Comments on: Playing Like a Designer – Stealth in Mark of the Ninja

By: Dean

Dean — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 21:11:10 +0000

I hear you on Skyrim. It has stealth elements because some people would like to play that way and Skyrim’s… schtick…?… or at least one of its schticks is that you can do/play anything/any way you want. When you take the game’s elements by themselves- stealth, FPS action etc. -it doesn’t do most of them great.

Take GTAV for example, it has a lot of driving and it’s good but compared to Forza or the Project Gotham games it’s not great. This makes sense for a lot of reasons but from a technical/developer standpoint- it’s not a driving sim so to devote so much time/effort into making the driving mechanics as pristine as those sims just doesn’t make sense. They have to work and be fun- that’s it.

I didn’t mean to imply that side scrollers can’t be stealth games. Mark of the Ninja is definitely specifically a stealth game (it seems- I haven’t played it so can’t say for sure).

RE: Thief- I was interested a long time ago in that series though I just don’t enjoy the settings of them so I didn’t play them beyond their PC demos. I like games that take place in the future or modern day where tech and gadgets are present (Deus Ex!). A modern day Thief would be awesome though. I’m thinking Watch Dogs but Thief-ified. I’d buy the shit out of that game!

By: robstaalduinen

robstaalduinen — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 20:39:53 +0000

You make some good points. I’ll agree that Skyrim wasn’t the best example to stack against Mark of the Ninja – truth be told I wasn’t attempting to make a direct comparison between the two. It was just a time that I can starkly remember being frustrated with stealth mechanics, and the lack of feedback or reasoning I was getting from them.

I disagree though that a side-scroller, or any 2D game can’t be considered a “stealth” game, per se. I believe that designation is more tied to the mechanics and approach to a game, rather than it’s exact implementation.

Above all else, Mark of the Ninja just gave me an excellent way to demonstrate some key tenants of stealth gameplay, of how a good feedback system is the difference between challenge and frustration. Because it’s a 2D sidescroller, it offers a simplicity that makes these mechanics extremely easy to see and outline.

Though I haven’t played them yet, I gather that the Thief series does an excellent job of implementing these mechanics as well. Would be worth a look if you want a well crafted stealth experience in that open world environment!

By: Dean

Dean — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 01:41:43 +0000

Interesting take here. I’m not sure I’d put Skyrim up against Mark of the Ninja, though. I don’t think Bethesda aimed for Skyrim to be stealth but rather stealth-able.

Though Mark of the Ninja is stealth, it’s also hard to call (and compare to modern FPS games) any side-scroller a “stealth” game, at least by modern day gaming standards. I have to say though, one of my favorite side-scrollers (and one of my favorite games) was heavy on stealth- Bonanza Brothers.

By: duckofindeed

duckofindeed — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 03:48:37 +0000

The game that comes to mind after reading this post for me is Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends. Stealth is not really a part of these games, but having minimal punishments for failure is. There are no lives, and you don’t have to start over from the beginning of a level when you die, so you are encouraged to better yourself. I would actually kill my character off on purpose just to try and do a better job collecting Lums and the like.

What about Metal Gear did this post make you think of?

By: renxkyoko

renxkyoko — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 16:43:44 +0000

That’s true. Metal Gear immediately comes to mind.