Comments on: Ninja Assassin Review: Seppuku apparently not just for samurai

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 06:10:03 +0000

Haha, sounds cool. I wish I could have met him, but I didn’t. Guess I’ll have to work in professional photography too! :p

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 02:50:05 +0000

I work in professional photography. A friend in Korea works for the advertising company that handles Nikon’s Korean marketing, and thought I might enjoy being in studio during one of the company’s advertising shoots. And so I spent the afternoon sitting in. Also took the Korean girl I was dating at the time, which went over very well, as I’m sure you can imagine. Rain has been known to throw tantrums, but was behaving himself this particular day. He said hi to us; the girl was happy. We didn’t get to take any photos, as we weren’t technically supposed to be there. So yeah, that’s that story.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 02:19:59 +0000

Wait, what were you doing at one of Nikon’s advertising campaigns? The movie was certainly in my opinion better than Men Who Stare at Goats, but I’m not saying that Men Who Stare at Goats was horrid. Just… interesting.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:39:03 +0000

Saw Men Who Stare at Goats. Not fantastic, bt I enjoyed it. George Clooney is great in wacky roles. Still haven’t seen Ninja Assassin, but recently realized it was directed by the Wakoski bros. of whom I am not a fan. I’m not surprised; they cast Rain in Speedracer as well, so I guess they like using him. May or may not get around to seeing it.

Maybe worth mentioning, but I’ve actually met Rain. I sat in on a photo shoot for one of Nikon’s advertising campaigns with him.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 23:01:05 +0000

NO! Don’t watch Men Who Stare At Goats. Worst movie. Ever. Well, maybe not the worst, but it was pretty bad…

Interesting, I’ve never been to South Korea before, but I guess I should put that onto my travel list.

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 05:36:03 +0000

I’m probably the most Asian white guy you’d ever meet, a side-effect of living for so long in South Korea. If I were racist against Asians, I’d be pretty pissed at myself. In fact, I keep thinking about moving back; it felt more like home than this place. Anyway …

I haven’t seen the film yet, but will try to check it out soon. First on my film-going list, though, is Men Who Stare At Goats.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 03:48:04 +0000

Anytime, Matt. Though if you had been racist I would have been pretty pissed, being of Asian descent.

I guess it’s just me, but I didn’t feel the game was all the hard. Guess it’s all just a matter of opinion. I liked the animations too, and though the frames were cut down it actually led to a more cinematic slow-mo experience whenever you killed someone.

By the way, have you check out the film yet? I watched the movie yesterday when it came out on the first showtime available, and I have to say that it’s quite an impressive movie, and is one of the best action movies I’ve ever seen, if not the best. It’s not for the squeamish though – there’s definitely quite a lot of blood. Not as much as any of the Kill Bill movies, but still some pretty gory scenes.

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 02:09:26 +0000

Thank you, Jeff.

I would agree to a “Worth A Look” rating at a lower price point, but can’t justify recommending this game to others at its current price. A $4.99 game this short really needs to nail the presentation and gameplay, and Ninja Assassin just doesn’t. This is a game I think really would have benefited from additional development time and dollars; I think they rushed it to release to coincide with the film.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 01:59:25 +0000

I fail to see any racism in this review as well, but after trying it I believe that it’s at least worth the “Worth a Look” rating. I actually quite enjoyed the whole game, and Acts III and IV weren’t too bad in my opinion either. The only thing I was dissatisfied with is that the 12 stages are a bit short. Matt, hopefully you can give the game a second chance and play around with it a bit more – I really enjoyed it, and the shuriken duel and survival modes were a nice bonus too.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:06:03 +0000

I fail to see any racism in my review, or in the expectation that Koreans should not be masquerading as Japanese. Given Korea’s long history of conflict with the Japanese, and considering what Japan has done to Korea, I should think no Korean would want to be mistaken for Japanese. In fact, the very idea would have offended most of my friends in South Korea, where I lived for five entire years. I love Korea, its people and its culture.

But I don’t love Rain, and if you do, then maybe I could have offended your sensibilities for pop stars. I equate him to Justin Timberlake, and care for him not a bit. But to each his own. I merely intended to suggest that he should not have been cast as a Japanese man, based solely on the fact that he is not Japanese.

As for the game, I agree that it is very well executed during Acts I and II. After that, it falls apart. Have you finished the game yet?