When I think about the 2D action games I loved growing up, “fast” isn’t a word that usually comes to mind. Something like a Ninja Turtles side scrolling beat-em-up looks a little slow in my mind, filled with heavy one on one punch outs. The exact pace changes from game to game, but it’s not usually what I’d call quick. So I was in for a bit of a shock when I booted up a demo of Shinobi: Art of Vengeance at Summer Game Fest. Sega’s new revival may call back to some of the retro games I played as a kid, but it leaves them all in the dust in its constant blitz of sword slashing.
Developed by Lizardcube, the studio behind the terrific Streets of Rage 4, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance looks to take a classic Sega series back to its roots. It’s a side scrolling action game where I need to slash through enemies, vanquish bosses, and do a bit of platforming for good measure. My 45-minute demo let me run wild through two of its gorgeously animated levels, getting a feel for the balance Lizardcube is striking here between retro and modern.
When I try to describe it on paper, it might sound a little boilerplate. The platforming has me double jumping and air dashing around 2D environments. Combat is a matter of dishing out sword combos, hitting evasive rolls, tossing out a shuriken or two, and spending energy to activate special skills. It’s all par for the course, I know, but those familiar ideas are made thrilling once I start to realize just how quickly I can take out a screen full of enemies.
Art of Vengeance is designed in such a way that I never felt like I needed to stop moving during a fight. If an enemy tries to attack me during a combo, I can hit my evasive dodge and exit it into a new combo. If I need to jump in the air to avoid an unblockable attack, I can come back down with a dive kick by hitting my heavy attack button and chain into a combo from there. My favorite detail comes anytime I stun an enemy. When a red mark appears above a foe, I can press both bumpers to launching into a finishing strike that will also ricochet through every other stunned enemy in the room. The more I get all of this down, the more I realize that I simply never have to stop moving once I get on a roll. It feels as much like a fighting game as it does a side scroller.
That sense of lethal speed goes a long way towards making Art of Vengeance feel more exciting than a lot of recent retro brawlers that are very similar to it on paper. It aims to make Shinobi feel like a phantom that cut through waves of enemies in the blink of an eye. Even when I’m dropped into familiar scenarios, like when I need to stay on a boat as enemies fall in around me, it feels like I’m playing something entirely new rather than another cookie cutter retro cash-in.
I’m eager to see how much deeper it all goes. My demo only gave me a taste of its exploration, as I could occasionally find platforming challenges that led me to hidden collectibles. Each level has five to find and those can be spent at shops to unlock even more maneuvers, like one that extended my combos even further with additional hits. I had tons of moves to work into my attack strings by the end of the second level I played, including a charged punch and a counter stance skill. I hope more moves keep trickling in in later missions, giving me more attacks I can pepper into my ballet of blades.
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance launches on August 28 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.