First off, I am a big fan of Otogi so I felt right at home when I started playing Ninja Blade.

The game is so enjoyable.  What impressed me the most are the boss fights.  To put it this way, when you feel you have just finish a wonderful boss fight and feel it might be the best boss fight you have ever played, there comes another one that makes you feel the same way.

It's also not frustrating (which often happens when you have a lot of boss fights in a game) because there are lots of checkpoints in the game.  You can only save at the end of a mission, which means usually you need at least an hour playtime for one sitting.  But it is OK, I think.

I came into the final battle with the final boss (SPOLIERS:********************inside the mutant Kanbe***********spoliers) without any first aid spray and thought I was screwed.  But the moment that I got lucky (at the 6th time) and beat him, it was really rewarding. 

BTW the QTE segments are fine.  I am not a big fan of it but this one is fine.  Usually you only went back a few steps, not like replaying 2-5 minutes of the fights you just finished before you could do the same QTE again in GOW II). 

Anyway a real gem in action games.  IMO any action game fan should pick this one up and give it a try.  You won't regret it.

I would rate it 8.5/10.  What is your take?

Funnest game of the year.

The second last boss fight(this giant statue) was really cool and long...but the very last one was one of those... "wtf, thats is?" Only complaint I have for the game.

Otherwise game gets 8/10 got gameplay, 9/10 for style and 10/10 for fun. Graphics, sound, textures etc...really dont matter in this scenario.

Is this game like non-stop QTE?

Like when you get into a boss battle, does the entire battle play through with them?

No. finishing move is QTE, they call it "Todome" and its the most fun you will have with the game seeing and doing these. Maybe one or 2 other blows here and there with bosses are QTE.

But the game has a leveling up system, weapon upgrades, shuriken upgrades...etc. So it has solid gameplay elements that are not QTE...its just not its main draw...the lunacy and insane set pieces are much more entertaining than doing "back forward a, X, X"

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't asking as if QTE is a bad thing. If you said the entire battle played out through QTE I would have been as happy as a pig in shit.

How long do the QTE segments last?

 Here is a typical battle.

- Boss comes and shoots some stuff at you while you dodge and run towards him.

- You slash his legs or shell until it breaks while dodghing his attacks

-Once his shell is slashed he falls down and you can do a 10-15 second QTE segment

-Repeat 2-3 times

-then last time you knock him down it will flash A for you to finish him. He also spilled a whole bunch of red and yellow erbs which you have to collect so you got to be quick and collect those in less then 10 seconds and then press A before that option goes away. If it goies way boss gets 1/3 of his health back.

- once you do push A for the final finishing move, it goes in to a 30 second crazy QTE

Most of the QTE are found in gameplay such as falling off a building or riding a motorsyscle on busses which are thrown in the air by a giant worm.

Uhhh....

THAT SOUNDS ABSOLUTELY FUCKING AMAZINGLY AWESOME!

I will be getting this game just for that description alone. I always thought this game sounded great. Go From Software!

lol...the game is jsut fun.

You wont have any MGS4 boss moments where you are like..."fuck, how do I beat this guy...lets go to gamefaqs"...but the game isn't easy and you will die if you turn up the difficulty.

Its a great rental as its all done in 7 hours.

I actually have a Blockbuster on the way home from work. I will pick it up sometime this week right after I finish up ToV, which should be within the next day or two.

Easy to get achievements in this as well? I wouldn't mind another 800 or so gamerscore in 1 playthrough. (Will get this by the time I am done with ToV)

I got 480 just playing the game. I didn't check the achievement list once while playing...Im sure I could easily squeze 6-700 if I play for another 30 mins just doing achievements.