Ninja Gaiden 2 review

Wednesday, 11 June 2008

This review was a long time coming, and I'm breaking one of my own rules by reviewing the game before I've completed it.

Either way, here we go.

Ninja gaiden is from the lovely fellas at Tecmo who produced the Dead or Alive series, you know, the one with the boobs bouncing everywhere. The first Ninja Gaiden was the hardest game on the Xbox, and also regarded as the best action game on the platform. So obviously, when it came to the sequel, there was quite a bit to live up to.

The game is heavily styled: think a blood soaked Ninja edition of Devil may cry 4, and you're halfway there, limbs fly off in all directions and walls get sprayed with arterial blood as you hack your way through the levels, and its all alot of fun. You feel really cool bouncing off walls, and cutting off arms and legs.

There's a wide selection of weapons for the job, and I am really enjoying the game, despite wanting to chuck my TV out of the window because of some of the bosses [YES I'M LOOKING AT YOU ELECTRO FISH], but by and large its a nice challenge, without being too frustrating. The characters looks very Japanese, with a CIA agent wearing barely anything but a smile and a pair of over sized handguns, and the level design is a little.. confusing. A few times I had to stop and retrace my steps because I'd gone the wrong way, but as Darkshadowfang tells me, "I have no sense of orientation". This is true.

Interestingly enough, this game practically vomits Gamerscore all over you if you play it, little 5g chunks for mastering the "Reverse wind" or "Swallow". Not a big deal for me, but still a nice incentive to keep playing, if one were needed.

Mainly, I was attracted to this game for the difficulty. The first one remains the only xbox game I couldnt beat [I really tried], and I fondly remembered the first level being ridiculously fun, before the first boss being ridiculously, insanely difficult. And of course, Ninjas. The second game lived up to this well. The game engine was fluid, and it is alot of fun. The difficulty seems to have been dialed back for the sequel - which I could argue was a good thing as I never surpassed the second level of the first gaiden.

All in all, I really enjoyed the game. My main complaint, was that the difficulty curve as you fought the bosses was abit much. Well, when I say abit much, it was like having a lovely stroll in the park, followed by you single handedly trying to climb out of the inside of a volcano while doused in petrol. Aside from this its proving to be a rather enjoyable venture, and although I doubt what future it has on the gameshelf after i've finished it the once, it's proven a blast so far.

8/10

Labels: 8/10, Ninja Gaiden 2, Xbox360

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Article Posted: Wednesday, 11 June 2008 at 07:08.
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