When I say that Ninja Gaiden 3 kills just about any excitement I have for the future of the series going forward, that speaks alot about how truly disappointed I am as both a huge fan of the NG series and the action/adventure genre as a whole. To be honest, unlike alot of people, after hearing that Itagaki-san was not going to have any part in the creation of this entry in the series I wasn't too quick to damn the game. Because, I quite enjoyed the Sigma series and actually could not wait to see how this "new" Team Ninja was going to evolve the series. But my enthusiasm quickly disappeared as soon as I spent some time with the actual game.
The game starts out with enough promise, giving you a 1st person perspective of what it would be like to be on the receiving end of Ryu's sword(a la GOW3's Poseidon scene) and giving you some back story on how he ended up going on his mission. But, the game's short comings quickly become apparent as soon as you gain full control of Ryu. Though the combat is just as fast and frenetic as its predecessors at the same time it feels alot more shallow and uninspired.
Unlike Ninja Gaiden 1&2, where Ryu has a number of upgradeable weapons and ninpo, he's left with one non-upgradeable weapon and one ninpo, also non-upgradeable. And here in lays one of Ninja Gaiden 3's main problems, you aren't really given enough tools to play around with so you end up seeing the same animations and attacks play out in almost every single battle. A more diverse weapon/magic set would have made a world of difference in adding some much needed variety to the combat.
The other problem is the newly added feature dubbed "steel on bone" which is Ninja Gaiden 3's take on adding something new to the series. But, to be honest it's pretty much just a not-so very well implanted QTE mechanic. It adds nothing to the game and in some ways is a detriment to the combat. And in a "hack-n-slash" game, combat is king.
Now, lets talk about the story of the game. Though serviceable, the story itself is neither interesting nor noteworthy. According to the game's director, they really wanted to flesh out Ryu as a character and show his more human side. And in some respects they do manage to do just that but it still isn't enough to make me feel/care anything about the story. NG3 is pretty much the video game equivalent of a piece of sh@t movie having a somewhat interesting main character, but it's still a POS(i.e The Chronicles of Riddick).
All in all, Ninja Gaiden 3 is an all around disappointing entry to an otherwise great franchise. Though the game tries to evolve its main character into something more than just a mindless killing machine, it loses way too much of what makes the series great, it's difficult to master gameplay and deep combat system.
Screen Rant Writes: Team Ninja knows fans want a new Ninja Gaiden game, but if Ryu Hayabusa is going to come back, there are some things that the series needs to fix.
- Better story, not that it has to be very deep though
- Better level design, on par or even exceed NG1
- Better enemies design, NG3's enemies design were boring and repetitive
I'd say just re-add the dodge roll and have both but with different properties. As long as they made both tactically useful in their own ways, it could be really interesting.
- No NG has had a good or deep story. Its best has only been about action and enemies.
- Likewise, level design was stages where you fought enemies, which said shallow story connected.
- NG3 utterly forgot that enemies where either trained and highly skilled psychotic killers, or literal demons who'd crack a baby's skull open for fun.
At this point Nioh and Shadows Die Twice have taken NG spot.
NG Black beats them both. Agree that NG3 was trash. Nioh and Shadows can occupy the spot until NG makes a triumphant return.
I take it you never played NG3: Razor's Edge. That game fixed the lack of difficulty. Maybe a little too well with how unfair some of the enemies and bosses were. Still not on par with the previous 2 games but miles ahead of the original NG3 release and well worth playing.
And whats this shit about story. Few action games come close to being on the same level of quality as NG 1&2 and having "good or deep story" didn't get them any closer to it. "Its best" sets it apart and far ahead of almost any other game in the genre except for DMC 3-5 and the Bayonetta series. NG 1&2, along with other games like Doom, prove how little story matters when you get the important aspect of a game (gameplay) right.
Not that Sekiro isn't a great game. The only thing that keeps it from standing shoulder to shoulder with NG 1&2 is its lack of weapon variety and its frame rate issues.
I definitely prefer the Zelda-esque game progression. NG2 was still a great game though.
Don't give Ryu some crazy weakness that interrupts literally anything he is doing in order to do some BS animation of him wincing in pain! That garbage ruined NG3
Bring back the difficulty of the first game both 3 and Yaiba (yes I played that POS game) had laughably easy difficulty that it wasn't even funny.
I want a Ninja Gaiden Black and Ninja Gaiden 2 remaster for all consoles/PC. Complete with peak difficulties intact and maybe some new weapons and outfits. The problem with the Sigma series was that 1) they removed most of the puzzle elements 2) they nerfed the difficulty and 3) they seriously reduced the number of enemies on screen at a time in many places.
In the conclusion to a three part series, CV takes a look at the most recent Ninja Gaiden games, for better and for worse.
