 Review By: Jared Black |
Developer: | Team Ninja |
| Publisher: | Microsoft | |
| Genre: | Action | |
| ESRB: | Mature | |
| # Of Players: | 1 | |
| Online Play: | No | |
| Accessories: | HDTV 720p/1080i/1080p, In-game Dolby Digital, Xbox Live (leaderboards, upload videos) |
“I’m sure I can make it through the harder Path of the Warrior difficulty level in no time,” I thought to myself as I first booted up the latest in Team Ninja’s Ninja Gaiden series. I was confident because, while I skipped out on both Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden Black on Xbox, I’m a veteran of the series’ tough gameplay from the NES and SNES days. Unfortunately 2D and 3D combat are vastly different things, and Ninja Gaiden II has given my ego a beat-down the likes of which I haven’t experienced in years. Even moreso after seeing many reviewers already admit to wimping out and using the easier Path of the Acolyte difficulty to push their reviews out the door faster, while I died dozens and dozens of times trying to experience the game as it was meant to be experienced.
But I’m not bitter though, because the frustration found in Ninja Gaiden II is the rare motivating kind that actually keeps you moving forward and rewards the diligent. Sure, I slammed a few controllers (or rather, the same surprisingly durable one multiple times), but in the end I’d press A to continue like a faithful soldier and jump right back in the battle. The feeling of euphoria when you finally overcome a troublesome area in Ninja Gaiden II is one rarely matched by other action games, and that’s only the result of a finely-tuned engine and masterful game design.
The story driving the game, or what's there anyway, is pretty thin and really only serves as a thinly-veiled reason to hack things up. The Hayabusa clan has guarded the Demon Statue, an artifact of unspeakable power that long ago sealed one of the Archfiends and banished his four Greater Fiends eons ago to eternal slumber. Naturally, this means that the statue has now fallen into the wrong hands, so it's up to Ryu to wield the Dragon Sword and recover the statue before the world meets it's doom. No pressure or anything. Joining him occasionally is the CIA agent (and wielder of the Incredible Anti-Gravity Boobs) Sonia, who clues him in that, duh, someone may just be trying to take the statue in the first place.
Of course, the storyline isn't very important when the sheer visceral nature of the game’s combat makes it perhaps the most brutal game of all-time. Heads, arms, and other various body parts go flying off of Ryu’s enemies with well-placed melee weapon strikes, with those body parts then remaining on the battlefield as gruesome reminders of the supernatural foes already dispatched. Blood spurts, nay, gushes from every newly-created orifice, literally painting the town red (or green) by the end of a major battle. Speaking of those foes, they run the gamut from standard Black Spider Clan ninjas to werewolves that fling their own defeated kind's torsos back at Ryu, and various flying and/or hovering enemies that dive and fling fireballs from afar as well.
Surprisingly, the buckets of blood and dismembered enemies are not entirely gore just for the sake of gore. Enemies will often remain alive after having an arm or a leg lopped off, and it’s then that they’re often most deadly. See, an enemy missing an appendage knows it is doomed, and it will stop at nothing to take Ryu out with it. At best these damaged enemies will hang back and pummel Ryu with distance attacks (disrupting other attacks and slowly draining health), but at worst they’ll pounce and sacrifice themselves to unleash extremely vicious attacks. The game’s level of gore also serves as an easy way for the player to spot an opportunity to perform an obliteration technique. Once an enemy has been wounded, Ryu can finish them off with a flourish (such as a swipe and a decapitation) using one of several non-interactive finishing moves simply by pressing the Y button.
To make all of this gore happen, Ryu has a diverse lineup of weaponry at his disposal. Starting with the Dragon Sword, players will soon discover other weapons including a scythe on a weighted chain, a spiked pole arm, and more. Each weapon has its own move set for Ryu to master, with moves like the Flying Swallow (a three-swipe jump dive) very useful when facing off against surrounding foes. Melee weapons can also be upgraded throughout the game, by spending the yellow essence left behind by defeated foes (whereas blue refills health and red replenishes magic). Various ranged weaponry can also be unlocked and purchased as well, including shurikens, bow and arrow, etc. The bow and arrow in particular often comes in handy in boss fights, keeping Ryu out of reach of their deadly grasp while firing off charged arrows from afar. Ryu also has a bit of magic up the cold black sheen of his sleeves, with several Ninpo spells that can blast away enemies or cut through swathes of them at a time.
Posted: 2008-06-10 17:40:31 PST