Ninja Gaiden II sales top 1 million

By Ellie Gibson Published 29 August, 2008

In less than three months since release.

Microsoft has announced that sales of Ninja Gaiden II have topped the 1 million mark.

The Xbox 360 exclusive was released in June. Since then more than 412,000 copies have been shifted in the US alone, racking up USD 25 million in sales.

But is it any good? Yes, in a sort of 7/10 way, reckons our reviewer. It's "the most balletic, explosive combat game we've seen in years", but don't expect it to be as good as the previous game.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (33) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • OllyJ #1 4 years ago

    Nice, now fix it! It's STILL BROKEN!!!

  • Xerx3s #2 4 years ago

    They probably won't as the team is gone and it would take time, money and effort to get a new team to explore all the technicall stuff and then try to fix things.

  • Xnoybis Verified Senior Software Engineer, Holition #3 4 years ago

    Broken isn't a strong enough word for it. Got to be the only game that i've had to repeatedly refund customers for after they complain it's not "fit for purpose", i.e. too buggy to play. Hard to argue with that.

    EDIT: Actually, had the same thing with Two Worlds. Hardly illustrious company.
    Edited by 2 at 29/08/08 @ 12:32

  • johnnybrn #4 4 years ago

    I wouldnt say it's broken just it's hard as nails

  • Yossarian #5 4 years ago

    The fact that I can't upload my karma score and embarrass all but one person on my leaderboard makes me quite angry.

  • el-pimpz #6 4 years ago

    Yeah it would be nice to be able to complete it at some point

  • Quint2020 #7 4 years ago

    Damn good sales for what is a very niche title.

    I think it's a fantastic game, it seems perfectly balanced and "fair" on the first difficulty and I never really even had much of a problem with the camera.

    What would be nice though is if they fixed the bloody auto update because it's been broken for a very unacceptable amount of time.

  • Vice.Destroyer #8 4 years ago

    Well deserved. And glad to see that a huge number of people bought it as well. Certainly one of my top three purchases this year. Haven't touched it since that fateful update was released, might give it a try, but I've only got the inhuman difficulty levels to play.

  • The-Bodybuilder #9 4 years ago

    Your reviewer is a knobhead.
    Oh, and this is fantastic news. The first never hit a mil, but I was sure the second would simply due to so many lesser games on the 360 managing to hit the mark.
    Plus they hardly marketed the game (probably spent it all on halo 3 marketing).

  • berelain #10 4 years ago

    I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent with NG2. It was a week-long rental, but I'm determined to pick the game up at some point since I enjoyed it so much, even though some parts are absurdly unfair.

  • Spanky #11 4 years ago

    I'm sure if we knew what was going to happen with the patches they'd be selling fuck all.

  • ParanoidZombie #12 4 years ago

    My GOTY so far. I know I'm in the minority but i like NG2 better than NGB: faster gameplay, much better weapons, more epic, more gore, but more frame-rate isssues, unfortunately.

  • johnnybrn #13 4 years ago

    I havent patched my NG2, didnt know that I needed to as it plays fine. However I'm picking up on rumblings of problems with the patch. So is it neccesary to patch this game?

  • Ace_McCloud #14 4 years ago

    Sorry, what's the story on the patches? I'm still intending to get this at some point...

  • menage #15 4 years ago

    It's not broken, just cheap as fuck

  • septimus #16 4 years ago

    It helps that it is £15-20 nearly everywhere.

    Pretty good game, still haven't managed to complete it.

  • convercide #17 4 years ago

    @ johnnybrn

    The patch was supposed to help compatibility with the new mission mode, however it seems to make the main game more buggy. It freezes during cutscenes, especially in the later chapters. They actually recommend you leave it unpatched.

  • Ryze #18 4 years ago

    @septimus

    I can't find it in that price range at all. Care to provide a link or some info?

  • Skooch #19 4 years ago

    Good news, game is awesome and properly hard. Managed to complete on the first three difficulties with only "Ridiculously rock-solid hard" left to go.

    If hitting bugs with main game just clear the cache on your Xbox and play offline. Rubbish but a good workaround nonetheless.

    My fave game so far this year...

  • The-Bodybuilder #20 4 years ago

    @ trebell

    As I said, they probably blew thier marketing budget on temporarily owning every single london bus and calling them the "halo bus".
    It still irks me that there was NOT SINGLE TV, CINEMA OR POSTER for Mass Effect.

