Wanted: Dead |OT| Ex-Team Ninja Gun Fu

Been hearing it's got performance and stutter issues even on the Series X so going to wait and see if they get ironed out.
 
Level 1 boss down first try. I actually thought it was really good.

Pro tip right before that.

Don't pick up the chainsaw and use it to one shot the ninja.
 
These screenshots make me crave a new Ninja Gaiden. It's been too long. Even modern updates would make the franchise feel super fresh again, if they can somehow nail and iterate off the gameplay from Ninja Gaiden Black.

In fact, that Ninja Gaiden Trilogy remaster they released last year should have just been a remake of Ninja Gaiden 1 in the vein of the new Dead Space. People would be falling in love with the game all over again.
Fuck yes!
 
Got to chapter 3. Absolutely loving it.

Combat keeps improving, and making me feel like a bad ass while also punishing me for not being active always. Really dug the boss of Act 2 more than act 1.

Anime cut scenes are superb albeit short.

Story is bat shit but in a good way so far; and the characters shine in their own goofy way.

Oh and the mini games are well done and a nice break between the main slice of game.
 
Got to chapter 3. Absolutely loving it.

Combat keeps improving, and making me feel like a bad ass while also punishing me for not being active always. Really dug the boss of Act 2 more than act 1.

Anime cut scenes are superb albeit short.

Story is bat shit but in a good way so far; and the characters shine in their own goofy way.

Oh and the mini games are well done and a nice break between the main slice of game.
Now I'm itching to get that PS4.

Apparently, Giorgio Moroder also did some work on the soundtrack.
 
A tip for stage 2: get the upgrade that lets you kill an enemy the moment he's missing a limb. Without it that stage might be a slog.

I'm also dropping this until they patch the audio. The enemy chatter in stage 3 is insufferable.
 
It took me an overwhelmingly long time to beat the second boss. Holy fuck! I think there is a balancing issue here, or I'm missing something. You're rewarded for playing aggressive by regaining a small percentage of damage incurred back if you pull off a finisher within a small window, but by the same token incredibly punished for missing a parry. Health packs barely restore your meter, and it seems to restore less than it should if you have the pending regain still active (if that makes sense). Everything hits hard while also being tanky. I can't imagine playing this on 'Japanese Hard', but I also don't want to drop the difficulty because the challenge here is part of the fun.

A tip for stage 2: get the upgrade that lets you kill an enemy the moment he's missing a limb. Without it that stage might be a slog.

I'm also dropping this until they patch the audio. The enemy chatter in stage 3 is insufferable.

What system are you playing on? Haven't noticed any audio bugs yet. But I did read a patch is on the way.
 
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It took me an overwhelmingly long time to beat the second boss. Holy fuck! I think there is a balancing issue here, or I'm missing something. You're rewarded for playing aggressive by regaining a small percentage of damage incurred back if you pull off a finisher within a small window, but by the same token incredibly punished for missing a parry. Health packs barely restore your meter, and it seems to restore less than it should if you have the pending regain still active (if that makes sense). Everything hits hard while also being tanky. I can't imagine playing this on 'Japanese Hard', but I also don't want to drop the difficulty because the challenge here is part of the fun.
That boss is kinda shit. First phase I beat him by just mashing the attack button. Second phase is harder, but if you have ammo you can just dump it on the boss and then proceed to do the killing combo with the sword.

What system are you playing on? Haven't noticed any audio bugs yet. But I did read a patch is on the way.
PC. Audio mixing have been terrible so far, but that stage 3 was the icing on the cake. It was the same in the trailers btw, I was hoping they'd fix it but no.

This is what I'm talking about (time stamped)



Maybe it's just me but those voices sound terrible to me.
 
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That boss is kinda shit. First phase I beat him by just mashing the attack button. Second phase is harder, but if you have ammo you can just dump it on the boss and then proceed to do the killing combo with the sword.


PC. Audio mixing have been terrible so far, but that stage 3 was the icing on the cake. It was the same in the trailers btw, I was hoping they'd fix it but no.

