E3 2013: Hands-On With ‘Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z’

Lately, it seems like no one is safe from the zombie apocalypse. In the case of Yaiba, he’s not even safe from them in death. From the minds of Megaman creator Kenji Inafune and the development team at Team Ninja comes Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, a spin off that takes the world of ninjas, magic and fiends and throws it in the middle of a zombie outbreak. While the inherently violent idea of the undead seems like it should be a perfect fit with a series known for its creative use of dismemberment, does Yaiba bring anything new to the table compared to the dozens of zombie games already on the market? We looked to find out during our time with the game at E3.

While Yaiba’s outfit looks almost identical to the classic NES ninja garb, don’t mistake him for Ryu Hayabusa, the usual protagonist of the series. You see, Yaiba was one of the many ninjas that have fallen at the hands of Ryu and his Dragon Sword, but his thirst for revenge made him special. Because of this, Yaiba has been revived and rebuilt with cybernetic parts by a mysterious organization, promising to give him his chance at revenge.  The catch? He has to stop an outbreak of walking corpses before he’s allowed to get his opportunity. It sounds silly, but considering the cheesy dialogue, comic book cutscenes and cell-shaded visuals that Yaiba employs, it’s obvious that this new game is meant to be far less serious than its predecessors.

Gameplay wise, Yaiba is shaping up to be more like something out of the Dynasty Warriors series than anything associated with the punishingly precise action gamers have associated with Ninja Gaiden. It wasn’t uncommon in the demo to find dozens of zombies on screen at once, and Yaiba’s flashy, fast hitting punches, kicks and sword slashes can tear them up in seconds. Even larger sub-boss enemies could be taken down relatively quickly, although their upgraded defense and blocking ability took a little more patience to get around. After chopping them into pieces, Yaiba could use their limbs, such as two arms attached by a string of flesh, as alternate weapons. You’ve never seen nunchucks until you’ve seen them made of human hands! If would be ninjas were still having trouble with the undead menace, players can trigger a powered up mode after killing enough enemies or taking too much damage, causing Yaiba’s cybernetic side to take over. If you’ve played any action game over the last decade or so, you know the drill. Temporary boost in power, health regeneration, faster attacks… the whole shebang!

And knowing the drill is part of my concern so far. Inafune is one of my favorite designers and Team Ninja has been one of my favorite development teams, but the time I spent with Yaiba paled in comparison to what I’d expect from the core Ninja Gaiden series. Taking a typical action route, the game looks flashy, but didn’t require anywhere near the skill associated with Hayabusa’s adventures. Attack options were slim and the camera was bad. And when I say bad, I mean pointing at the ground away from my character to the point where I couldn’t see anything kind of bad. Keep in mind though, that the screen had a very noticeable “pre-alpha” tag on the screen, so Ninja Gaiden Z is still very much in its early stages. Let’s hope someone on the team is aware of these issues before the game is released.

So far, Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z has potential. Despite its early lack of challenge, repetitive combat and glitches galore, the idea of a cybernetic ninja slicing through hoards of zombies has the potential to be tons of mindless fun. While I may have personally have had my fill of the whole undead outbreak scenario, if anyone can pull it off, Inafune and Team Ninja can. After all, Ninja Gaiden is one of my favorite series of all time, so I’ll keep the faith and watch for updates as this newest take on the classic series shapes up.