depth from a ninja game, I think the arcade-style gameplay keeps the game close to its roots". IGN's David Smith and GameSpy's Benjamin Turner criticized the poor artificial intelligence and repetitiveness of the basic enemies while praising the bosses. Critics consistently mentioned the game's high difficulty. The game was described as "hellaciously hard" by Electronic Gaming Monthly staff writer Che Chou and as "ninja tough" in a review from 1UP.com. Weigand cautioned: "Casual gamers beware", noting that earlier Shinobi titles had not been as demanding. Hopper called it "the toughest game I’ve played in a long time". Level design was received generally poorly. 1UP.com highlighted repetitive environmental textures as contributing to the difficulty of finding one's way through the levels, comparing them to textures that might be found in PlayStation games. Smith echoed this opinion, additionally noting occasionally problematic default camera angles. Hopper stated that "[m]ost of the environments look very nice and detailed, while some are a little plain". Turner called the environments overall "samey" and "uninspired". The newly introduced Hotsuma was singled out for strong praise. Smith called Hotsuma "a great design, a sort of post-modern evolution of the ninja in comparison to the thoroughly traditional Joe Musashi [the main protagonist of the series]", additionally commending the coordination of his moves with his appearance. 1UP.com stated that he is "the supermodel of video-game action heroes—lean, stylish and mean—and he fights as good as he looks". Turner and Allgame's Brett Alan Weiss described him as "sleek". Weiss offered strong praise for Akujiki, as did Weigand for Hotsuma's scarf. On September 25, 2003, Shinobi was re-released as part of Japan's The Best budget line with a bonus DVD containing a trailer for Nightshade and gameplay footage played by experienced players. Sequel Nightshade, a sequel to Shinobi, was later developed by Wow Entertainment and again published by Sega for the PlayStation 2. The game stars female ninja Hibana, who is stylistically and kinetically analogous to Hotsuma. Nightshades Japanese title Kunoichi refers to a female ninja, just as Shinobi refers to a male ninja. The gameplay is also structured similarly to Shinobis. Hotsuma appears as a secret character in the game. The game was released on December 4, 2003. References External links Shinobi at GiantBomb Hardcore Gaming 101: Shinobi 2002 video games Action video games Cancelled Dreamcast games Overworks games PlayStation 2 games PlayStation Network games Sega beat 'em ups Sega games