Ninja Gaiden 2 mission pack back today

By Robert Purchese Published 28 July, 2008

Hopefully. Ryu care?

Microsoft expects the Ninja Gaiden 2 mission pack will return to Xbox Live sometime today.

The mission mode pack was released last Friday and then yanked down after it caused technical problems like systems freezing (surely not a problem usually associated with Xbox 360 oh wait now I get it).

Most of the niggles have been fixed, according to Gamerscoreblog, and those who already have the DLC can begin playing again.

The Ninja Gaiden 2 pack adds 12 karma and 12 survival missions; the former is based on totting up the highest score, while the latter offers you one weapon to fend off an endless stream of baddies.

The mission pack costs 800 Microsoft Points (GBP 6.80 / EUR 9.60) and also incorporates 10 extra Achievements.

Ninja Gaiden 2, released in June, is a gory spectacle of swishy swords, severed limbs, and taxing gameplay, although it's not as fiendishly difficult as the original game.

Head over to our Ninja Gaiden 2 review for our thoughts.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (30) Latest comment 4 years ago

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  • Santino #1 4 years ago

    i'll probably get this even though i was a bit disappointed with the main game compared to the original. still the 2nd best game of its kind though in my opinion. the mission modes were excellent in the first game i just hope many of these are arena fights like the tests of valor as the combat against the main foes is excellent.

  • Dizzy #2 4 years ago

    Still fighting my way through the game... no mission packs for me yet.

  • miiiguel #3 4 years ago

    "(surely not a problem usually associated with Xbox 360 oh wait now I get it)."
    Thankfully you made a joke on 360, because if you did on a PS3 (sixaxis joke, anyone ?), you'd be the biased (and shit).
    Edited by 1 at 28/07/08 @ 12:15

  • Darren #4 4 years ago

    I actually found NG2 easier to get into and play on the easiest difficulty setting than the overhard NG but at the same time I can't deny that the game is a bit disappointing given the differences in power between the Xbox and Xbox 360. Graphically the game looks passable but it really isn't upto scratch for a current gen game IMO running at a sub-HD resolution and yet still managing to have slowdown AND screen tearing despite the empty basic looking environments (the boxy looking Venice level is especially embarassing IMO). Also the camera is hideous and does its best to try and ruin the game. Could and should have been a lot better... I should have know better have the lazy port of NG Sigma on the PS3 really. Devil May Cry 4 for me was a much better game whilst managing to pack in a lot more humour and some seriously impressive setpieces.

  • Santino #5 4 years ago

    you cant really compare devil may cry games and ninja gaiden games though in all seriousness, they have completely different styles. devil may cry is more about flashy, long combos on weaker opponents and CHEESE, whereas ninja gaiden is more about killing your opponent as fast as you can before they kill you. its like the virtua fighter of the beat 'em up genre in that it takes more time and skill before you get the reward.

    edit: i actually found NG2 harder than the first one, mostly because it was cheaper in many places, and because of the health system where it regenerates after each encounter they through more enemies at you at once knowing that they could. ninja gaiden 1 was tough in places but never unfair
    Edited by 1 at 28/07/08 @ 12:38

  • johnnybrn #6 4 years ago

    I played the demo recently and was impressed and am looking to get this at the end of the month. Looked graphically sweet to me. However Im no glutten for punishment even played the original NG on ninja dog and will be playing on the easier setting here too.

    Having played the dire DMC2 twice and DMC 3 left me cold. I cant say that I'm keen to get DMC4 anytime soon

    Plus NG has bigger boobies than DMC ;)

  • Darren #7 4 years ago

    @Santino - Sure DMC 4 and NG 2 are different styles of game but they're both from the same genre which originated from those scrolling fight 'em ups from the 80s and 90s. They're more alike than not IMO.

  • MattyB2007 #8 4 years ago

    About time to! I know what i'll be downloading tonight when I get in from work!

  • BillyBrush #9 4 years ago

    DMC4 is woeful in comparison to NG2 and it's nigh on perfect combat

    NG1 vs NG2, there's a battle, but DMC, that's just on another plane (a less good one)

  • Rash' #10 4 years ago

    Even with it's flaws, NG is the definitive action adventure. It's combat system is simply unrivalled. Ultimately, though DMC stands up well against it because it genuinely offers a different experience, so the two should sit proudly in any hardcore gamer's collection. Both however are the epitome of cheese. Technically, DMC is better. NG as a next gen title is underwhelming.

  • Darren #11 4 years ago

    Rash' - "Technically, DMC is better. NG as a next gen title is underwhelming."

    Agreed. Not that I should have been surprised as Team Ninja's current gen output has been pretty disappointing IMO after what they achieved on the original Xbox. Dead Or Alive 4, DOA Xtreme 2 and Ninja Gaiden Sigma have all been underwhelming IMO although to be fair Ninja Gaiden 2 was the best of an otherwise mediocre bunch. Team Ninja strike me as being a developer that's too comfortable resting on their laurels and are content to keep remaking the same three games over and over again so long as they raked in the money! LOL

    Edit: spelling
    Edited by 1 at 28/07/08 @ 13:47

  • johnnybrn #12 4 years ago

    Darren,

    'Team Ninja stike me as being a developer that's too comfortable resting on their laurels and are content to keep remaking the same three games over and over again so long as they raked in the money!'

    They seem to be taking a page out of nintendo's business stragey ;)

  • cam_guin #13 4 years ago

    how bout they fix the shoddy camera work so the game is actually playable and exciting ala NG1 rather than a chance-based pastiche of gore and shiny graphics? I regularly sob over the grave of Ninja Gaiden 1.

