Customer Reviews
Ninja Gaiden
This was a gift for my boyfriend, and he loved it. The price was a bit steep, but most video games are. I was proud to buy it from Amazon because they always take such good care of my account and purchases.
Do you remember when games were hard?
Whatever happened to Nintendo thumb? Sure relatively new games like Gears of War come with some visual teeth, if no real challenge. Resident Evil 4 had some scenes of panic at first. Even Men of Valor on the old Xbox had its frustrating moments of cheap kills out of nowhere. But these games are all pussy cats. Now days, 8-12 hour and sometimes less, play for the main campaign is considered normal. We really aren't getting our money's worth. Instead, the developers try to focus us on multiplayer elements that really don't take the same imagination to design around, leaving the single player story thin and short. Well I like multiplayer, but my friends aren't always around. Single player is the breadwinner for me on most games.
As a kid back in the 80s, it took years, YEARS i say, to beat some games, if I even braved the time to beat them. These were games you had to take real time off from to avoid throwing the NES out the door. Megaman 1 was one of those break the controller or break your thumb games. I never did see the end of Battletoads. Of course, there was the original Ninja Gaiden. It too was a study of time and patience to memorize jump timing in every moment on almost every level to succeed. The designers really WANTED to beat you down. Even the movie "King of Kong" proved this point in a way with Donkey Kong. That is a really hard game, even after all these years. So why have games become so easy? Who knows. But those days came back thanks to Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden.
I did my first tour of the new Ninja Gaiden back on Xbox and here we get the same old goodness. Ninja Gaiden Sigma is a great throwback in many ways not only to the old NES classics in theme, but also in its brutal challenge. Team Ninja are absolute masochists. Ninja Gaiden Sigma is only slightly softer than its Xbox cousin, slightly as in almost invisibly. This game is hard. The multi hit combos take time to pull off right, save points aren't helpful and bosses can be punishing. This is not a bad thing. Multiplayer or not, I for one am sick and tired of running through most of these games in a few hours or a day and then what? And for the most part, multiplayer dynamics have changed very little since Goldeneye. Its minutiae we're looking at here folks.
Ninja Gaiden, here in its second update, basically a re-release of NG Black, still plays great and offers real challenge in the face of easy shallow gaming of today. Part 2 on 360 was bloody fun and difficult also, but to me, clearly felt unfinished. Sigma on the PS3 is a good update. You get a new character in the name of Rachel to play as, which is fun for a few minutes at least. The updated visuals are clean and shiny, if a bit too shiny and plasticky. Environments are nice but textures are a bit simple. Lighting effects though, have improved greatly. In short, they get the job done for PS3. The camera is still evil, even if you can move it, there is rarely an optimum spot to see and because of it, bad guys come from nowhere frequently. So its not perfect for sure. Sigma is budget priced, but you'd think after so many years, Sony and Tecmo could knock at least another off the price by now.
Nevertheless, the satisfying visuals, fast paced action and infuriating challenge assure if you can deal with the awful camera and you're game to advance your skills over some time, this one won't feel like a waste of money like most games out there. Sigma, like its two Xbox predecessors and at least two NES ancestors is a guaranteed good buy. Ninja Gaiden is classic, entertaining and absolutely unforgiving. It even comes with complimentary Nintendo thumb.
Unleash your inner ninja the hard way
I'm not really a big fan of difficult games. There always seems to be a feeling like I'm not having fun and progressing in the game but rather having to somehow win out over cheap moves, overwhelming odds and sporadic use of save points. I can't just chalk it up to being a beginner player either since I've been playing since the days of Duck Hunt and having to blow on the cartridge to get it to run but even back then, Ninja Gaiden games, like Contra, were tough as hell and that tradition hasn't changed a single bit. With spruced up graphics, bit more additions and changes, the game's still fun as ever and just as hard as you remember, whether 20 years ago or 3.
