User Rating: 8.3 | Ninja Gaiden XBOX
By Greydawg | Review Date:
Bad camera, but decent gameplay and gorgeous graphics make this game a must-rent for many, but a must-buy for some. I feel like I have to start with the graphics because it's definitely the game's strongest suit. The environments, enemies, and animations all help give the game a unique style, although not entirely unique. There are definite similarities to games like Prince of Persia: TSOT and Devil May Cry, but they both had their own visual style as well. It's to be expected in a game that is meant to look "super-real", like a very exaggerated version of a real-life setting rather than a completely different style from reality, such as Viewtiful Joe or Zelda's Wind Waker. The graphical effects in the game can make things that move fast actually LOOK like they more just as fast if not even faster, making your character feel a bit more like a super hero than a ninja (but that's not bad). From decapitating your foes to running along walls, everything at least LOOKS seamless. But seamlessness is not the case in parts of the gameplay. In POP: TSOT, I felt like the control scheme allowed me to do whatever I wanted to do whenever I wanted to do it. But I find that in Ninja Gaiden I'll be trying to run up a wall and instead run along it and fall somewhere I don't want to go. Sure, if you take an extra second you can always get to where you need to go, however the action in the game is so fast-paced that you never really get an extra moment to position yourself or to realize that the move you want to do won't execute from where you are. If you're trying to get into an advantageous position in a room full of enemies, just a slight miscalculation in your placement relative to a wall can either mean gaining the upper hand or jumping into a trap. And that happens a lot because there is never just ONE enemy on the screen. If there is, it's because you just whipped twelve other guys and left him standing to toy with. I don't like this aspect of the game. The enemies do seem to have minds of their own (good AI), but the presentation is definitely repetitive. Guys will jump out from wall panels, drop from the ceiling, or spring from around a corner, but NEVER alone! They ALWAYS seem to know you're coming, so the only real element of surprise is on their behalf. I liked the style in Tenchu of using at least SOME stealth and surprise. In my opinion, Tenchu makes you feel more like a ninja, while Ninja Gaiden makes you feel more like a badass uber-hero. Now, I do understand this is meant to be an action game rather than a stealth game, but the enemy AI is seemingly so complex that every enemy does feel like a definite threat. The fact that you always face 3 or more at a time feels like it underestimates the importance and power of an individual enemy. The bottom line is there's not much variety in the way the enemies become dangerous. I would have liked to see a random ninja every now and then just waiting to have his head lobbed off from behind, or to be able to drop an explosive arrow on a group of 5 or more unsuspecting enemies, at least to add a little more depth and variety. The sound is certainly not bad, but there is so much action in this game that some of the same sounds will eventually become repetitive just by the nature of the game. If you pay attention, there are an awful lot of different sounds, albeit many of them sounding similar. The ambient noise and music do help give the game more energy and character, and don't distract from the action itself. The music will always remind you that this is a game that focuses on action rather than level exploration or stealth. Oh, and I LOVE the sound of bloodspray. After all, who doesn't?!?! The controller setup is fairly simple, but the controls themselves are incredibly vast. Your character can perform so many different attacks and combos with so many TRULY different weapons that I think this is what makes the game seem less than repetitive for many who have enjoyed the game. You can just jump in and start kicking tail, but if you want to master the controls, it's going to take a LOT of practice, patience, and diligence. This does add a lot of depth and some more playability to the game as a whole--if Ryu's attacks were more random, the sense of accomplishment wouldn't be so great. When you get in-tune and destroy a group of enemies using all the moves you intended to, there is a definite sense of achievement, and most importantly, a sense of FUN. Reflexes play a role in this game like nothing I've ever seen before. There may be strategies for defeating your enemies, but none of those strategies are as simple as just running and slashing, so the game itself encourages ingenuity on the fly. The level design does focus more on action rather than exploration. In fact, there isn't TOO much exploration in the game. I would have liked to see more exploration elements, but that's a personal opinion. There are always walls to bounce and attack from rather than walls leading to higher ground from which you can attack with an advantage. Most of the areas you'll be fighting in will either be a room or feel like a room. In other words, the sky and the path might be open, but you'll be doing your fighting in areas that always have at least two walls you can use. To me, it feels like running from one wrestling mat to the next in a world full of them. The walls, though, play an absolutely crucial role in your attack patterns as well as your defense. Some of the strongest attacks come from jumping off walls, thus encouraging the player to use the walls, but more specifically to use Ryu's abilities as a ninja, giving the game that much more style. The camera? Yeah, it sucks. SUUUUUUURE, you CAN get used to it. In fact, you'll have to. But in a game that's filled with so many options, upgrades, and techniques, it's just strange that there isn't more refinement in the camera system. It hinders sometimes, but it also helps sometimes as well. If you ask me, the camera system from Tenchu could have been melted in with some of the camera features in Ninja Gaiden, and the result would have been a camera system that most people wouldn't think twice about. I'm not saying the camera is awful, but with so many abilities in the game and the fact that Ryu moves around the screen like a rabbit on crack (so fast sometimes he'll even be off-screen momentarily), it's just annoying to have such little control over the camera when you feel like you have so much control over your character. The camera literally becomes part of your strategy in and of itself, which, if you ask me, shouldn't be so big a part of your strategy in such an action-packed game. I do want to also point out that most action games are the kind you can pick up, play for a while, and put down. I like games like that since I work a lot and can't spend 40 hours a week playing games (as much as I might like to). But Ninja Gaiden is not that kind of an action game. The save points are few and far-between, but the main concern is that this game takes a lot of precision and learning of the moves to just be able to pick it up every couple of days and hope to get through it without failing more times than succeeding. In other words, if you want to really enjoy this game, let alone get from point A to point B, you'll have to spend more time with it every time you play than with most action games. I've heard people say that POP:TSOT doesn't have much in common with the strategy in Ninja Gaiden, but I disagree. If you played through all of POP:TSOT, the enemies do require strategy, and collecting their essence takes timing and thought sometimes. I only use this as a point of reference, because if you liked putting thought and effort into the fighting in POP, then you're likely to enjoy the whole Ninja Gaiden game. One of my favorite points about the game that makes it that much more "special" as I've seen is that people play it very differently. If you've ever played the Tony Hawk series or a fighting game with your friends, you can easily notice how different people play such games with their own style. It's been fun to just WATCH other people play this game and to see them solve the same problems in different ways with their own unique strategy for kicking butt. Personally, I exploit the unlimited shurikens--launching four of them in a split second is not only totally awesome, but fitting for an anime-style of a ninja I've always relished. But I have a friend who has yet to press the red button as far as I can tell, and yet he's getting through the game and having as much fun as I have had. In closing, this game is definitely fun, but it's not perfect. I can, however, understand how some people might like to consider this a perfect game. The mediocre camera system shouldn't take too much away from the fact that the game is gorgeous and plays great, but whatever you do, don't let anyone convince you that the camera system is the best it could be. I would recommend this game to people who loved playing games such as Max Payne, Rygar, Devil May Cry, MAYBE Prince of Persia, or James Bond:Everything or Nothing. This game is certainly NOT for everyone, and many people will hate playing it (but perhaps love watching it). If you're a gaming purist, looking for a new challenge, or you just want to be in on what everyone else will be talking about for the next couple of months, this is your game. If you spend less than 5 hours a week playing games, or you thought Tenchu was flawless and POP:TSOT was too difficult, or if you don't like being a part of anything with a lot of hype and popularity surrounding it, well, maybe you should rent it. Good luck trying to find a copy to rent though...

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