  • Vice.Destroyer #14 4 years ago

    @Darren.
    +1

    DOA4 was a major step back from DOA3. That to me is the biggest disappointment in the Xbox armoury. DOA3 made the decision between the Xbox and the Gamecube. This is before it became crushingly obvious that the Gamecube was going to fail.

  • MrXBob #15 4 years ago

    Funny how the people who completed the game on Master Ninja never complain about the camera.

    I've come to the conclusion that all the people who hate on NG2 for silly reasons such as that - are just bad at playing the game. I personally have no problem with the camera - just whack the sensitivity up and its perfect.

  • Darren #16 4 years ago

    @MrXBob - You're just being protective of a game that you really like but almost every professional review of Ninja Gaiden 2 that I've read has mentioned the wayward camera so it clearly wasn't perfect for everyone. ;)

  • MrXBob #17 4 years ago

    @Darren:

    Sorry I didnt realise that 'Professional' reviewers owned my cash. I'll think twice about buying and enjoying something based on its own merits. I forgot that we were supposed to take reviewers' opinions as gospel.

    From this moment onward I shall send out a proclomation across the land - REVIEWS ARE FACT! And all shall praise me for being such a RETARDED DICKFACE.

    Get real. I spend my money on what I want - not what some jumped-up journalist tells me to. If you'd read my comment you would see that I said people who complain about the camera just arent good at the game. Which basically means - as some of them even admitted - that game reviewers ARE NOT GAMING PERFECTIONISTS.

    Just because they can't handle the camera doesnt mean it's a bad camera. A lot of reviewers can't finish Ikaruga - does that make it a bad game?

    I - along with millions of other people - have no problems with the camera. Yes sometimes it gets stuck, but it's hardly enough to break the game as some people keep spouting.

    Edit: I'm also pretty sure that none of the reviews (the ones I read, at least) even mentioned the fact that you can change the camera options. It seems as though they were expecting it to be an automatic camera. If they don't understand how to move their right thumb, then theres no wonder they rate it down so badly.
    Edited by 2 at 28/07/08 @ 13:58

  • Quint2020 #18 4 years ago

    Has the auto update been fixed as well then?

    I've not applied it yet as I heard it causes the game to hang during cutscenes.

  • MrXBob #19 4 years ago

    @Quint2020:

    I updated and it does hang (I was 20 minutes before the last boss when I downloaded the update - now everytime I get to the cutscene right before the boss is supposed to appear, the screen fades to black and just sits there while my controller vibrates constantly until I turn the 360 off) - I'm clearing my cache tonight to get rid of the patch, as I hear it works just fine after doing that, but I've heard nothing about them updating the patch... they will, of course, just not sure when.

  • Quint2020 #20 4 years ago

    Ok, cheers mate.

    Guess I'll just keep declining the update then.

  • cam_guin #21 4 years ago

    @MrXBob - true you can shift the camera quickly, but I do find myself tapping the shoulders just as much as COD. Its by no means a bad game, I just feel a let down that the first NG was almost the perfect as a mid-paced adventure slash 'em up. Set the bar too high though....

  • MrXBob #22 4 years ago

    The original is certainly the best - but the additions to the sequel certainly make it a very worthy successor.

    No other action game will ever come close to what NG offers.

  • Ninja_Tino #23 4 years ago

    Not as punishingly difficult? It's way harder in all the wrong ways!

  • BillyBrush #24 4 years ago

    yes we all hate Incendiary shriuken ninjas

    but both Acolyte and Warrior are easier than NG1's lower levels....i'd say Warrior on NG2 is a really nice balance of a little bit of challenge but easily doable and fair...people moaning about Mentor and above, fair enough but it's not less fair than NG1, that was just as balls out hard on lower difficulties, you've either just forgotten that, or didn't do it on those difficulties as there was no incentive/acheives....i think there are a lot of people to be fair that beat NG1 on normal and think they beat it on Master Ninja.

    Personally i like 2 a lot more than 1 beacuse of the gore and fluidity of countering, limb, obliteration....however i can see why many people still like 1 more as there's less going on therefore by it's nature it's a little purer...camera though is the same in 1 & 2 for me...if you block when enemies are off screen or move tis easy enough, the only hard thing is IS ninjas on Mentor+

    DMC however, is just lower down the foodchain, purely due to the combat system, less speed, less precision, less of the feeling you are weilding sharp as blades, the weapons in NG cut, the ones in DMC bounce

  • MrXBob #25 4 years ago

    Couldnt have said it better myself, Billy boy!!

  • Lamb #26 4 years ago

    The mission pack sounds weak why not jut restart the game to get a higher score and enjoy the storyline again!

  • carrotcake #27 4 years ago

    eurogamer counted wrong. it's 16 karma missions and 8 survival, not 12 of each.

  • Dynamism #28 4 years ago

    @Santino - Sure DMC 4 and NG 2 are different styles of game but they're both from the same genre which originated from those scrolling fight 'em ups from the 80s and 90s. They're more alike than not IMO.

    I agree with you about both games being of the same genre, however, I believe they are evolutions of the old Castlevania or Ninja Gaiden, platforming/action/twitch games from the NES era.

    Both are the best examples of the genre, though.

  • OllyJ #29 4 years ago

    It wasn't there last night! any news?

  • itsfuzzy #30 4 years ago

    If anyone has got through all 4 levels of difficultly. Fair play to them. Just at the end of Warrior now. Not really looking forward to the other 2 levels of difficulty.. . . .