Ninja Gaiden 2 Comments by Rob Fahey

"One thing I disagree with in a ll the reviews in is the camera (assuming it the same as NGB). Its impossible to have a 3d game that follows the character like ng and not have these issue. If the camera was angled or fixed like GOW the game wouldnt have the same personal feel or accuracy IMHO. The game leaves it to you to centre the camera and not get in situation where you are boxed in (like a "real" ninja :] )"

Yeah. I mean a game as fast as GoW with a constantly moving camera? I think you would get motion sickness pretty quick (even if you could tell what's going on). The reason the fixed camera thing works for GoW is precisely that Kratos isn't exactly a quick mover.

@ Muscleblade,

Care to elaborate on why Sigma isn't as good? I just saw that Rob said they were essentially the same game, but since Sigma is on the PS3 with better graphics I just assumed it was better, but I could be wrong. I never had an original Xbox, so I missed out on earlier Ninja Gaidens and by the time I got a 360 I just figured I'd wait for the new one since it would be out soon enough and I got spoiled on next-gen graphics. Ironically, it's upon NG2's reviews coming out that I'm more interested than ever in the previous Ninja Gaiden.

Im skipping this one. The first one was way too hard also. I like a good challenge, but I hate a brow beating game like Ninja Gaiden is. The first bloody boss in game 1 was harder than some of the others, witch was bullcrap. Itīs ok too make games hard, but for the love of good, include a normal and easy setting for players who just want to play and finish a good game, no throw their controllers out the window and never play the game again.

Well, even though I'm a hardcore fan of the original game and Black, and totally think the difficulty was fine, I can totally see what the reviewer is saying here.

For once, I can actually accept this review as from what it says the game does indeed deserve a 7/10.

I'd rather, and I can't believe I'm saying this, have an easier game than one that blatantly cheats. Ninja Gaiden: Black was so good because it was challenging but fair. If NG2 has to resort to cheap tactics, then fu*k that.

The technical issues also sound extremely disappointing, as the original game is one of the most polished games available (bar the camera).

All that being said, I'm still maintaining my pre-order, and will no doubt enjoy the game. However, I'm actually glad this informative review has given me time to prepare for events of extreme anger due to sh*tty game design.

I think the art is something you can make your own mind up on, based on videos and screenshots. If it was inconsistent or badly implemented in the game, it'd be worthy of mention; as it stands, character design is a terribly personal taste, and I'm not sure it would improve the review for me to tell you what I think about Team Ninja's art style (as it happens, I like it - it's a little generic in places but it's consistent and works for my tastes).

Still looking for the answer to an JonFE's question earlier on - does it have framerate issues at 720p? The 360 was never designed to output at 1080p, and my TV can't display it anyway.

Just gave this a shot, and it seems to be the same at 1080i and 720p - still some significant framerate problems in heavy combat scenarios. 1080p is where it gets really nasty - downright unplayable, in places - it's just a slight annoyance at 720p / 1080i. Doesn't seem to be much to choose between the two modes.

@MrDurandPierre.

Thanks to the magic of secondhand Amazon.com games, you can pick up Ninja Gaiden 1 for a nominal Ģ5. I'd recommend it. Just for the fact that it is a game that has stayed the test of time, in my opinion. And from everything that I have read about NG2, there seems to be a lot more effective magic in this game. Again, in my opinion, I actually think that is a bad thing. NG1 had a lot less emphasis on magic and more on evil fighting. Since there is a pronounced difference, and it is so cheap, treat yourself.

no ;_; "kicking your ass till you get lucky" exactly why i hated DOA4 singleplayer. What happened to Team Ninja?

@ vicedestroyer,

I was asking Muscleblade about the differences between Sigma and Black, but now that you mention it, is there really much difference between regular Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden Black? Enough to justify the price increase on the harder to find NGB? I figured I'd like the definitive version of the game (probably Black, but maybe Sigma if I get a PS3), but if the core game is largely the same maybe I could go for the original at that price.

The negative aspects of the review simply echo a lot of the common complaints made by the more casual gamer about the original Ninja Gaiden: the difficulty level and the camera. As a Ninja Gaiden fan, neither of these issues were ever a major problem for me, so it doesn't dampen my hopes for Ninja Gaiden 2 being another mind-blowing experience.

Also, people that are being influenced (as far as purchasing the game) solely by this review should look around. It's not the only opinion in the world being offered.

Why are people declaring a 7/10 game a 'floppy flop'? I mean, WTF?

Although isn't comment about regardless of honing skills, there are sections where you need a bit of luck, or the AI failing to succeed a bit worrying?

