This was my first Ninja Gaiden game, but I just couldn't help getting excited for it. The gore and finisher moves just looked spectacular. Unfortunately this game did not release without a hitch.

For most people the camera can come off as an annoyance but this came as a minor hindrance to me. Occasionally it did get in the way when coming around a corner of a building, the enemy would seem to appear out of nowhere and tear you to shreds.

This is where some cheap shots can come in. As you progressively get further into the chapters, the enemies will become very powerful, and can execute ultimate techniques, which is where the enemy uses seemingly non-stop slashes to greatly reduce your health. Of course this can be somewhat avoided by blocking when the move is executed by your enemies but to the novice of the Ninja Gaiden games, blocking will not be a much realized useful tool in getting through the it.

Your enemies start off easy and leave you almost wondering how this game was ever heavily criticized as a hard game, but you soon find out that the enemies get harder, and hard fast. Especially cheap enemies you will come across are the ninjas that use guns and rocket launchers as their weapon of choice that come mid-game. The ninja rocket launchers can be quite the annoyance because they usually appear in the distance and show up in conjunction with especially difficult enemies, causing you to stumble every time you get slammed with a rocket giving the surrounding enemies a perfect opportunity to attack you. The difficulty alone can turn players off of the game completely or cause them to put the game on the shelf for a short while until they work up the courage to face it again.

Boss fights can be fairly easy if you find the right tools and rhythm in which to dispose of them, but you will find that some bosses can be especially difficult, and some you will have multiple encounters with. Most of the difficulty is left into what the best strategy is to defeat the boss. Of course this will lead to a lot of dying and trying new things. Weapons and powers can be useful variants to turn the tables in your favor, however some work better in certain parts of the game then others.

Even with its spectacular difficulty, what it does well, it does it to near perfection. The combat can be surprisingly addictive and satisfying while the boss fights leave you feeling a sense of accomplishment. Just beating the game leaves you feeling great for defeating the most punishing game this generation.

In conclusion, the ups do a very nice job of outweighing the downs. Even with some flaws, Ninja Gaiden II does a very nice job of executing its gameplay, and while the camera can turn off some players it can be easily overlooked, just as long as you stay out of tight corners. Even though this has no multi-player, you feel like you get your money's worth out of the game. With over a dozen chapters it will take you a great deal of time to beat it. While its story was almost non-existent it was hardly noticed as most of the depth and enjoyment in the game was in the gameplay itself.