Ninja Gaiden 2
Masterly
Who would have dared to dream that the sequel to Itagaki's masterpiece would be every bit as intense, challenging, and massively addictive as the original? Ninja Gaiden 2 is that, and it's wrapped up in the goriest next-gen engine ever created. Limbs fly left and right leaving glorious trials of blood as a pro-gamer takes to the controls of master ninja Ryu Hayabusa. To truly master this game, you must literally become one with the ninja way.
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In-fact there's almost a Zen presence in the air when you observe a true master plugged into this game and running at full flow. Absolute concentration takes place, and the true master ninja becomes one with the Xbox 360 controller: dodging left, right, slash, combo, dodge, ultimate technique, execution... Playing the game becomes an art, and the pure gaming experienced is viewed by all on the screen; with the added bonus that in Ninja Gaiden 2 every fight can be recorded and replayed in the Ninja Cinema.
All the enemy's attacks in the game can be predicted, and dealt with, and then countered with Ryu's arsenal of moves. Boss fights step up the complexity to a new level, with the bosses often-deadly attacks to be considered, as well as his or her little minions running around like insects buzzing in your ear, needing to be cut down swiftly. In order to master a boss in NG2 all manner of defensive and evasive techniques must be employed, and your counter attack must be just as well calculated and executed.
One mistimed attack against a boss can leave you vulnerable to a horribly damaging move; such as the giant fire turtle who will, without hesitation, rip Ryu off the ground with its teeth and mercilessly chomp away until half of your life bar has been burnt down. The move is uninterruptible and doesn't allow the player to use any form of healing aid until its completion, you just have to watch as a giant turtle disgraces you, and feel the full punishment of your earlier error.
One of the most inexplicable x-factor qualities of this game is that it actually gets exponentially more enjoyable the harder difficulty you are playing it on. The first play through is aesthetically fun, challenging, and pleasing. Stepping up to mentor difficulty is like an electric shock to your nervous system, you need to play harder, better, moving faster, as the addiction levels double. And when you finally reach master ninja? The core of your mind has already begun to tune into the ninja ways, but now you know you must succeed, you have to get faster, you have to know your enemies inside out to dodge every attack and counter with the perfect combo. Welcome to the real challenge; the level of addiction and the intensity experience found in this difficulty is un-reached by any other action I've played.
The storyline is a true convoluted Japanese masterwork; leather clad, heavy on the demons, packed to the brim with subtle ninja humour, and with even the most casual small talk between friends being interwoven with deep philosophical meaning. Sure, it actually makes almost no sense whatsoever, but it's just awesome and you must accept that.
There are some camera difficulties, but they're infrequent and hardly major. The difficulty is pure; there is no "cheap" in this game and there is no luck, it's all fair play and it's all beatable by calculation and reaction. NG2 is the perfect fighting-action game, it is the ultimate gaming challenge for 2008, and it's one of the best looking 'gore games' ever created. If you want to know why Master Ninja level NG players give no respect to anyone who hasn't achieved this level of action-gaming perfection, you must become one yourself.
95%
Comments
PLEASE CAN I PLAY A GAME
i have indiana jones
Hmmm... I had a bit more trouble with the camera than you have.
And sorry, I thought the story was lame, cardboard characters swinging swords and hacking limbs, saving the world from the forces of darkness...blah blah blah. Heard this type of story over and over again...
The visuals were relatively...ok, but there wasn't really that big of change from NG:Sigma, which is minus in my book considering how Itagaki called Sigma a "inferior port".
But I have to admit, it's fun... It was hard, which can turn off most players, but for me it was totally enjoyable.
My personal score. 80%
In fact,it is a very fantasy 3D game, its interface can attract every young man's heart if you had played.But my sccount was stolen by others. So I am plying SOL now
How is a boss that explodes when defeated and instantly kills you while you had no way of saving yourself unless you knew what was coming beforehand not considered "cheap".
Also while i understand you excitement about the gameplay, praising the story only makes you lose credibility.
The less we mention the camera the better
Ninja Gaiden II is probably one of the greatest games ever made for the xbox360. Its hard, fast and furious (I'ts also an 18 rated game which makes the difficulty issue more understandable) however i feel that some of the difficulty levels are easier than the original Ninja Gaiden, and to me it takes some of the shine on what made it so unique, it makes it feel like its almost sold itself out to gamers who couldn't handle it last time around. Anyway...I Digress. The visuals are outstanding, sound brilliant, and the story, well...just kinda lacks a bit. The best thing about the game though is the expansivness and extendabiliy of it, the story becomes a side quest when you have so many different weapons to upgrade and the tests to do in each level not to mention the mission mode which can be downloaded, which gives even more stupidly hard things to do. Overall to complete this game 100% will take many many hours, but the end result is so much more rewarding than most games currently out there.
PROS: VISUALS, EXPANSIVENESS, LONGEVITY.
CONS: STORY, DIFFICULITY.
SCORE- 89%
This review was hard to find. I love Play Magazine because the editors here have an appreciation for games like these that I often agree with even after I've played a game for countless hours.
This review was spot on. Ninja Gaiden II is a game very similar to the first in that it feels unfairly difficult initially until YOU, the player in control of Ryu, get better and become more skilled. The relentless enemies present here must be learned and studied, with quick reactions and accurate decision making under pressure being valuable assets in your quest to overcome Evil.
Unlike the first game, this one was released at a time when people no longer appreciate a challenging game. I commend you Mr. Nolan for being honest and understanding just how incredible this game was for our time. I would personally score it a 94%, with the couple of points docked for some minor technical bugs only, which all games have these days.
By the way, thank you Play for being the best gaming publication that exists today.