Ninja Gaiden II

Amazon.com Sales Rank: 463

Average Customer Rating:

UPC: 882224552059

List price: ~~$39.99~~

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Reviews

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Probably the hardest game so far., December 13, 2008

I figured this would be like the first game, and as you upgrade your weapons it would get easier and easier. HELL NO! In the begging of this game they bombard you with nd army of black spider ninjas, stick and move stick and move. If your lookin for a real challenge pick it up.

Proving that Ninjas are indeed cooler than Pirates once again..., December 3, 2008

Who doesn't love Ninjas?

Those slicing, dicing, pirate-slaughtering stealth assassins at the peak of all things cool are featured in full force for Itagaki's follow up to the original Xbox title, and taken to a whole new level. Now, there's ninja-on-ninja action (that's FIGHTING - you dirty minded fools :-P ).

After all the hype and anticipation for what was promising to be one of the most difficult games of the year, how did it all turn out?

Wonderfully.

This game has a special quality that is difficult to describe, something that I don't see very often in modern games.. "character". Each enemy, level, and ally is absolutely dripping with personality.

Although most people would argue that the storyline has more holes than swiss cheese, the villains are memorable and the levels themselves are unforgettable. If these characters were fleshed out just a bit more (even just to answer these two simple questions: how Elizabet is running around waking up other Greater Fiends when all four were supposedly asleep for centuries, and why the Black Spider Clan agreed to help her in the first place), it would have added a great deal of significance to some already very memorable personalities. Devil May Cry 4 had similar story issues, but its characters were nowhere near as memorable (with the possible exception of Nero, who made an excellent counter to Dante). Though the principal characters in NGII don't say much, the combination of their look, movement, voice, and (in the case of bosses) attack patterns is exceptionally polished and it shows. The story isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be, although it does play out more like an "epic" summer blockbuster movie than anything else.

The combat itself is solid, and the feature updates (such as the fatalit...err... obliteration techniques and enemy limb removal) allow for additional strategy in what used to be a block-block-dodge-attack-block-block-dodge-attack combo system. In fact, these changes tend to make the game feel more action-oriented than defense oriented. The "run of the mill" enemies can still kill you - that's a Ninja Gaiden trademark - but rather than taking on fewer, more powerful enemies, you'll oftentimes end up facing swarms of weaker enemies. And make no mistake - swarms can kick your butt.

The music, usually taking a backseat to action in games such as this, manages to draw the player further in, and combines gothic voices and rock for a haunting yet familiar sound that accents the gameplay and visuals of the title (of special mention are Chapter 3 and 5's music - absolutely amazing, so much so I'd probably get the soundtrack). This is also one of the few games where I can say with confidence that I prefer the English voice acting over Japanese. Visually speaking - it's superior to NG: Sigma and is about average for a 360 title. Still very good, as should be expected for a Team Ninja game - everything's very colorful and sharp. One slight issue is an occasional framerate hiccup, but nothing major.

I managed to complete the game on "Easy" - a.k.a. Path of the Acolyte - but just barely, and intend to play on Normal soon. Overall I was very impressed with the way this game turned out. Sadly with the Itagaki and Team Ninja lawsuits coming into the spotlight over at Tecmo, this may be the last Ninja Gaiden game we get for some time...

More rants at:
http://angstygaijin.blogspot.com

He has only one foe, Kratos, November 9, 2008

Because of this title, I've bought XBOX 360. Needless to say, It pays off.
one more thing to say....when do we expect the next addition? can't wait...Actually I don't like Ninja-type character but this one just blows me away....I hope, in recent future, a gaming industry should consider to make Ninja vs Kratos in EPIC setting.

I hate it, but I love it, October 26, 2008

When Ninja Gaiden came on the xbox, I was stoked.

It was one of the most satisfying gaming experiences i have ever had. I would rank it right up their with resident evil 4, and doom 3 (Infact, I still play all three of these games). When Ninja Gaiden 2 was announced I was sold.

I have played through and beat Ninja Gaiden 2 three times now, it is just so fun. The game is beautiful, I will agree, there are some levels (near the end) that look somewhat bland (a cylinder with a green texture) but that's the exception, not the rule.

As far as difficulty goes, its not as balanced as Ninja Gaiden, or Sigma for the ps3. It seems easier, until you get to level 6 or so, when it becomes practically retarded, the first time I played it I was like, wow, I might not beat it, I mean, they have mines, ninjas with missile launchers (launching several blasts of missiles in succession, and sadly, these guys do not play alone), bad guys that explode when you kill them, it gets to a point there, where you have to slow down, and rethink your approach, but is doable.

The boss battles are still pretty tough. Thankfully there are no really weird puzzles, except for one, where you in the clock tower, and you have to climb your way to the top, when you get there, you will be hating your camera, but once you figure it out, and go slow, its easy.

The new weapons are fun, and I love the amount of enemies they throw at you at once. Some people are mentioning slowdown, I only noticed slowdown one time, that was when your in the underworld and taking on like several hundred ninjas, bats, dragons while your trying to climb steps (and you thought holiday shopping was rough!), but all in all, the game is very technically sound.

I hope they will be coming out with Ninja Gaiden 3 for the 360, and I do hope for an xbox port of sigma, just so I can have them all on one system.

