Wow, where was I in August 2011 when this little gem was released? “Parasitus: Ninja Zero” has a neat time-travel storyline, great music, and even teaches you moves and combos as you play. It’s fantastic.
Apparently it was a bit on the tough side when released, but the difficulty has been toned down somewhat since. Can’t speak to that personally, only having access to it in its current form. The game plays out a bit like Castlevania crossed with Ninja Gaiden. Or something like that.
The player character (and some of the enemies) move quickly in the game. It’s possible to use your speed to evade enemies, if you prefer to treat the game that way. It’s just as possible to kill everything that moves. It effectively gives you two ways to play the game, which I appreciated. The controls have a bit of a learning curve, but that forementioned technique of the game teaching you moves as you progress helps.
An interesting mechanic within the game is your character gets more powerful the longer you go without dying, resetting to a base power level whenever you die. Now that’s an incentive to avoid death! Levels are generally big, and the scope of the art is impressive. It has a post-apocalyptic look that works well. It’s 240 Microsoft Points, and it’s pretty brilliant.
Here’s what the developer (Heart Attack Machine) has to say about the game:
“Battle an onslaught of monsters in action packed stages, as you travel through time, learn new skills and even team up with a partner to save the future from an interstellar menace.”
Writings of Mass Deduction 