This is what I'm talking about (time stamped)



Maybe it's just me but those voices sound terrible to me.


I don't think that's getting patched lol. I think that's just how the game was designed.
 
I don't think that's getting patched lol. I think that's just how the game was designed.
In that case I'll wait for a mod to turn the enemy chatter off. I'm not playing the game anymore as it is, I refuse. :messenger_tears_of_joy:
 
In that case I'll wait for a mod to turn the enemy chatter off. I'm not playing the game anymore as it is, I refuse. :messenger_tears_of_joy:

I could be wrong, but how do you even fix that? Like there doesn't seem to be anything in place to cue those lines of dialogue, so they're scattered to begin with. I actually think it sounds hilarious.
 
I'm about 2 hrs in and liking it overall. That said, I find the shooting and aiming to be very difficult. I either run out of ammo, the crosshair is janky, or the enemy takes 20 headshots to die. Some more polish would have been great but its clear this game was made with a lot of love. I recommend it to action fans and gamers who don't care if there is some AA jank.
 
I could be wrong, but how do you even fix that? Like there doesn't seem to be anything in place to cue those lines of dialogue, so they're scattered to begin with. I actually think it sounds hilarious.
I might just tune the voices volume to 0 and see if that works. ^^u

The police station is weirdly huge lol.
Probably an issue with the spanish translation, but the first time you have to go visit the cat loving gunsmith, the game pointed me to the second floor.

Gunsmith is on the third floor, I spent too much time looking around until some random NPC told me where to go. :goog_relieved:
 
I might just tune the voices volume to 0 and see if that works. ^^u


Probably an issue with the spanish translation, but the first time you have to go visit the cat loving gunsmith, the game pointed me to the second floor.

Gunsmith is on the third floor, I spent too much time looking around until some random NPC told me where to go. :goog_relieved:
That is brutal lol. It told me the correct floor and I still took like an hour just exploring the fourth and third floors.

Also what the fuck at that stupid ass crane game lol. It's honestly hilarious. I managed to get one figure by kicking the machine repeatedly because the claw NEVER works. I was simultaneously frustrated and also laughing. Such a strange game lol. And they have an achievement for getting every figure. I literally don't know if it's even possible.
 
That is brutal lol. It told me the correct floor and I still took like an hour just exploring the fourth and third floors.

Also what the fuck at that stupid ass crane game lol. It's honestly hilarious. I managed to get one figure by kicking the machine repeatedly because the claw NEVER works. I was simultaneously frustrated and also laughing. Such a strange game lol. And they have an achievement for getting every figure. I literally don't know if it's even possible.
Hey! I got a few with the clawn, didn't even realize you could just kick the fuck out of that machine. :messenger_tears_of_joy:

The ones I got were kinda easy due to their shape, but those figurines on the machine on the right seem way harder to get for sure.
 
Hey! I got a few with the clawn, didn't even realize you could just kick the fuck out of that machine. :messenger_tears_of_joy:

The ones I got were kinda easy due to their shape, but those figurines on the machine on the right seem way harder to get for sure.
The kicking doesn't work that well either, but I had one drop near it so I just kept kicking it. There's another small reason to kick it a few times as well lol. Nothing major, but give it a try.
 
The police station is weirdly huge lol.
Police Station? Is this like Astral Chain where you often regroup at the station before each major mission and there's an entire supporting cast of fellow officers hanging around? That was actually one of my favorite things about Astral Chain.
 
Police Station? Is this like Astral Chain where you often regroup at the station before each major mission and there's an entire supporting cast of fellow officers hanging around? That was actually one of my favorite things about Astral Chain.
I'm just starting mission 2 and it does seem that way, yes. With some cheesy dialogue, exploration (inside 1 building) and mini-games. It's very AA, but I find it charming. There's a RE4 style shooting range as well.
 
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Police Station? Is this like Astral Chain where you often regroup at the station before each major mission and there's an entire supporting cast of fellow officers hanging around? That was actually one of my favorite things about Astral Chain.

Yeah, its like the intermission between each act. Where animated cutscenes are triggered, mini-games are played, and each act is tied together. It's nice.
 