This game is great, once you get past level 6-8, the game stops "cheating" and your back to facing ninjas (without guns) and beasts where all you need is your blade or your favorite weapon.

The game is very rewarding, and very challenging. You owe it to yourself to play this game, especially if you like games that require massive amounts of skill to win. The AI is rough, but the game is amazing, I loved every second of it. When I died, I still loved it, but I also hated it....... =D

This is a must buy, and with amazons low price right now, it would be a big mistake to pass this one up.

Fun Fast Furious, October 22, 2008

The successor to the Ninja Gaiden game for the Xbox, Ninja Gaiden 2 is one of those rare sequels that seems to improve on everything done by the first game while adding worthwhile new features, enemies, and levels.

The basic gameplay is the same as the first Ninja Gaiden game, featuring fast-and-frantic swordplay and various ninja abilities to supplement it. You play as Ryu Hayabusa, last ninja of the Dragon Clan lineage, and your mission is to seal the ancient Arch-Fiends away before they destroy the world. The action is almost non-stop in NG2; Ryu has a wide array of acrobatic actions at his disposal to aid in his swordplay. There are fast and slow attacks that can be linked as a combo for different effects, and there's a lot of leaping and diving to throw into the mix as well. In addition to melee weapons like a sword, a staff, claws, and a scythe, Ryu also has a few ranged weapons as well - shurikens (regular and exploding) and a bow. Finally, Ryu has certain magical abilities like fireballs and cutting winds to attack his enemies with, though their use is limited. His enemies range from ninjas - armed with equipment similar to Ryu's - to demons, large and small.

The gameplay is smooth, but fast and unforgiving. Your enemies attack ferociously and without mercy - no fair-play "one on one" duels here, your enemies will be doing their absolute utmost to make Ryu die. Human enemies (the ninja) have a wide variety of "abilities", for lack of a better word, that differentiate them from other random grunts in other games. The ninjas in Ninja Gaiden can lose limbs (arms or legs) and keep fighting - and this will happen a lot, be assured. Heavily injured enemies will try to grab on to Ryu and detonate their bomb as a last-ditch suicide attempt. Ninja types range from melee combatants with swords and claws to ranged types with bows and magic spells. Even without these skills, it's hard to keep up with their attacks, which require dodging, guarding, evading, and counterattacking to deal with - you can't just wade in and mash the attack buttons and expect to survive. The demons are even harder, being less predictable, depending on their type. Some are small, bat-like creatures that swarm Ryu faster than he can swing his sword, while others are hulking colossi that can grab Ryu and squeeze the life out of his body. There are bosses on every level as well - these enemies are generally much larger than any regular enemy, and their strength makes guarding useless, forcing Ryu to jump and dive for his life. Furthermore, they're not fazed by your attacks, requiring you to time your attacks so that you'll have time to escape before they counterattack. Overall, Ninja Gaiden is a relatively simple game in that it keeps the same basic premise for combat; there aren't really any segments that deviate from the established gameplay.

As a whole, the controls are good and also notably responsive. In some other games, you have to adjust your timing to the game and pause between pressing buttons so that the moves you've inputted can be executed. In NG2, the game moves roughly about as fast as you push buttons - if you're smashing the buttons really quickly, then the moves will get executed really quickly. To give an example, Ryu has the ability to walljump between two adjacent parallel walls. At first I thought I had to adjust my timing to wait for when he landed; I quickly realized that I could just mash the A button and ascend as quickly as I tapped. The game really rewards you for having good reflexes, and tries not to hinder you as best it can. The only really annoying parts about the controls are the camera (which is kind of unresponsive at times) and sensitivity with regards to hanging on pipes and running on walls, both of which have to do with the camera (since running on a wall is "running forward", if the camera changes it can mess you up mid-run).

The graphics in the game are really good looking, though "realistic" isn't quite the word that I'd use to describe them. They're clearly fake, but it's on purpose, so even though the characters have flawless, one-tone skin with no wrinkles or anything, it looks good and like it was done on purpose. The in-game graphics are really good, too. Combat is quick and highly cinematic without distracting or detracting from the gameplay experience. The most notable detail is the bodies, which are persistent - kill a bunch of ninjas, and their bodies don't fade (not while onscreen, at least). Furthermore, I never thought I'd think of blood and severed limbs as being "artistic", but this game really has the prettiest blood sprays and dead bodies that I can think of. Blood splatters on walls depending on the angle that you cut, and you really get the feeling with this game that you're an absolute ninja murder-machine. One of the more impressive details is the blood that accumulates on your blade - when a fight is over and Ryu stands idle for a few seconds, he whips the blood off the blade (throwing an extra splatter onto the floor) and re-sheathes it.

The sound in the game isn't particularly notable, except that the sounds of combat are really well shown - the clangs and screams, in addition with the music, create a mood-setting level of background noises that keep you in the action. The music in general doesn't have any tracks that are particularly good, though.

As a whole, Ninja Gaiden 2 is a really fun game to play - one of the first games in a while that really feels like a game and not just an interactive story. Flimsy demon-based story aside, Ninja Gaiden 2 is really just an excuse to kill a bunch of ninjas and demons with fancy moves and look really awesome while doing it. The only real problem is that the game is so hard that it might be intimidating to casual players, but for players with good reflexes and a strong will Ninja Gaiden 2 offers nothing but good, fun gameplay.

9/10


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							January 8, 2009


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