Mark of the Ninja

As stealth games goes, Mark of the Ninja is a revelation. Although not a huge fan of the genre, I have played my fair share of stealth games but I have never played one quite like Mark of the Ninja.

A 2D side-scroll game, Mark of the Ninja requires the character to sneak through a series of levels while staying away from traps and out of sight of guards. The player is visible to enemies in areas of light and hidden in darkness; however that’s not all. Enemies also react to sounds and actions like running may also give away the player character's location and are represented visually by an expanding circle.

If the player do manage to silently approached an enemy, the player will be able to perform a one-hit kill. The silent assassination is performed by the player moving the mouse in the direction showed on screen. This may sound easy but in the heat of the moment with the fear of being discovered always hanging above you, it is not as easy as it sounds. You can also move your enemies around by making sounds so that they would come to investigate, and when they do…

Being able to perform silent kills is not just fun, it is also very important because in the game, open combat is not to your advantage. Mark of the Ninja takes place in a modern world where your enemies are armed with guns and body armor; you are a nameless ninja armed with ancient ninja weapons. If you are detected by an enemy, chances are you will lose the fight. If it’s two on one, then you can practically forget about it. You lose.

This trade-off is one of the things I love about this game. Mark of the Ninja mercilessly forces you to go on the stealth route, but the ability to make your enemies move into position and silenced them makes you predator, not prey. This allows the players to feel like a badass while at the same time making the penalty of being exposed by enemies very high. Klei Entertainment knows what game they were making; you are not Corvo, Agent 47 or Sam Fisher; there’s no fighting your way out of a jam.

In fact, not fighting is the way to go in the game. Mark of the Ninja is an assassination game, not a fighting one. The game touted that you can complete the game without killing anyone. Completing the game, I have to say that it is possible but would be very hard. The same can be said about killing every enemy on a level. It’s possible, but only just. However having such options in-game shows the versatility of the game which is always a good thing.

The story of the game was also surprisingly good. Told via a series of cutscenes, the story is basically about the conflict between ancient ninja traditions and the modern world. What seems like a straight forward story of betrayal got turned on its head in the final act when you discover that the protagonist (the player) might be psychotic.

The only real complain I would have is some of the level design. Shadow plays a huge part of the game and sometimes I have an issue with it. Which wall I can climb on and which wall I can’t; which staircase I can drop from, which I can’t. In the shadowy 2D world of Mark of the Ninja, this is not always clear.

However this is just a minor complain when you compare it to the unique game it is. It is a fun, challenging game with good sound, art and story. It is also a brand new fresh take on the stealth genre. So play it, Mark of the Ninja is an excellent game. 

Review of Guardians of the Galaxy

With all their Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, and Avengers movies, Marvel Studios made a much needed change of pace in their latest film, Guardians of the Galaxy. Arguably their biggest gamble yet, it is also arguably Marvel’s most fun film to date.

The movie starts in 1988 when a young Peter Quill is abducted by aliens and carried off into deep space. Twenty-six years later, Quill (Chris Pratt) double-crossed his boss (and abductor) Yondu Udonta by stealing a valuable orb from under his nose.

However when Quill attempt to sell the orb on the Nova Corps home world of Xandar, he discovers that there are no takers as the orb is coveted by the renegade Kree warlord, Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace). Not only that, he is then promptly ambushed by the assassin, Gamora (Zoe Saldana), who attempts to steal the orb for Ronan.

A fight ensues, drawing in a pair of bounty hunters: the genetically engineered raccoon Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), and the tree-like humanoid Groot (Vin Diesel). The local police force, the Nova Corps, then arrives and arrests everyone.

The whole group is sent to a prison called The Kyln where an inmate, Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), attempts to kill Gamora due to her association with Ronan. Quill persuades Drax not to kill Gamora who reveals to the group that she was going to betray Ronan by selling the orb to a private collector.

Rocket Raccoon engineered a jailbreak and Gamera lead the group to Knowhere, a remote spaceport for the criminals of the galaxy. The group meets Gamora's contact, Taneleer Tivan, who opens the orb to reveal an Infinity Stone, an item powerful enough to destroy entire planets.

Lured by Drax, Ronan arrives at Knowhere and leave with the Stone after easily defeating the Destroyer. Forced with no options, Quill contacts Yondu to rescue the group and negotiate a truce by convincing Yondu that they can only recover the orb working together.

Working with Yondu’s crew, The Ravagers, the group finally caught up with Ronan on Xandar where they faced the might of the Accuser alongside the Nova Corps. The battle gave Quill’s group their name, the Guardians of the Galaxy!

Now after watching the film, I must say I'm kind of mixed on it. On one hand, Guardians of the Galaxy is something new from the normal Marvel fare and that's good for the company but on the other…the film just missed something from being great.

Guardians is a fun but flawed movie. Taking place in space with Earth only briefly seen at the start, Guardians does many things right. It has great music, an excellent script and able direction from director James Gunn.

It also has some good performances from its cast. Chris Pratt nailed his role as the arrogant, overconfident rogue with a heart of gold in Peter Quill, while former wrestler Dave Bautista show surprisingly good comic timing in his role as Drax. Even Zoe Saldana, more known for her looks than acting abilities, was excellent as Gamora.

The real stars of the show however were the 2 CGI characters of the Guardians. Moving Picture Company (MPC), who worked on creating Groot, and Framestore, who worked on creating Rocket, really outdid themselves on the creation of the Guardians. Both characters were amazingly, especially the final credit scene with the dancing baby Groot. I dare anyone to see that scene and not have a smile on his face. You literally have to be an “Inhuman” not to smile. Bradley Cooper (voice of Rocket) and Vin Diesel (voice of Groot) were also great. Who knew there were so many ways to say 3 words?

However, as good as Guardians is, it is strictly in the good but not great category. The biggest problem I see is the lack of supporting characters in the movie. In a way that understandable as the main focus is on the Guardians, but why have Glenn Close in the movie and do NOTHING with her? That’s just a bloody waste of talent.

I found the villains kind of understated. Karen Gillan (Nebula) and Lee Pace did their best but when you have both of them reporting to Thanos halfway through the film, it leaves no doubt in anyone’s mind that these 2 are minions. Also, Michael Rooker’s Yondu is a bit of a joke. In the comics, Yondu is a deadly warrior/archer. Here, he is a blue skinned redneck!

Overall, I have to say the film is worth a watch. It is a bit of a rojak film with wit, action and comedy all mixed together, but it’s a good mix. It’s not the space epic I was hoping for but it’s entertaining and fun. And in the end, that’s why we watch movies. Take a look for a good time.