Coming for the Playstation 2, Shinobi is unlike anything we've seen in the series before. The game takes place in modern day Tokyo and centers around the clan Oboro, or more specifically, two brothers of the clan. To earn the right to the clan's ancient sword, the two lock horns in a fight to the finish where the loser must die. Our main character, Hotsuma, is the winner of this battle and soon learns that the blade isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Craving blood in return for awesome power, the sword will do whatever it takes to drink, be it from the throats of those at Hotsuma's mercy, or Hotsuma himself. Shortly after earning the blade, Hotsuma finds himself in the middle of all sorts of natural disasters that tear through Tokyo, leaving it an apocalypic version of its former self. With so much going on, and the blade yearning for blood, Hotsuma dons traditional ninja garb to go out and do some traditional ass kicking. Oh, and he's sporting the coolest scarf since Strider Hiryu's. Thus the perfect setup for some major action is complete.

Shinobi was playable at this year's E3, and was sporting visuals and gameplay that made every Sega fan strut in pride. The game speeds at 60fps without skipping a beat, and the gameplay is almost too fluid for words. Hotsuma can perform a basic set of moves that, when combined, make up a ton of combinations to counter every situation faced. The newest, and coolest, has to be the dash move. Too fast for the eye, Hotsuma blazes past enemies, and continue dashing infinitely. The only time the enemy will 'see' is in between dashes, meaning he may be slashing in air within a blink of an eye. Then there's jumps and double jumps, which when coupled with dashing, makes for some awesome evasive maneuvers. Another new move is the wall run, which can be combined with dashes and jumps as well. Sometimes you'll have to control Hotsuma in all sorts of ways, from jumping large gaps, evading heavy enemy attack, or running up a wall, bounding off, and bouncing from wall to wall to your destination. Nice.

Running away isn't what Shinobi is all about though, and so of course Sega has put together some awesome attacks to loose on foes. The sword is the main weapon, and with it having an unquenchable thirst for blood, gains strength every time you defeat an opponent. This plays into killer combinations, where if you can finish off enough foes in time, will increase the sword's strength greatly. Throw the regular sword attacks into jumps, double jumps, and the like, and find all sorts of fighting combinations at your disposal. Yet no Shinobi would be complete without shurikens, the deadliest long range option you'll have. These throwing stars can be used against all sorts of opponents and - in true old school fashion - can be used in a fanned out shot during double jumps.

Using crisp visuals, fast gameplay, and more appeal than the recent flood of 'badass' characters, Shinobi is shaping up to be the must-have game for any PS2 owner, and a revival of the old series that does the namesake justice.

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