@MrDurandPierre

I own both Sigma and Black. IMO you are far better off getting black - its a far better game. Basically Black is a tweaked version of the original (so the things that were niggly about the original were all fixed). As such its very well balanced.

Sigma on the other hand, doesn't feel as polished. And the levels they added where you play as Rachel are frankly quite poor. I'm actually thinking about trading it to buy NG2 (and I don't usually trade in games).

@MrDurandPierre

The difference between Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden Black is a simple free download. If I remember rightly, there were two add-on packs that you could download that are still available to download now. Obviously, there is no background downloading for Xbox 1 games using your 360, but it's a small price to pay.

There is a bigger difference between Ninja Gaiden/ NG Black and Ninja Gaiden Sigma. But for that you would need a PS3. Look on Amazon, that's where I got my second copy from late last year.

Wonga, did the man in black ass-rape you as a child(just a few years ago of the sounds of it)? Your hate for the game shines thru. It may not be as good as people hoped, but..whats your agenda really? Well, aside from the obvious trolling?

"The negative aspects of the review simply echo a lot of the common complaints made by the more casual gamer about the original Ninja Gaiden: the difficulty level and the camera."

Nah, I thought that at first with this review, but the unfairness clearly is unfair. We're not talking "the better you are, the easier it'll be" stuff here. We're talking completely randomised and unfair circumstances.

That, or the entire review is inaccurate, which I don't think is the case.

I wanted NG2 to be hard. I wanted it to own newbies who can't be arsed to learn the mechanics... but this is too far. Cheating is not an acceptable way of making a game hard, it's lazy.

"Sigma on the other hand, doesn't feel as polished."

Probably because at high res the low quality of the original assets really stands out. Most reviewers (for whatever that's worth) that Sigma is the definitive version of NG but it hasn't exactly aged well (compared to e.g. GoW), which I can confirm. In any version however, you have to deal with Team Ninja's horrible taste and lack of artistic skill.

I do think that fans of the series, and those looking forward to it, are going to find all that they want within this title. A sparkly next gen iteration in the series. The disappointment for them is that there isn't perhaps enough to convert the non-believers so to speak, as a result the 7 seems unjust for those who would like to hold it up as a shining beacon for the series they love. This won't sway the lovers away from the title though, and I bet they won't find disappointment within.

Oof, same score as DMC4.

I hope the next God of War makes a better transition to the new hardware than its Hack 'n Slash action progenitors.

Whatever else, that limb slicing sure does make for some fun screenshots.

I guess a "black" improved version will hit so I might get that. Or the Sigma version on PS4.

Just gave this a shot, and it seems to be the same at 1080i and 720p - still some significant framerate problems in heavy combat scenarios. 1080p is where it gets really nasty - downright unplayable, in places - it's just a slight annoyance at 720p / 1080i. Doesn't seem to be much to choose between the two modes.

Thanks for the follow-up. I'm not particularly technically minded, but I believe 720p and 1080i resolutions take similar amounts of effort to render (1080p is a fair deal more), so that's to be expected, I guess.

The slowdown is a little disappointing seeing as the game doesn't appear to be a massive leap forward visually, but as long as it's not game-breaking I'm sure I can put up with it. The random death and punishing checkpointing I'm not so sure about, I thought we left that school of game design back in the 90s.

sounds like i should try ng black first, which i guess is also for the 360?

"Most reviewers (for whatever that's worth) that Sigma is the definitive version of NG", but the creator himself disagree, as he says "Ninja Gaiden Sigma was no good":

http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2008/05/21/itag...

Further proof that the 360 as a gaming platform is home to a line of mediocre games...

I just sucked that out of my thumb, as a joke if you will.

I will most certainly buy this game sometime in the future.

>"Well a 9 or 10 out of 10 sells alot better than a 7 out of 10"

O'RLY?

Bore of the same then...

Oh and calglon, who says the game is a 7/10? Others rate it higher (9/10), some will rate it even lower (as the previous did). EG isn't the standard of all review scores (even if the quality of the reviews themselves should be the standard).

>"Well if the fans don't buy it up in significant quantities could this be the last in the series? "

Itagaki already said it is.

@miiiguel

The same reviewers that gave GTA IV 10/10,a 20 fps game with same old crappy missions structure.

Is this Xbox 360 exclusive?

Nice to see it all over the front of Eurogamer too.

I don't doubt it'll do well, but it'll be traded in just as quickly.