They need to make a true sequel to Ninja Gaiden 2, that was the most satisfying combat I've experienced in a hack n slash game.
been playing 1&2 on and off since they were released. I usually will play until I get frustrated then take another year off lol. Nver tried 3 or the 4th one even though they are in my backlog.
I tried to go back to Sigma but good god those controls are just insufferable. Couldn't do it.
Phil writes, "Sometimes all it takes is one game to make a long-running or promising franchise become dead in the water, maligned to irrelevancy and just a memory in the annals of gaming history. It's a dog-eat-dog industry where it doesn't matter if the franchise has been around for ages or for milliseconds--just one or two failures and you're done. That's the case with these franchises, all of which I'm sad to see are currently nowhere to be found. Whether any of these will return for a kick-ass comeback or not is up in the air, but what is known is that for many, these franchises met truly unfortunate ends."
For Tony Hawk's Pro Skater really the first 3 were really the only good ones. After that they sort of went downhill.
Biggest shame I think is SOCOM. Easily Sony’s best franchise by a long shot and they just let it die.
I was going to say SOCOM too. That was one of the best strategy games on the market and then Sony turned it Into a normal shooter.
Klonoa was great but released at a bad time on just 1 system with no marketing. Razors Edge fixed many issues with NG3 vanilla and is a guilty pleasure. Another one that killed a franchise is Lost Planet 3. The better game was Japan only in EX Troopers on PS3. I also would say Marvel vs Capcom Infinite killed the series. I know it's less than a year old but the writing is on the wall. Silent Hill series as soon as Konami gave it to western devs and also made mobile spinoffs.
With all the licensing effort it takes to make an MvC game you are probably right.
Which sucks because people love MvC. Bad decisions were made with the last one, that's all. But I guarantee if they made a new MvC and put a good roster in with 3 man teams and no easy mode combos then people would go right back to it.
Unfortunately, most companies won't be willing to make another sequel as soon as the latest title flops. Even though MvC Infinite wouldn't have flopped if they had just made different decisions.
Nice try buddy. Then why have they made 1,000,000,000,000,000. Games? Cod has never gotten it wrong...over and over and over.
Never gotten it wrong? I guess in terms of how to get kids to steal money out of parents wallets. It’s done plenty wrong lol
Lol. Little money grabbers! I remember when paying for map packs was a big deal. Now we have to pay for everything. This is crazy
It's all well and good saying COD sells well, which I don't deny, but that doesn't make it a good game. It merely means people want more of the same,game play, as you put it, over and over and over!
If it's so good, why are more people playing Battlefield 4 over the more current COD releases!
People impulse buy i recon, pre order a game before it's been shown to the public then just stick with it when it releases hoping for change!
I Find COD games much of the same with every release which is why I'd call id a dying franchise.
These kids will grow up soon and realise there's more out there than just corridor shooting games.
It's just an opinion afterall.
When has CoD died or gone on hiatus though? You may not like them, but tens of millions of people do, and buy it every year. People seriously need to shut up and leave that franchise alone. It’s not hurting anyone, and the whining is seriously getting old.
I know right? Those games are always fun. At least IMO. The fun varies a bit depending on the location and theme, but overall, always pretty damn good.
Youre 100% wrong. They need to be called out just like every other company. That's why they returned to boots on ground. You let them treat you however they like... some of us chose to be treated how we like
You say that as if I’m an avid CoD player. I don’t mind the series, but it’s definitely not my favorite. The bitching, however, was old back in 2010. 99% of people that do it only do so because they see others doing it. You don’t like CoD? Play something else. It’s not supposed to cater to fans of other franchises.
I loved the dead space 1+2 hated 3. Played through them so many times but found number 3 such a bore to get through, really hope they pick this back up.
Dead space 1 is imo unrivaled when it comes to horror games and part 2 was already kind of a let down by still good. I didn't even play part 3 because i didn't like the direction that game went.
Wish they will reboot dead space one day .
I totally agree with you on that, dead space 1 was the pinnacle of survival horror and dead space 2 was still a great game, I have all achievements for 1 and 2 and both games still hold up well against modern games, 3 was a complete let down I did finish it just for satisfaction but had no fun from the game at all, found it very boring to say the least.
For me, the only reason Dead Space 2 wasn't as good as the original is because it wasn't new anymore. But when you think about it, DS2 was still just as good of a horror game. DS1 was so good because everything you came across was new and terrifying.
I remember the feeling the first time I played DS1. No other game, before or since, has given me that feeling that something is going to jump out and attack with every footstep you took. Talk about great atmosphere and tension!
NG3 is a terrible sequel, but as a standalone action game, it's actually not that bad. My only real problem with the game is all the technical issues. With all the flashiness gone, there shouldn't be so much slowdown. It throws off my game. There's also some problems with the lock-on and the controls can be unresponsive. Because of this, the harder difficulties are practically unplayable. Patch that and I'm cool.