Story: You play (mainly) as Ryu, a ninja in the Hayabusa clan. But when the village's sword is stolen, the maiden slain and you knocked out by the evil Doku, it's up to Ryu to get revenge and get the Dark Dragon Sword back. Occasionally you'll meet up with/play as Rachel, a well-endowed female with a big axe who's searching for her twin sister, Alma. The story at times is convoluted and a bit too familiar and I can just imagine the MIDI music playing during a text-cutscene whenever I read this story like in the old days but it works well enough though I wish there was more diverse environments.
Graphics: The game is basically a remake of a remake since the original Ninja Gaiden was released on the Xbox and then an enhanced version was released a year later (!) called Ninja Gaiden Black. This is basically the same but it's basically been "HD'd". The character and enemy animations are smoother and crisper and the fluidity is constant. Only problem is the backgrounds, except for the first few chapters which look awesome, are bland and there's the occasional screen tearing and "Now Loading" screens during exploration, combat and even opening up a chest despite the optional install. It feels like more time could've been used to make it seamless but having the game load just so you can open a chest just seems strange.
Sound/Music: The music's rather inconsistent at times since some works like the more ambient stuff such as a Phendrana Drifts-esque piece from Metroid Prime during an ice level but then occasionally it hits us with turgid rock or bass-and-drums music with some electronica flourishes and it's like "ugh". Also, the voice acting at times is rather flat and 1996-ish in its delivery since it's either melodramatic to the point of distracting or it's so wooden, it's like they just said their lines and be done with it.
Gameplay: The basic idea of the game is with your various weapons at your disposal, you hack and slash and block and dodge (key things you must use to survive) through the 19 chapters. The nice thing is that the combo system for once is intuitive and never did I feel like I couldn't get a handle out of fighting enemies. This is different than in God of War where enemies would break your combos or not spawn in time to keep your combo meter going and somehow seem to phase through your attacks to nail that cheap blow. Once you get the hang of how you play, going through the game is easy. Well, that's a lie since enemies are just as smart with the occasional cheapie and you'll die and die a lot and without checkpoints, it's very common to be sent back rather far. Some games you can get through by lucking out or timing things right, Sigma requires mastery really.
The fighting system is easy to understand despite the tough enemies but I'll be frank: the platforming sections suck and be prepared for lots of missed jumps, Ryu falling to the floor despite your knowing of what to do and the wild camera which you constantly wrestle with doesn't help matters. The segments where you use them look like fun and running from wall-to-wall is cool, it's just Ryu is so finicky in his movements that it makes what should be cool moments tedious.
The other inclusion is the ability to play as Rachel for the occasional mission and though she's not as fun as Ryu, she's at least functional and not some cheap character who can't do simple things right. Only thing is that there's not a lot of missions where you actually play as her but the option to see her large...chest area is welcome. But her axe is bulky and slow but powerful but still doesn't help when she's not Ryu-fast and timing and counterattacks are used instead.
While the difficulty is very oft-putting and the platforming sections are nightmares, the fighting and flying across the screen to lop heads off is oh-so-satisfying and makes for one of the funnest action titles on the Playstation 3...just watch your yelling and controller-throwing tendencies on this one.
After first play though kill kill
You just kill lots of stuff in this game and they try and kill you!
dont bother unless you have never played anoter version of this game
this game is very fun. however i give it a one star over all because of the way it was marketed. i own and love ninja gaiden black. i bought this game because i kept hearing about all the "added content" and "improved graphics". the added content is quite lame. this game actually has less to unlock than the "black" version, besides a few added cut scenes and a couple of addition boss battles that do nothing to enhance the story (they only provided me with irritation) this version has very little to offer. in the way of graphics. i was very disappointed. its debatable that the graphics are improved at all over "black". thats not good for a next gen system. the cut scenes which i love actually were worse because they took out the pretty cgi and used in game graphics. the difference wasnt that apparent but when you look close there were many more jagged lines where before they were smooth.
i will say that if you own a ps3 and have not played ninja gaiden black then deffinately pick this up. its very fun.
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