Finally watched the IGN review for wanted dead...

And now I am even more confused, I thought maybe they had a different person do the preview, but it's the exact same person who did the glowing preview that did the review 🤨
 
I'm just starting mission 2 and it does seem that way, yes. With some cheesy dialogue, exploration (inside 1 building) and mini-games. It's very AA, but I find it charming. There's a RE4 style shooting range as well.
That's awesome. I'd definitely grab this if it was under $60. Hopefully there will be a sale within the next 2-3 months before Zelda drops.
 
Beat it today . 7 hours total. The final chapter is a big test in patience and less about skill. Truly long segments with multiple white ninjas, big chain gun guys, brown ninjas, shield guys, and sometimes all in the same tiny room multiple times . This was fully maxed out, and still a pain.

Final take away - fun game but definitely has issues. Wait for $20 or less sale.

Main faults:

There is barely a story of any kind here.

Gameplay works for the length of the game but repeat runs would be cumbersome due to how shallow the loop and options are.

No score system. This may be the games biggest glaring issue . It needed per level time and score system to give a reason to speed run the game and chase leaderboard scores.

There's actually very few side objectives to do in the game, and what's here is good but not great. The worst is crane game.

— 6/10, but you may think it's a 7 or 8, depending on your love for the genre and just a quick "blockbuster rental weekend" type game. I'd love a sequel with it fleshing out the world , characters, story, and gameplay.
 
Boss 2 down. I haven't been pushed past my limits like this since Ninja Gaiden. Its taken me 2 days to fully grasp how badass this combat system is. I need to record that fight sometime because I swear I was constantly landing precise counters, dodge rolls i to cover, blindside assault rifle shots, melee combos all totally mixed in seamlessly and I'm just kind of stunned. Holy shit I'm having fun. Back to more bat shit crazy cutscenes.

I honestly don't know if most people can make it past boss 2 on normal.
 
So, is this game a case of not catering to a "modern audience" with reviewers? Gamers I watched seem to enjoy the game.
Its past that. They're like aggressively saying fuck you to a mainstream audience lol. I just heard the worst rendition of 99 Luftballoons I've ever heard. Nearly made my ears bleed lol.

If you're into Devil's Third + Twin Peaks + AA games with some issues + Ninja Gaiden then this might be for you. But there's just as much chance you'll absolutely hate it.

Reviewers never had a chance.
 
I didnt expect this much dismemberment lol.

bmUfhgD.jpg
 
The price is an issue if there gonna phone in the level design and refuse to polish the animation. Something tells me blocky levels with no dressings and jank animation isnt what people really miss from the AA game era.

The blocky ass levels are hurting me the most. Its a wait for sale for me which makes me sad cause with better polish id be all over this.
 
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Game is gonna suck ass mark my word

lol This is one of those games where you can feel in your bones its going to flop.

I don't even know why anyone is surprised. This game looks like a long lost XB360 launch game, it literally looks like some early access game where like 10 people worked on it and we say "cool" or "awesome" based on what that team was able to create not being some huge known team....this is by ex-Team Ninja developers, they just can't get that type of pass.

I just don't know that someone really can charge full price for this and expect success. This is a pass, wait for free and even then its a maybe.
 
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Finally, finished it today, total playtime just under 14 hours. The final act was batshit stupid, nonsensical, prolonged dumb action, a deliberate troll in terms of game design. Minimal check points to frustrate those with brittle spirits, profane deaths and a final boss that felt like it was the brain child of Kojima. Simply put, I love this game. No aspect of it truly seems refined, yet also feels completely intentional. This isn't Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden and the game doesn't ever make an effort to be neither of those. But it encapsulates plenty of interesting ideas that collectively enables Wanted: Dead to stand its own ground amongst a genre filled with much better action games.