  • Widge #21 4 years ago

    lol @ coin-op... right in his face

  • johnnybrn #22 4 years ago

    convercide,

    Thanks for the info mate.

    I wont patch the game as I'm half way through

    Woohoo weekend is here

  • muscleblade #23 4 years ago

    Well deserved. Very good game indeed. Not as good as the orignal but still great.

  • ParanoidZombie #24 4 years ago

    FYI, they fixed the game today, with a new update. It works this time, cutscenes no longer freeze.

  • DUFFKING #25 4 years ago

    Shame the original is 10x better in all aspects.

  • byron_hinson #26 4 years ago

    probably being due to it being 19.99 for the past two months

  • patchbox360 #27 4 years ago

    yeah and going back wards through previously played levels and replaying the same bosses twice isnt cheap at all (yes im talking to you Devil May Cry 4)

  • tinners #28 4 years ago

    its unfair but NG black still had a few issues just not as many, still think the combat is way more lavish and exciting, and the fact you dont have to pause for saving or weapons is a great benefit.

  • Stratus #29 4 years ago

    Anyone who really thinks the original NGB is the better game needs to go back and play it again. Man, it feels sooo slow and somewhat well, boring really, compared to NG2.

    Every single weapon in NG2 is incredibly fun to dismember the enemies with. The technigues and move lists are ridiculously awesome considering it's not a boring arena fighter like the patheticly dated Soul Calibur4. Not to mention the new moves lists opened up as you level the weapons.

    As far as the framerate is concerned, with the exception of a ten second glitch on level 2 and the hoffific "chop" of the fight against 200 enemies on the stairs (yeah, 200 appoximate enemies!!) I haven't had any issues at all.

    And yeah, the camera is just fine for the most part for me. Easily better than the first as the sensitivity of the "rotational" camera can be set as high as you wish (unlike the still static after all these years DMC4, shudder!) Never even finished that one.

    If you aren't CAPABLE of finishing NG2 on Path of the Warrior then odds are you are not an old school gamer who remembers when games actually were a real challenge. FWIW, I broke two controllers playing NGB (whilst drinking mind you) and yet managed to complete NG2 without ever feeling the sense of rage that I felt trying to beat Alma in the original.

    It is without any doubt the most intense, visceral, ridiculously violent, addictive fighting game in history. NG2 is my personal GOTY.

    EDIT: I also do not recommend the update. It's better than the first patch but still freezes occasionally at a cut scene, just after you beat that really hard boss after several tries...
    Edited by 1 at 29/08/08 @ 17:52

  • Feanor #30 4 years ago

    I'll get the PS3 version with the better camera.

  • ParanoidZombie #31 4 years ago

    @stratus: agreed. I love the stairs part, btw. On mentor, they're packed with dozens of zombie incendiary shuriken ninjas, it's totally insane. I had multiple gore-gasms while playing this part.
    About the update, are you refering to today's update? it seems to work just fine on my x360, and I checked every faulty cutscene i could remember (missions 10, 12, 13 and 14).

  • Skooch #32 4 years ago

    @ Coin-Op

    I love NG2 and have played through it three times, but your arguments are a little blinkered, IMO. The game is intended to be played with the latest patch and I personally got prevented from continuing any further on the last level in the tunnel going to the High Priest as it was crashing on a cut-scene - for those less-hardcore gamers who don't know how to clear their cache, or what a cache even is, this is a game-breaker.
    The 7/10 Eurogamer review is taking into consideration the appalling 'storyline' (if you can call it that), the not-quite-perfect camera (auto-locking onto main enemies when you are trying to defeat a more minor one) and the linearity of the gameplay. I would also say that NG2 can be rather unfair in places, for instance the need to block after defeating the flaming armadillo is a complete surprise and there is no way to predict that blocking is necessary. There are also some frustrating save points and it is possible to die after defeating a mini-boss only to be put back to have to fight it again.

    It is still my favourite game this year and I rate it extremely highly but it isn't perfect by any means.

  • muscleblade #33 4 years ago

    "Anyone who really thinks the original NGB is the better game needs to go back and play it again. Man, it feels sooo slow and somewhat well, boring really, compared to NG2"

    Well i did and you have a point. The original had better bossfights though (exept for Alma).