Battlemouth

The original Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox is one of my favorite games ever, and the update to Ninja Gaiden Black has made it my favorite game ever. I have played through few games more times than Ninja Gaiden. Its mix of action, sheer difficulty, great puzzles and surprising depth kept me coming back. Every move that the main character Ryu makes is fluidly animated and articulated.

There was nothing like having a sliver of life, pulling off an Izuna Drop and splattering all the baddies who were pounding you three seconds ago, to find out they all give up health and you’re better off than you were when you started the encounter.

That charm is still there. However, it’s been eviscerated, dismembered and sewn back  together, so that it looks charmingly like every other action game… Allow me first to make comparisons to the original.

Ninja Gaiden II clings tight to the original’s controls and combos. There are a few differences in animation; Some combat moves like Ryu’s roll evade, and counter-attacks, have changed completely. Constantly trying to counter attack will now get you destroyed quickly. There are also more unblockable enemy moves, keeping you on your toes.

NG II also plays faster than the first, both run at 60 frames per second, Ninja Gaiden II does suffer from a great deal of slow-down at times as compared to the original, but only when they screen is completely loaded with enemies. Boss fights are always crisp, but seem less challenging overall.

In fact the whole game seems a tad less challenging on the Path of the Warrior difficulty, which is what you might consider Hard or Normal, than it was on the default Normal difficulty of Ninja Gaiden. On the other hand, Mentor and above provide a staggering challenge that will take mastery to even consider. Puzzles and key-searching are now virtually inexistent, making the game feel fairly linear. Time limits for Karma (score) Challenges are gone as well, removing the tense nature of encounters from the previous title. Part of the new, relaxed Ninja Gaiden is a regenerating health-bar and an instant-kill system for dismembered enemies: you can lob of an arm with one hit and use an Obliteration Technique to end them.

Now don’t get me wrong, the action is all still there, and any series fan will feel right at home, and new players to the series will have no trouble catching up. Overall Ninja Gaiden II is an awesome title, there’s little past the story to really complain about. The story is a throwaway non-sequel-ish sort of thing that simply drives the character design.

If you have already played the original Ninja Gaiden, you’re probably already playing this. If you’re new to the series, rent it and then download the first game, which is now available on Xbox Live for $15. You’ll certainly be challenged and then rewarded for your effort. This game is worth several playthroughs easily with New Game+ (you can reload your final save to start at the beginning with all your maxed weapons) and New Game= (after beating a difficulty you can start with everything you would normally find but at level one), leaderboards and player videos.

As a side note, there has recently been the addition of extra costumes as downloadable content. You can expect more of the same in the future from Tecmo. Also slated for the 25th of July is a mission mode, similar to that found in Ninja Gaiden Black, which if it’s anything like the first, will add years of extended playtime to the game.

So go rent it or buy it, in fact you must have some spare time right about now. Try to beat my karma score (currently 26 million on warrior difficulty), I dare you.