Mark of the Ninja is the best arcade game in years. Recently I played the Mark of Serenity level & I didn't use the Mark of Serenity once. Check out these 4 clips from the live stream. Also we're giving away 2 codes for MotN on XBLA.

*All these clips below are from GoukiJones' TV Live Stream.

**Check out my review for Mark of the Ninja.

I don't know what got into me that day. Actually I do. [cough, cough] I thot it would be a good idea to try & mess with as much of Mark of the Ninja as I could. Trying to kill every enemy. This was especially challenging on the level where I didn't have a weapon & could not execute the execution. I am the excellence of execution Jimmy! I did it tho, everybody died. *New Game Plus mode [On]

Pro-tips MotN 101. You can throw unconscious bodies from high levels & the fall will kill them for sure. First throw that dead body at another guard, watch him freak out & in his terror back up & fall off the high platform. Then chuck the body he just saw right over the edge as well. Double!

You can also use the environment to set traps. In this video below, the baddies have a radar & are super sensitive to movement & sound. It's very challenging to fight these baddies 1 on 1. The hanging explosive devices & exploding hiding spots were perfectly to assist you in these situations. 

It's true. The first time Gouki.com saw/heard of Mark of the Ninja was at PAX 2012. GoukiJones sat down immediately to play. A Ninja in a MetroidVania world with an absolute brilliant art direction. How can you go wrong. GoukiJones had to try this out.

Thank god we spend a ton of money every year to go to PAX. I'm not sure if I would have caught this game during it's actual release. Which is a Friday/today. Why? I don't know. It's a Microsoft published game that comes out on a Friday. I was blaming in on Europe.

Anyway I've had it for a few days now and I've played thru the first 4 levels twice. The first time I was just blazin'. Killing whatever, setting off alarms. Rushing thru levels.

The art style is the same as Shank. These are the same developers of Shank. Klei Entertainment. If you're interested, BatRastered wrote about Shank last year. 

What makes the gameplay so unique about MotN is the sound wave mechanic. You can see exactly how much sound that light is going to make if you break it. Or how loud your footsteps are when you run. Everything makes a sound. There's also a great use of vision and line of sight. Anything out of your characters view is slightly blurred, until he's close or uses his "ninja senses" to sense what is happening on the other side of doors. There's also dogs that can smell you. Amazing.

My second playthru I could only play the first 4 levels. This was at 9PM[before the game was officially released] last night on the west coast. I didn't want the Microsoft police or Twitch patrol on my case. I got a pro-tip to just play the first 4 levels and I should be okay. Sure enough. You can watch all or parts of this video below, from the live stream last night. Warning: It has my grill in it!

Watch live video from Gouki.com Show on TwitchTV

Mark of the Ninja is a great game and I'm looking forward to playing more of it right now. MotN is now available on Xbox Live for 1200 points. I think that's a good price. You can get at least 2 playthrus, 1 killing everything and 1 letting everyone live and not setting off any alarms. Deus Ex style. I'll definitely try to get both.