Reviews»Gaming»Indie Games»Super House of Dead…
2013-07-01_00003
Kareem Ali 4

Super House of Dead Ninjas

 

  • The good

    Enjoyable and challenging platformer. A ton of weapon and power upgrades to use at any point in the game to change up the game play

  • The bad

    Story is the bare minimum. Lack of in-game power ups

  • The ugly

  • Super House of Dead Ninjas is a 2D action-platformer developed by Megadev and published by Adult Swim Games. It features Nintai Ryoko, the crimson ninja as she seeks to descend a legendary tower, the Ziggurat of Infinum, which is rumored to be the greatest treasure in the world. However this ninja isn’t seeking treasure and instead goes to investigate due to stories of innocent people being captured and taken back to this tower never to be heard from again. It’s not a complete mystery because the one that is responsible is the demon Abarghus, who rests at the bottom of the tower, and his servants. The only way to enter the tower is through its peak. Can you descend the Ziggurat of Infinum and put an end to the terrible plans of Abarghus once and for all?

     

    GAMEPLAY

    The game starts off with a quick tutorial displayed on-screen for the first few levels you descend and it just shows the basic movements and attacks. The controls are very simple and you can choose between the keyboard or a controller. I found both to be equally responsive so you won’t have a problem with either one depending on your preference. And you’re going to have to choose the one you’re most comfortable with because it can get tough. You have a basic slash attack, a projectile attack, bomb and power attack. The projectiles, bombs and power attacks aren’t unlimited however for most of the projectile weapons you have a short period of time to retrieve them so you won’t really run out of them.

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    There are also jump attacks with the most powerful attack after the power attack being the jump down attack. It’s an attack you can use descending from one floor to another just by pressing down on the keyboard or controller. Overall there are over 40 total weapon, projectile, bomb and power upgrades and each one actually changes the game play. However you do have to unlock them by completing a task like kill 5 enemies at once with a power attack. Each one does tell you which specific task you have to do to unlock it so you don’t have to guess.

    And that’s about all the help the game gives you before throwing you into its ever-changing and frenetic action. There are 350 levels in the tower however they’re randomly generated so if you lose all your lives and have to go back to an earlier level, it’s completely different each time. And you don’t have alot of time to plan your next moves because there’s a timer (dependent on your level and upgrades) that you have to keep resetting by collecting timers placed on different levels or else the grim reaper will come and won’t stop until it kills you. Time and the grim reaper are not the only enemies you have to worry about. There are almost 50 different enemies (and 8 bosses) and some shoot projectiles, some are invisible initially, some take more than one hit to kill and in the case of hazardous obstacles, can only be destroyed using a power attack. So speed and evasion are two key words to keep in mind when playing this game. And this game is unforgiving in the way old-school platformers and side-scrolling games were where either you get better or you will keep dying. You do get more lives as you unlock more upgrades but if you’re already good at platformers or you have a little bit of patience to improve in this game you will be treated to an enjoyable experience that relatively offers a lot.

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    I found myself becoming more and more engrossed the better I became and the further down the tower I got. And when I did unlock rage mode by using melee attacks fast enough to fill up the meter it was just more of a rush and feeling of satisfaction as I was able to descend even faster while utilizing the hidden shortcuts on certain floors. It is better when the timer is increased as the earlier levels before unlocking the timer upgrade became a race against the grim reaper more than anything else and the action felt more rushed than enjoyable on a few occasions then. The bosses had enough of a variety to feel like a worthy break from the usual action and aside from the last 2 bosses aren’t extremely tough. Unfortunately there is nothing in the way of story aside from the comic in the beginning and the ending but only if you beat the game on hard. I would have liked to see more even if at just one of the 3 checkpoints in the game. But what it does offer, non-stop action, is actually entertaining and solid game play and with the randomly generated levels there is a strong replayability value. And there are challenges or specific enemies you have to find in order to unlock more items so that’s another reason to replay certain levels.

    And finishing the main tower isn’t all that’s there. You can play in a transdimensional tower and if that’s not enough for you there’s a map editor so you can create your own tower. It’s not difficult to use and you can add anything from the specific enemies on each level to the actual pattern of each level.

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    SUMMARY

    Super House of Dead Ninjas is a solid and enjoyable 2D action platformer and reminiscent of old-school platformers in the sense that you have to actually get better in order to succeed. The sheer number of weapon and power upgrades makes it possible to replay levels for a different experience or even if just to find one that you feel most comfortable using. I had a good time playing this game and as one who can play quick games to just take a break, Super House of Dead Ninjas is one that is very suitable for that purpose for me. If you enjoy platformers or just looking for a game to pass the time here and there and not afraid to discover the secret of the Ziggurat of Infinum I recommend Super House of Dead Ninjas.

  • Gameplay ( 8.5 )
    Graphics ( 7 )
    Sound Quality ( 8 )
  • Total score 7.8

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