Mark of the Ninja Guide Play Part 2-KJS

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Published on July 28, 2020 6:58:36 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqftvpH5jag

Game:

Mark of the Ninja (2012)

Duration: 37:01

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The game's main bait is the cool cartoonish look and animations. However, 30 minutes or less is all you need to experience all the game has to offer. Sure there are some additional bells and whistles that drop every once in a while as you progress, but they're requisites on top of a core that stays unchanged. So what fails?

Game design
As good as it looks in a 2-minute gameplay video or on a screenshot, the design doesn't have the depth and variety to make a 10-hour game. It just get's worn out.

Level design
Here's probably the weakest aspect of the whole game. You get the same level design with mild variations from beginning to the end. Too soon it starts to feel like doing chores.

In-game tasks
You have to complete small in-game tasks to earn points to level up. The tasks, however rather break the immersion than add anything to it. Most often they were just annoying, at best neutral, not once thrilling.

Story
The ending was surprisingly good in many ways. The rest of the story was plain and uninteresting though. Sad thing is, that a good story would have helped a lot to make up for some other missing features.

Mechanics
There's a strong stealth system built into the game, equal to the Hitman series. Here's where the game shines most. You sneak, hide, distract, terrorize, confuse, stealth kill enemies and more. Having pulled that off in 2D makes the outcome even sweeter. The power-ups shine with originality and come in handy, whatever approach you choose to go with. And on top of that, the quick time events while killing with a sword, gives a nice extra touch.

Replayability
Lots of replay value for three reasons:
1. Great game for speedrun.
2. You can try to complete all the mini-tasks and find all the hidden places.
3. Upon finishing the game you unlock a new difficulty mode with tougher challenges.

Verdict
I found myself struggling to finish the game because of the repetitive level design and the overall routine that I felt while playing. The in-game tasks made it feel like a competitive game, common to sports genre, whereas it should have focused more on the immersion and atmosphere. Despite the power-ups I didn't feel like there was much character development going on. Besides the philosophical ramblings thrown at you time after time, you never really get to know the character.

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