The orginal Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox nestled snugly between Halo and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic as the second best game on the Xbox system. The hype for Ninja Gaiden II was high, is this the sequel that we have been waiting for?
If you care about the story, Ryu's village is attacked and devastated yet again, an artefact is stolen from it yet again and it's up to Ryu to avenge his clan yet again. I wouldn't have minded all of this if it wasn't presented in such a poor and disjointed manner. Worse is the replacement of Rachel with someone named Sonia who not only looks suspiciously similar to her, but is developed worse than she was. The story on a whole would've done a lot better without Sonia.
If you have ever played a Ninja Gaiden game then you know it's one of the most fastest, furious and rewarding games that you have ever played. Ninja Gaiden II introduces obliteration techniques and regenerating health bar.
Obliteration techniques are brutal finishing techniques that apply to practically every enemy in the game, including most bosses. They look great and over the top but sadly, it reduces the game to be more fun to watch than to play. The regenerating health bar however, is useful and increases survivability during the game.
Unfortunately, the gameplay suffers from cheap enemies and an absolutely appalling camera. I expected Ninja Gaiden II to be hard, but to the point where it pushes you away by sheer cheapness. The enemies are constantly attacking you from around corners, shooting spams of rockets at you and going grapples that take off half of your health. None of this is helped by the camera, which drags itself behind you liked a wounded dog, be in the wrong positions when an enemies is about to attack you and overall being more of a nuisance than being helpful.
The graphics, while they haven't advanced much at all past Sigma and Black, are quite good. The character models in particular are quite slick. Ryu is as fluid and graceful as ever in his brutalizing, his weaponry and movements are flashy, gore is splashing all over the place and limbs are flying everywhere. Most of this is done at a good 60 fps, but occasionally the game will slow down immensely due to too much action going at once. Also what is disappointing are some of the level textures which are quite bland, as well as level designs.
For the sound, this is one area of the game where Team Ninja did stick to what works, the soundtrack is really good, plenty of original and atmospheric music that never seems out of place. The sound effects for the weapons are awesome; the bone-crunching and slicing noises are simply brilliant and really make those finishing blows all the more satisfying.
Overall, Ninja Gaiden 2 may have flaws and may not be the worthy successor to Ninja Gaiden for the orginal Xbox, but no one can deny that it's a great action game around today. The difficult bosses, the smooth action, the blood and gore, and the whole experience gave me a few sly grins throughout my day.
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 debuted in 2009; ahead of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty's launch, it's time to look back at one of Tecmo Koei's best titles.
A Change.org petition to bring all three titles in the new Ninja Gaiden trilogy to Steam is gaining traction.
While Ninja Gaiden 2 and Demon’s/Dark Souls are the obvious shouts, I’d argue the case for Halo 3 on Legendary being one of the tougher nuts to crack this generation (when played solo at least) and, let’s be honest, COD: World at War on Veteran is a complete pain in the ass (how the hell can the Japanese afford so many grenades?).
Absolutely! IMO, My hardest games this gen were:
-Hard Corps: Uprising
-Demon's Souls
-Dark Souls
-Mega Man 9
-Mega Man 10
-Metal Gear Online (it was the hardest to master (yet most rewarding) multiplayer to play)
-MG Rising Reveangance (not a fan, but it IS challenging!)
-Ninja Gaiden 1 & especially NG 2
-Catherine
-Tokyo Jungle (especially when using herb-eating animals only)
Looking for old-school style of hardcore gaming? These games won't disappoint!
Not sure about Demon's Souls, it more had a learning curve but most fights once learned became easy and more often than not every fight had a "cheap" way to win. When I did my 3rd play-through for the Platinum trophy I got through the entire game in 3 hours, 0 deaths.
That said I have nothing to add to the list, I generally don't play anything besides RPG's. Catherine was probably the hardest game I played this gen, I'd call it harder than Demon's Souls.
You can add Dead Space 1 to 3.
Hardcore mode is hell and you pay a lot on small mistakes.
I don't remember the hardcore mode challenge for 1 but I'll tell you about the rest.
For 2, there's no check points, you start the game from zero and you only get 3 saves for the entire campaign, enemies are aggressive and resources are less.
For 3, you start the game from zero, you can save as much as you want but on death your save will be reset to the start of the game. Resources are less, and enemy will brutalize you.
Halo solo was simple for me, but w@w was a pain. Took me so long to beat it on veteran. Complete insanity with all them grenades
Of generation 7? Well, for me that would have to be Metal Gear Rising. I've never played any other game that was as fun as it was frustrating due to its difficulty.
Nice try but its going to be a solid 10 with the ps3 version dorky.
I loved the game. While not perfect, it was not nearly as bad as it was made out to be. The PS3 version is looking great and I can't wait to get my hands on some more NG2 action over a year later.
cant wait to play ninja gaiden sigma 2 on my ps3. i'll think ill go straight for co-op