5. Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z
Platform: PS3, 360, PC One of the more visually-striking titles that the industry has seen in a while, Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z is looking to take the famed franchise in a wildly different direction. Players will be taking the role of a new protagonist, Yaiba Kamikaze, a ninja who was brutally decapitated by the legendary Ninja Gaiden protagonist, Ryu Hayabusa. Losing both an arm and an eye, Yaiba is augmented with cybernetic replacements, giving him a new set of powers that he must use to cut down masses of zombies who have arisen and taken over the world before he can gain the powers needed to exact his revenge on Ryu. Sound a bit absurd? That's the point. Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z looks to bring a less serious, more humorous tone to the series, which is supported by the colorful, almost cartoon-like visual palette the game is delivering. However, don't expect this game to be a "lite" Ninja Gaiden game. The series' well-known, deep combat system will be making a return, and doing battle with hordes of zombies should make for one of the bloodiest games in a series that is known for its graphic violence. The real reason to keep an eye on Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, though, is the unusual collaboration of talent behind the development of the game. Team Ninja, a development house who has been taking some slack lately after the ill-received Ninja Gaiden 3 and Metroid: Other M, is back at the helm, but this time they are joined by two other developers. The first, Spark Unlimited, is an American studio made up of developers who worked on the Medal of Honor series on PC. The second studio, Comcept, is legendary Mega Man developer Kenji Inafune's new studio, and he has been personally involved in the development of Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z from the start. This unique mishmash of diverse development talent ensures that Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z will, at the very least, be quite unique curiosity when it releases in February of 2014.