I've played plenty of stealth games before, and many of them suffered from the same problem:
Inordinate penalties if you occasionally just said "Screw it" to being sneaky and brute-forced
your way through a problem.
It's my prerogative to get into the scrum and bounce around like a hyperactive badger,
dad burn it, and don't tell me that your average burly dude with a gun wouldn't be just as
terrified by a warrior of the night attacking from seemingly every angle at once like Chipp
Zanuff after a night at Charlie Sheen's house.
But then I played Mark of the Ninja, which...
well, docked me some hyperactive badger points, but still got the guard dead.
Then I figured out the elegant way to do it, and... well, the blood did flow.
In Mark of the Ninja, you're... get this... a ninja.
Who's been tattooed and apparently that gives some mystic powers, like being able to stop
time to aim a shot at a light to distract and confuse a guard who then... eats it.
It's sidescrolling, Metroidvania-ish ninja platforming action, combined with some sweet
animation that blends a couple art styles with some magical ink or something and...
awright, so these jokers can't read a haiku to save their lives.
But the gameplay's sound and responsive, so long as you don't make the mistake I did and
try to play this with a keyboard and mouse, or in my case a cramped laptop keyboard and
irritatingly-placed touchpad.
Switch out for a gamepad, though, and you'll have much easier time grappling, wall-climbing,
crawlin' around in the air ducts, and flinging kunai all over the place to knock out light
sources, shut down infrared sensors (which you can totally see), hit gongs to make all
the guards go "Huh?"
and then turn their backs on you so you can slip in and... well, let's just say you need
work on your tracheotomy technique.
But the true measure of a ninja isn't how many they kill, it's how many notice the killing.
Sure, you can bludgeon a man down and stab 'im as he's trying to get up, but that's kinda
ugly.
You can crush 'em with heavy objects positioned precariously above their heads... which is
honestly kinda fun.
You can listen to 'em suffer, which is kinda macabre but gets the job done.
Or, if you manage to approach completely undetected, connect with your attack, and then input the
correct quicktime command, you're treated to a stealth kill animation, the full complement
of bonus points, and the satisfaction of a job well done.
That said, if you truly understand the way, the correct response is to kill no one, pass
through completely undetected, and only take the lives of those responsible for imprisoning
your fellow ninja.
As such, there are end-of-level bonuses not only for never being detected, but also never
resorting to taking a life.
Or you can just go hyperactive-badger mode and kill everyone.
Your choice.
Mine is a measured blend of both, at least until I get really really good due to multiple
playings of this thing.
Mark of the Ninja incentivises skilled play without making frenzied bloodbaths unfeasible,
which is an ideal balance.
And I'll save you the hackneyed haiku I was going to put here.