14 DAY TRIAL // There haven’t been a lot of stealth games released in the last few years, as apparently plenty of developers decided to abandon the genre altogether and focus on other types of experiences, like shooters or RPGs.
Fortunately, in these past few months, plenty of impressive stealth-based titles have appeared, ranging from big triple-A games, like Dishonored, to smaller downloadable experiences, like Mark of the Ninja, coming from Klei Entertainment.
After appearing on the Xbox 360 last month, the game has now been released on the PC, via Steam.
With the promise of a control experience catered to the mouse and keyboard, Mark of the Ninja seems to offer a more cerebral experience than the one delivered by Klei’s previous installments, Shank 1 and 2. Does it achieve this performance? Let’s have a quick look.
Mark of the Ninja was on my radar for quite some time as Klei Entertainment got me hooked on their side-scrolling experiences with Shank 1 and 2, so I was more than looking forward to this stealth game, even if I still fondly remember the mindless violence of the studio’s last two titles.
While boasting a similar visual style and the same side-scrolling experience, Mark of the Ninja is quite a different beast, as stealth is of the essence.
You play as a ninja from an ancient clan who has just received a special tattoo that gives him enhanced powers. You must use these abilities to drive off foreign invaders from your clan’s home while taking care of your extremely fragile flesh.
Seeing as how you wield a short sword and a ninja dart, while your opponents use machine guns, it’s important to avoid direct combat and strike from the shadows. You also need to explore vents and use your trusty grappling hook to reach new places in order gain the advantage in front of your foes.
Stealth, like in Dishonored, is based on fields of view, but you also need to stick to the shadows and hide behind certain objects in order to completely avoid detection, which, almost always, results in death.
In practice, these mechanics work quite well but the game requires a lot of patience if you are to survive your encounters and remain undetected. Not once have I mistakenly jumped into the middle of my enemies, in traditional Shank-style.
Overall, Mark of the Ninja is a pretty solid game but, while the mouse and keyboard control setup is pretty good, it’s much better if you play it with a gamepad on the PC or right on the Xbox 360.
Check out a video of Mark of the Ninja on the PC above.
Worth a full Softpedia review: No