Red Ninja: End of Honor

The later stages of intricate wirework platforming will undoubtedly cause many undue stress, and Kurenei herself can be a challenge to control given her default dash and a hard-to-wrangle camera. [March 2005, p.59]

Some exciting new combat ideas are sadly marred by sloppy execution and a feeling of similarity in some areas. Pleasingly bloody, though. [Xbox World]

Technical issues at the core of gameplay (camera) will burn any gamer's sack, especially when asked to pay the premium price tag.

What onlookers don't see is hyper-active controls causing Kurenai to ping-pong about with the predictability of a pinball. Pinballs make rubbish ninjas.

There are better representations of what ninja titles can really pull off, and while Red Ninja had the potential to really shake up the genre, it just doesn't have enough draw to even give it a gentle nudge.

From its barely existent storyline, to its laborious and periodically broken platforming mechanics, to its sadly underdeveloped combat, Red Ninja just never manages to pull itself from action game mediocrity.

The gameplay isn't extraordinary by any means. The graphics, while solid, are not memorable, and the audio falls into a similar category.

It's like a melted snowman -- something that could've been good, but instead turned out to be a goopy pile of mush.

Even the most dedicated player's are likely to fall out of love with the game more frequently than its promise of unstoppable motion and a world outside slate-grey corridors (which becomes more distant as the game progresses) can entice them back. [May 2005, p.83]

Sure, there's oodles of feudal female flesh on display and a competent command system, but too many areas of the game fall flat on their face for it to be anything other than a tragic waste of time.

Maybe if Japanese development team Tranji had spent less time trying to show off Kurenai's posterior and more time tweaking the basic mechanics Red Ninja could have been a half decent alternative to Tenchu. As it is, much like Kurenai herself, this is one game that may look nice from a distance but turns into a right horror show when viewed up close. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

The only thing this game offers is a combination of clunky combat, bad camera and average presentation. Like her adversaries, Red Ninja is in dire need of being put out of its misery.

Unless you've always dreamed of playing as a ninja in a little red miniskirt, who just happens to also be a master at killing with a tetsugen, you should stay far away from this game. If you could make the game disk into a ninja throwing star, it would be more fun than playing Red Ninja.