Hey everyone! Connor here again to talk about one of my favorite games on the VoxPop Games store, Ninja Noboken by Gabriel Lopez (a.k.a Yuplis)! Taking inspiration from the Ninja Gaiden series, Ninja Noboken has the player face enemies and platforming challenges that will make even the most experienced platformer players struggle.
The controls of Ninja Noboken are simple but extremely responsive. Combos feel natural even for players who have never played a Ninja Gaiden game. Combos feel natural, for example pressing the X button on your controller you can slash your sword through enemies. However, if you press it multiple times your character will do a combo attack.
This feels like a natural progression of the slash move. Never did the game have to tell me to do this either, with simple experimenting I could easily figure it out. You can also use your sword in air, which reminds me of using aerials in fighting games. One of my favorite parts of moving my character in this game has to be the second jump in your characters double jump. You gain less height, but it fully stops your falling momentum. Since it stops your momentum so suddenly, it really helps get past enemies with tough attack patterns, such as the witches who throw shuriken's in the third level of the game.
The graphics and cutscenes are cartoonish yet fit the game super well. Enemies have only one attack animation which can make them seem a bit robotic, but really help you memorize their attack patterns. Additionally, their rigidness makes the game feel old school and arcade-esc, similar to Ninja Gaiden. The cut scenes are one of my favorite parts of this game. Gabriel decides to lean into the cheesiness and it definitely pays off. The cut scenes are also original drawings, which is a super nice touch.
Not only is the game nice to look at, but it's also really nice to listen to. The games music really helps set the mood for each level. Arguably even more importantly though are the sound effects. People yelling at you, the crunching of your enemies as you slice through them, or the sound of the lava you will sink in countless times, are all sounds that make the game feel alive and dynamic. Sound is something that can easily go ignored in a lot of smaller indie games, but Gabriel obviously made it a priority.
You can check out our "Made For" VoxPop Games exclusive version of Ninja Noboken here, where you can play as the VoxPop color swap!
- Connor
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