The anime cutscenes are lovely, really well crafted in terms of storyboarding and animation. As a result, Hannah's backstory felt far more fascinating than the narrative surrounding Dauer Synthetics. It helps that they actually hired someone with vast experience in Ippei Ichii as the Anime Director. From the 8 bit subtitle font to the detailed police reports, this game was designed with love. This is not only a homage to games of the past, but action films of the late 80s and early 90s. Much like Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables, The Zombie Squad will take you on missions filled with hilarious dialogue, explosions, an astronomical body count and most importantly JOY!

If you're still on the fence about buying this game, then it probably didn't appeal to you to begin with. However, this was directed by Hiroaki Matsui (co-director of Ninja Gaiden & Ninja Gaiden II) and produced by Yoshifuru Okamoto (producer of Ninja Gaiden II & game designer of Dead or Alive 4). It's worth having a look.

UVMhZ3i.jpg
 
Rk40gIJ.jpg


Finally, finished it today, total playtime just under 14 hours. The final act was batshit stupid, nonsensical, prolonged dumb action, a deliberate troll in terms of game design. Minimal check points to frustrate those with brittle spirits, profane deaths and a final boss that felt like it was the brain child of Kojima. Simply put, I love this game. No aspect of it truly seems refined, yet also feels completely intentional. This isn't Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden and the game doesn't ever make an effort to be neither of those. But it encapsulates plenty of interesting ideas that collectively enables Wanted: Dead to stand its own ground amongst a genre filled with much better action games.

The anime cutscenes are lovely, really well crafted in terms of storyboarding and animation. As a result, Hannah's backstory felt far more fascinating than the narrative surrounding Dauer Synthetics. It helps that they actually hired someone with vast experience in Ippei Ichii as the Anime Director. From the 8 bit subtitle font to the detailed police reports, this game was designed with love. This is not only a homage to games of the past, but action films of the late 80s and early 90s. Much like Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables, The Zombie Squad will take you on missions filled with hilarious dialogue, explosions, an astronomical body count and most importantly JOY!

If you're still on the fence about buying this game, then it probably didn't appeal to you to begin with. However, this was directed by Hiroaki Matsui (co-director of Ninja Gaiden & Ninja Gaiden II) and produced by Yoshifuru Okamoto (producer of Ninja Gaiden II & game designer of Dead or Alive 4). It's worth having a look.

UVMhZ3i.jpg
You don't seem to be overselling it lol, but I am tempted to jump in based on your overview. Maybe after I have finished some of the other games I am playing and after Lightfall's campaign, I might give this a go.
 
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You don't seem to be overselling it lol, but I am tempted to jump in based on your overview. Maybe after I have finished some of the other games I am playing and after Lightfall's campaign, I might give this a go.

The game has plenty of drawbacks, but I think they've been overstated enough. The only thing that I hope they improve on in a sequel or DLC if we ever get any of those would be balancing the game mechanics. Lack of health packs and enemies built like tanks is mentally cumbersome when you're given a very limited moveset.
 
The game has plenty of drawbacks, but I think they've been overstated enough. The only thing that I hope they improve on in a sequel or DLC if we ever get any of those would be balancing the game mechanics. Lack of health packs and enemies built like tanks is mentally cumbersome when you're given a very limited moveset.
Gotcha. That's good to know going in... Thank you!
 
Beat stage 3 and thought it was great. Beat the boss on the first try. Was actually a great boss. Cool design. Balanced difficulty.

If the game doesn't fully shit the bed on the last 2 levels this is going to land on an 8/10 for me. A lot of elements are more like Ninja Gaiden than I first thought.
 
I love the collector's edition. Wish it came with some skin and weapon DLC but no complaints.
I would love some DLC. The game is a ton of fun. I'd take some challenge stages similar to the NG2 DLC.

It will never happen, but I want more games with Hannah.
 
Rk40gIJ.jpg


Finally, finished it today, total playtime just under 14 hours. The final act was batshit stupid, nonsensical, prolonged dumb action, a deliberate troll in terms of game design. Minimal check points to frustrate those with brittle spirits, profane deaths and a final boss that felt like it was the brain child of Kojima. Simply put, I love this game. No aspect of it truly seems refined, yet also feels completely intentional. This isn't Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden and the game doesn't ever make an effort to be neither of those. But it encapsulates plenty of interesting ideas that collectively enables Wanted: Dead to stand its own ground amongst a genre filled with much better action games.

