Each level has a hardcore and master difficulty that is unlocked after beating its respective world, which not only changes the difficulty of enemies-by making them smarter-but also the level layouts. One of the most commendable parts of Shadow Blade is the amount of content the game has. With no ability to skip or even fast-forward these cutscenes, they ended up a constant intrusion, rather than engaging storytelling. They appeared every five to eight levels and seemed to get longer as time went on. The panels appear at a slow rate and can sometimes last for over a minute, which hinders the overall flow. These are very pretty to look at, but they last way too long. It’s told through comic book style panels that present Kuro’s journey through the world. The story also suffers from being generic and intrusive. There are only so many times you can play the same level with a slightly different layout before the journey is simply repetitive. The same few songs are also repeated constantly, which became more and more apparent as I got to the later levels. A similar statement can be made about the music. Some environments, like the dojo, are interesting to look at, but after six such levels, it gets a little boring. However, the individual levels within each world have the same background, enemies, and obstacles, which makes them feel the same. Each of the seven worlds has a different environment. The visual style of Shadow Blade also comes off as very generic.
This is one of the many instances where the game can’t seem to decide what it wants to do, as it encourages the player to get to the end quickly, yet punishes them for missing collectibles. At the end of each level, the player is graded based on how quickly they completed the level, how many sprites they found, and how many of the three kanji characters they found. Unfortunately, the game tries to sprinkle in collectibles that drastically slow down the pace. Fast respawns and abundant checkpoints further contribute to this sense of speed. His arsenal and fast movement speed encourages the player to get through every level as quickly as possible, which ultimately was the best part of my play time. In his arsenal, Kuro has a katana for melee combat, rechargeable shuriken for ranged combat, and a kusarigama which is used to pull enemies toward him. You play as Kuro, the last ninja of his clan, who is out to try and save his master while stopping the other clans from taking over. The gameplay is exactly what you’d expect.
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