Last Ninja 2


Title		Last Ninja 2
Game Type	Action Adventure
Compatibility	ECS, Tested upto 060 via HD patches.
Publisher	Activision (1990)
HD Installable	Patches available
Players		1
Submission	Glen Lambert

Review
The story is simple, despite wiping out Kunitoki in the first game, Last
Ninja, he is back again, meaner than ever before in this sequel. The
objective is the same, track him down in his mountain hideaway and kick
his sorry arse straight into Ninja 3.

The game 'Last Ninja 2' is again an Amiga version of the C64 game with the
maps & puzzles making it across intact. This means, of course, if you've
finished the C64 game, it will not prove too difficult. If you're
unfamiliar with the visual format of the Ninja games, they are viewed in
an isometric perspective with room around the bottom and right of the main
screen to show your stats etc.

Much the same as the first game, the levels make up your journey. The game
starts in Central Park, Manhattan then moves to The Streets and then down
into The Sewers. From there you enter the Shoguns' secret Basement opium
factory and then The Office Block above which you climb to the roof to
hitch a lift on a helicopter to the Shoguns' mountain retreat Mansion and
then up to his penthouse for The Final Battle.

The game design and layout, half inched straight from the C64 version is,
in my mind, superior to that of the first game, appearing bigger, more
varied, more dramatic with more to do & see. Sadly that's where the
positive comments must end.

It's an unfortunate truth that Last Ninja 2 on the Amiga sucks big time.
Action is slow & jerky. The main sprite is animated poorly and has been
drawn shoddily, to such a degree infact, that one can see the laziness
and/or incompetence. This game is ugly and plays like a pig, the sound is
not a patch on Ninja Remix and when stood next to the C64 version of
'Ninja 2', you'd probably pick out the Amiga version as the 8bit job.

The C64 'Last Ninja 2' was everything it should have been, a bigger,
better & bolder game than it's prequel. On the Amiga, it is one of the
biggest disappointments I've ever seen. I really wish I could be more
positive about this game but there's nothing to say in it's favour, it's
laughable, a major downer for any Ninja fan & no doubt a major turn off
for anyone new to the series whose unfortunate first experience is this
rubbish.

In conclusion, one of the biggest disappointments of my gaming career and
the only game in the series I no longer play. Why System 3 allowed this
tragedy I'll never know, but they did, it's out there now and there's no
stopping it.

2/10 - The two points are for not tampering with the design itself, which
was perfect.



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