Developer: Almanic Corp Publisher: Vik Tokai Released: 1994 Genre: Action
I must confess that as much as I vet my gaming purchases occasionally I’ve taken a chance on a random title. Shien’s Revenge is a game I had only read about in Game Players magazine, where it garnered a respectable 74%. But more than the score I was interested in its premise. A first person adventure starring a time traveling ninja killing fools across different eras? Sign me up god damn it! But novelty will only get you so far and as much as I wanted to like Shien’s Revenge its execution left something to be desired.
Do yourself a favor and hit up the training mode. Regardless of what control method you employ it will help to understand the game’s mechanics. At its core Shien’s Revenge is simple. You can throw shuriken at distant enemies; use your kunai to slash or to block attacks. Shuriken can’t hit enemies at close range while obviously the knife is useless at long range. Knowing how and when to use each action is key as the game will frequently call on you to perform all three at once. It can be confusing but is easy to pick up, even with a controller.
The game’s greatest strength is its variety. Thanks to its time hopping setting every level takes place in a different era with unique enemies. Granted, their behavior is similar but they all have their quirks. The soldiers of the modern era fire rapidly and in greater numbers, making it hard to block. The knights of Greece have shields that block attacks. Not only that, they are prone to hiding behind cover as well. It’s pretty funny to see Shien’s reaction to each time period. I like it but it still can’t avoid the repetition inherit in the rail shooter genre. The game is also pretty long which also doesn’t help.
I’ll give the developers credit for trying but trying to play with a controller is an exercise in frustration. In the first two stages where the pace is slower you can keep up. Enemies aren’t so aggressive and their attacks are slow, allowing you to react. But the game becomes vicious by stage 3. Enemies spawn so fast and in so many numbers that you can’t keep up. Even using the speed up option will only make you overshoot and miss. As this is the primary method most will play the game it should have been critical to re-balance the game based on the control method.
This isn’t exclusive to just the regular controller either. The mouse controls aren’t perfect either. You can’t move the cursor as fast as you would like and in this game precision counts. It’s far better than the standard controller though. But realistically how many people ever owned the SNES mouse? I’m 37 years old and I’ve still never seen one in person. Sadly I never had the chance to try this out with the Super Scope 6 and I’m really curious to see how it would play out.
With these criticisms in mind it is no surprise that the game is incredibly difficult. The initial stages serve as a nice introduction but once it gets going it ramps up quickly. With rote memorization it is possible but I’m talking Battletoads levels of learning every enemy spawn. That simply isn’t fun. There’s a reason other rail shooters prefer to move the cursor in set locations around the screen. It is easier and it works. The difficulty is at its worst in the final level, a boss rush with no opportunity to heal in between each fight. This is not the way to do it. That being said surprisingly the boss battles are far easier than the journey to reach them. It makes sense: with one opponent it is easier to focus on their singular attacks and movement. These fights are exciting and hint at the potential the game had.
In Closing
Shien’s Revenge has a lot going for it and is more interesting than most SNES titles. That only counts for so much. Its unique premise is let down by bad execution. The game is far better with a mouse but what is the likelihood of even finding one at this point?