The Bodybuilder well I can still see it averaging at 7-8 by the impressions so far. I will buy it myself but Im a bit dissapointed that Tecmo and MS seems to have settled for this as the final build where a bit of extra time would have paid off IMO. There might not even be a "black" version if Itagaki really wants to move on to something new straight away.

des, yes, but one can't see GTA as a simple game, it's more like a contemporanean manifesto of urban decay.

I thought that there was no force on earth which could stop me from buying this game day 1. I'm a spectacularly huge fan of the first game (and Black) putting around 200 hours it it. But frame rate issues? Balancing issues? These worry me, and are easily the sort of thing we could expect to see fixed in a Ninja Gaiden Black style update. So now I'll consider holding off on the purchase until such times as I see it for cheap.

Of course if the demo is as good as I thought the game was going to be, then I'll be buying the full game, day 1.

The Bodybuilder, to be honest I find those statements a bit "drama queen'ish"..., same was said for Viva Piņata, even for MGS4 if it didn't get 1 million pre-orders. And, ffs, they keep on doing that voleyball with huge tits thingy...

A bit reality in here, I mean 360 was dead a year ago..., PS3 would never have any games..., Wii was a fad..., doom and gloom, always. Thing is, they keep coming.

Oh dear...not much cop then.

Camera is always an issue in these fast action games. Same in DMC4, although at least you can use the right stick in that instead of the right trigger. Hopefully one day they'll come up with the ultimate solution. I know Dyack has been pimping the Too Human camera, will be interesting to see how that turns out.

Wow, Edge was right.... cancels pre-order.

Cheap Ai and shitty camera, definite 360 thrown out the window if I get this. Might pick it up when it's budget.

Same frustrations.

Fools! They could have made this PERFECT! Balance your game!

Patch it. IDIOTAS!

Mmh. May, the 26th.
Isn't it a bit too early? Wouldn't it be nice if reviewers said in their articles how long did they play the game before having to hastily write the review? Especially in this kind of game where true satisfaction comes from surviving the harder difficulties...
I enjoyed NG1, and having done Master Ninja I can say I have been in Hell and back, but it wasn't a short ride, or something a human could possibly do in, say... one week? Or less? (gasp...)
Of course can't blame the writer about playing times, I know time frames aren't their decision.
Still it's nice to hear a bit about what's wrong in a game before buying it. But this won't change my pre-order of course!

Been playing Onimusha Dawn of Dreams again, just so I could fight Gargant again on level 8. Great boss/ level.

It's like Resident Evil 4 in its continues...die, it asks you 'quit' or 'continue', and you carry on until real life beckons or you win. Save points are generous, and the bosses can be quite tough, but always fair. Having two bosses on the trot is not uncommon.

Why can't NG2 do the same thing? Perhaps the lack of story means they have to bombard you unfairly and ramp up the challenge, otherwise you'd get bored?

So they are frustrated by tough sections of the game and give out about that camera that is manually controlled by you the player. And give it 7/10 for that. . I dont get it.

@itsfuzzy;

Mayhaps, good sir, if you tried to re-read the article again, then you would understand, or as you say, "get it".

I dare say the fault is with you. Alot of other were able to comment successfully w/o looking like morons. tata~

bad year for exclusives, first haze, now this... (ngSigma got the same score hehe)

I'll pass on Itakagi's offering (I was anticipating this but now I'm ignoring the hack & slash genre).. Oh it would be awesome to get a 2D Shinobi remake on the DS!

Ninja Gaiden Black is still game I fondly remember as "hard but fair" and highly rewarding ... gonna buy this for sure.

>"The Bodybuilder, to be honest I find those statements a bit "drama queen'ish"..., "

"drama queenish" from me or from Itagaki?
I'm just repeating what was said, I'm not claiming if it is true or not. In his last interview, he (Itagaki) stated that he wanted NG2 to be the definitive NG (which we now know it isn't) as he didn't feel there was anywhere he could take. He said it may continue, but he most definately won't be involved in it. Pretty fair justification, wouldn't you say?

from Itagaki BB, and some posters, tbh..., most of us thinks a game must sell as much as Halo to be sucessfull which I guess is not true.

And, as far as I'm concerned I see NG games like John Carpenter's movies..., not to be taken that serious, but most times a lot of fun, and pretty hardcore.

This had 7/10 all over.

Anyone thinking a patch will make the game amazing are fooling themselfs.

The game is appealling enough, but it's not worth buying if I won't ever be able to get passed the second level.

Just let us choose a difficulty at the start and be done with it. :p

Only in a place this shitty would some find fault in a fucking seven.

Geeks, damnit.