Another scene follows the initial battle in which the ninja skates down the side of a tall building, flying demons attempting to block his way. A jab of the X button allows him to slice at these creatures on the way down, netting valuable orbs used for upgrades later in the game. We weren't able to get a glimpse of the upgrade system, but it will reward you for all the effort of defeating these ugly beasts.

And quite ugly they are. The surprise debut of an alpha worm prompts a harrowing run toward the screen as the worm chomps on the walkway on which the ninja lands. Without any explanation, this somehow turns into a boss battle against a giant spider demon named Arachne. It's here that Ninja Blade starts to show real potential, moving away from the combat against middling enemies toward far better scripted sequences that are easier to play and decidedly more entertaining. Killing Arachne means executing a todome attack to stop the demon's core. Before you can do that, though, you first must break through its armored shell.

Tapping the left bumper helps with this, instigating ninja vision that temporarily slows down time and highlights enemy weak points. Of course, the trade off for this immensely helpful ability comes from increased vulnerability. Enemy blows deal more damage when you are using ninja vision. The first phase of the battle against Arachne has you activating ninja vision to avoid concussion waves leading up to the creature's legs. Once bypassed, we were able to start slicing up the legs to force it to fall down; at that point, the thorax is within range for attack. The second phase of the battle takes you behind Arachne to hack at a dripping claw. As it lobs fiery projectiles, the goal is to use ninjutsu to whittle away the creature's health with hits on the claw. Once done, a quick-time event for the todome attack ensues and it's all over.

The combat deserves recognition for its variety and fast pace, but we need to see more of it to determine if it will bring anything truly original to the table; a few minutes of play can only shed so much light onto the full potential here. With the demo landing on Xbox Live Marketplace, give it a spin for yourself. With the release date of April 7 looming, we’ll find out soon enough if Ninja Blade stands on its own or if it’s just a lukewarm Gaiden clone.

Questions or comments? We'd love to hear from you .