’ll be more than equipped to deal with the situation handily, leading to players avoiding the stealth mechanics and simply strolling through stages with little to no challenge. If this was a simple hack and slash title this would be no issue but if you want to make a stealth heavy game, this lack of consequence for being so blatantly obvious is criminal.

This would be somewhat redeemable if the combat was in any way fun to use but sadly the move sets are limited, leading to a repetitive set of fight scenes that become more of a chore than anything else. Overall, there are very little redeeming qualities about this game's story, art style or gameplay and I only wish we were done complaining.

Mechanically Messy

Not only does this game lack great narrative, gameplay and visuals, it also has issues that prevent you from trying to enjoy the game. The platforming mechanics are basic to the point of frustration, leading to unnecessary deaths and areas where you will repeat over and over again before succeeding through luck more than skill. Then in addition to this, the camera for this game is abysmal.

You’ll be constantly fighting with it to see your character, make jumps and fight enemies, leading to even more frustration and an inability to immerse yourself in the action.

Back to The Shadows

As you might have predicted due to the reputation of the series and ninja games in general, this game is poor on so many levels. The story does nothing to engage the player, the gameplay is a constant struggle with very few areas that we would deem enjoyable and the visuals on show are average at best.

Pros

• Interesting primary weapon
• Plenty of gore

Cons

• Mediocre sound and visuals
• The gameplay is boring and doesn’t encourage stealth
• The camera is broken and frustrating
• Platforming sections are incredibly basic.