REVENGE OF SHINOBI

 The first thing you should know about the REVENGE OF SHINOBI cartridge game
available for the Sega Genesis system is that it has very little to do with
SHINOBI (its predecessor). It's a breathtaking sequel that raises the term
"arcade quality" to new standards.

 You become Musashi, a master ninja on a quest to defeat the Neo Zeed, who have
assasinated your Sensei and kidnapped your girlfriend, Naoko. Your quest takes
you from the Japanese countryside to a secret marine stronghold below New York
City. And just like in the movies, the Neo Zeed recruit other ninjas,
mercernaries, monsters, and even misguided superheroes to try to stop you!

 Although the advertisement on the box states that there are 24 levels of
action, this really means you must fight through eight districts that consist of
three separate areas. What's amazing is that each of the 24 areas is unique
graphically, with no repetition involved. You have to master a different
strategy for each one, while trying not to get too caught up in the beauty of
the display!

 You fight with three basic skills: You may get close to an enemy and kick him;
you can fight from a distance by throwing Shurikens, although you're only
allowed a certain number of these; or you can jump and, by pressing the jump
button twice, somersault in mid-air, hurling ten Shurikens toward your enemies.

 In addition, you may use Ninjitsu (Ninja Magic) against your enemies, calling
up one of four arts: Ikazuchi, the Art of Thunder, to surround your body with a
force field that can sustain several hits; Kariu, the Art of the Fire Dragon,
which causes fire columns to erupt over the screen; Fushin, the Art of Floating,
to let you jump higher and longer; and Mijin, the Art of Pulverizing, in which
you become a human explosion to defeat your enemy (but you also lose a life!).
You can only use Ninjitsu once within each district (unless you die).

 Armed with these techniques and skills, you proceed toward Tokyo in order to
rescue Naoko. As you begin, the Ninjas materialize in the countryside to stop
you. In fighting them, you can't help but be awed by the way you actually see
_more_ of the background as you jump upward. This feature is implemented
throughout the entire program, and really gives you the 3-D feeling of playing
an arcade game. If you climb along the first wall and tarry long enough, you'll
notice little details, like the sun setting in the background and the moon
rising. Later, you'll explore houses and spot the moon peering at you thru the
windows. After fighting your way through the Samurai and Ninjas, you'll see a an
"exit" sign that seems to hang in the air.

 REVENGE OF SHINOBI is more of an action-arcade than adventure game, but there
are some secrets for you to discover. Boxes lying around are filled either with
weapons/power-ups/life or bombs. It's best to open these from a distance the
first time, in order to avoid any exploding bombs. A lot of strategy is involved
in figuring out how to defeat the eight bosses at the end of each district, and
in knowing when it's appropriate to use which type of Ninjitsu. Particularly in
the later levels, the bosses have dual identities -- they pretend to be someone
or something they are not!

 Among the bosses you'll meet in the game are: the Shadow Dancer, who seems to
have mastered the Art of Fushin better than you; the Master Attacker, a fellow
who seems to have watched one particular Arnold Schwarzenegger movie too many
times; Spider-Man (yes, the actual superhero from the pages of Marvel Comics --
thank goodness he got away from Paragon Software!), who climbs along the walls
out of your reach; and a flame-breathing brontosaurus somewhat reminscent of
Godzilla. At the final level, you'll have to defeat a mysterious white-haired
man before Naoko is crushed to death.

 In addition to the astounding 3-D quality of the graphics, I'm equally
astounded by their powerful composition, the number of objects that seem to move
about or do something in a scene, and the wide variety of colors. For instance,
when you fight the Shadow Dancer, you're in a disco where all sorts of colorful
spotlights roam around the screen, making it hard to find the ninja as he floats
around. In district three, you must make your way thru an Airport Compound in a
military base, which in some ways reminds me of the arcade game, NINJA WARRIORS:
You have to fight soldiers with rifles and machine guns, a Rambo-type who has a
flame thrower, and even soldiers who lob grenades at you. The difference in this
game is that there's a fence you must continually jump over (with soldiers on
either side) in order to dispose of the enemies -- tricky moves that also
increase the feeling of depth.

 In district five, you'll have to climb the Laser Scraper, a building that not
only contains mercernaries and ninjas trying to get a fix on you, but robotic
laser guns, as well! The building is so realistic you can even see the
reflections of other buildings in its windows, although you don't dare take the
time to look at them! District six contains a Chinatown scene that's the single
most astounding computer simulation I can think of: All the shop and street
signs are in Chinese characters, each of which glow and pulsate in unique
colors. It's also astounding the way a creature as large as the brontosaurus in
district seven can look and move so realistically.

 When you consider the level of detail in REVENGE OF SHINOBI, you must also
remember that the graphics _do not_ slow down when several things occur
simultaneously on the screen, as is the case in RAMBO III. Furthermore, whenever
you use the Ninjitsu magic, the screen comes alive with an added dimension of
depth.

 The music for the game is quite nice and contains many unique tracks. Although
some of these are played in more than one scene, several scenes rely on their
own synthesized music beat. It's obvious that the composer took care to get it
just right. In fact, this is the first Sega Genesis game whose title screen
credits and copyrights the work of the composer, Yudo Koshiro. Not only that,
the "soundtrack" is available in Japan on compact disc.

 As in most Sega Genesis games, there is an options screen that allows you to
select the level of difficulty: Easy (10 lives per game), Normal (three lives
per game), Hard (one life per game), and Hardest (also one life per game).

 You may set the number of initial Shurikens from 0 to 90, as well. The control
pad can be reconfigured for the settings of the A, B, and C buttons. After
you've lost all of your lives, you have three "continues" in which you may start
over from the beginning of your last district.

 By now, you can probably tell that I think REVENGE OF SHINOBI is a top-flight
game for the Sega Genesis. I give it four out of four stars for graphics and
sound quality, and three stars for depth of gameplay. Even at the Easy level,
it's a very challenging game. The only drawback is the manual: It mistakenly
claims you can start the game in any District with a keypad button, but you
clearly cannot do so. Apart from that, REVENGE is definitely in the same class
as GHOULS 'N' GHOSTS, the other top-rated game for Sega Genesis. It more than
reproduces the feel of playing an arcade game like NINJA GAIDEN in your living
room: It actually surpasses your expectations!

 REVENGE OF SHINOBI is published and distributed by Sega.

*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253