The anime cutscenes are lovely, really well crafted in terms of storyboarding and animation. As a result, Hannah's backstory felt far more fascinating than the narrative surrounding Dauer Synthetics. It helps that they actually hired someone with vast experience in Ippei Ichii as the Anime Director. From the 8 bit subtitle font to the detailed police reports, this game was designed with love. This is not only a homage to games of the past, but action films of the late 80s and early 90s. Much like Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables, The Zombie Squad will take you on missions filled with hilarious dialogue, explosions, an astronomical body count and most importantly JOY!

If you're still on the fence about buying this game, then it probably didn't appeal to you to begin with. However, this was directed by Hiroaki Matsui (co-director of Ninja Gaiden & Ninja Gaiden II) and produced by Yoshifuru Okamoto (producer of Ninja Gaiden II & game designer of Dead or Alive 4). It's worth having a look.

UVMhZ3i.jpg
I anticipated as much. This is one of those games that falls under the "acquired taste" label which doesn't really appeal to most apart from a select group of gamers. Most will probably not want to deal with its flaws and find them frustrating or an annoyance to the experience. It is what it is.

I still want to support the game and give the developers a chance to refine the base they've built. There ought to be more developers who dare to do crazy over-the-top shit like this.
 
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Has anyone tried Japanese hard mode ?

Act 5 put me off to not even want to consider it lol. I could see myself beating act 1&2 reasonably on Japanese hard mode but idk what changes to up the difficulty. Maybe a die and redo the whole level from scratch ?
 
Has anyone tried Japanese hard mode ?

Act 5 put me off to not even want to consider it lol. I could see myself beating act 1&2 reasonably on Japanese hard mode but idk what changes to up the difficulty. Maybe a die and redo the whole level from scratch ?
I've still got to beat normal, then trying gaijin hard mode lol.

I don't see myself ever completing Japanese hard mode. The game is great, but does have pretty uneven difficulty balancing to say the least. I would love to watch some videos of pro players taking on the toughest stuff. I really think the combat system has a lot going for it. Just needed some additional polish.
 
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I've still got to beat normal, then trying gaijin hard mode lol.

I don't see myself ever completing Japanese hard mode. The game is great, but does have pretty uneven difficulty balancing to say the least. I would love to watch some videos of pro players taking on the toughest stuff. I really think the combat system has a lot going for it. Just needed some additional polish.

Act 5 on normal for me wasn't "hard", but it was annoying as hell. There's one very long stretch of like 6 different white ninjas, big chain gun guys , tons of shield dudes, and more. I literally beat that last bit with no HP, would've walked into gun fire from a top of some stairs, but the enemy threw a grenade at the wall by then to kill themselves allowing me to get the check point. After 20+ attempts .

On Japanese hard mode I imagine this would make me uninstall lol.
 
Act 5 on normal for me wasn't "hard", but it was annoying as hell. There's one very long stretch of like 6 different white ninjas, big chain gun guys , tons of shield dudes, and more. I literally beat that last bit with no HP, would've walked into gun fire from a top of some stairs, but the enemy threw a grenade at the wall by then to kill themselves allowing me to get the check point. After 20+ attempts .

On Japanese hard mode I imagine this would make me uninstall lol.
Yeah, I just don't know what they were thinking on some of the enemy HP sponge stuff. Ninja Gaiden 2 is great because it has the opposite approach and enemies can be delimbed very rapidly and it keeps the pace up (unlike HP sponge Sigma 2).

A few tweaks would have really given this a shot at true greatness.

The big chain gun guys are not too bad when they're by themselves. As far as I can tell the only way to even fight them successfully is just stay in close so they never shoot and land melee counters every time they strike without fail since 1 hit takes 90% of your life.

Ninjas are tough as always, but at least possible to fight somewhat normally.

If you ever find some pro videos please post them. I'll look for some in a few weeks. I'd like to watch a video of the developers playing through some of that stuff just to know if I'm missing something.
 
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