A challenging, exciting, genre-defining action game that's a constant rush from start to finish.
Black chronicles the adventures of Ryu Hayabusa as he faces the demon hordes of the evil Great Disciple, gets revenge for the destruction of his village, and fights to find the evil Dark Dragon Blade that Hayabusa Village once defended.
Granted, I haven't played the original Ninja Gaiden, so I can't necessarily outline the changes or improvements made upon the game. However, I can certainly enthusiastically praise this game solely for the experience I have had with it. This game can be compared to the likes of twitch action games such as Devil May Cry and Contra in that when action ensues, it uppercuts you in the face with it's sickeningly fast-paced combat that incorporates more than just attacking, blocking, and dodging.
While the gameplay does offer adventure elements with it's large, lush environments that sometimes require you to find various keys or items; luckily that doesn't last very long before an orgy of enemies tries to totally rip your face off. The beauty in Black's combat system is that it's incredibly deep. Although you have to press buttons extremely fast, you never feel like you're simply mashing buttons. One different directional press or timed button press ultimately varies your combos greatly, while at the same time keeping the action coherent. With a wide selection of weapons, such as a ninja sword, the dragon sword; a willow staff, the lunar; a large berserker sword, the Dabilahro; and many others; each with their own sets of combos, attack speeds, and weights; the combat feels extremely varied.
Besides the combat itself, playing as Ryu Hayabusa makes you feel like a ninja straight from the dreams of Robert Hamburger. Running on walls, flipping jumps, flying kicks, running on water, jumping on enemies heads while leaving a translucent image of yourself, and rushing into an enemy effectively chopping their heads off feel incredibly satisfying. While playing this game, you will get incredibly pumped from the immersive nature of Ryu's repitoire of moves and techniques; as you will feel like a true ninja fighting the demons of Tairon.
The amazingly varied and well-implemented combat system is complemented by some of the greatest enemy-AI of any game. Enemies are fast, brutal, and react accordingly to your actions. All of your adversaries have techniques to fight you both at close- and long-range, and will not hesitate to use them. They also employ techniques of attacking in large groups, all without slowdown on the game's part. The sheer challenge presented by both the regular enemies and bosses will make some poser-gamers wince, while giving a rush to those who know how to play their cards right. The game effectively teaches you to gradually phase in blocking and dodge-rolls with the increasing difficulty throughout the game's various chapters to those who are used to going into head-on conflicts. This experience as defensive as it is offensive.
Graphically, the game is absolutely gorgeous. Character models move extremely fluidly, enemies look incredibly intimidating, lighting and shadow effects are utilized frequently and wonderfully; and the environments are lush, large, and incredibly detailed. The physics of interactive objects in the environment and of enemies in combat, while definitely exaggerated, look wonderful and give the game a suiting surreal feel. The cutscenes in the game, especially ones toward the end, are rendered absolutely stunningly, truly showing that Team Ninja can rival Square's mastery of CGI.
In addition to the amazing detail put into the character models and environments them self, the game suffers from no real technical flaws. The frame-rate chugs at a steady 60-fps unless a crowd of more than 12 large enemies show up, slowing the game down almost unnoticeably. Complementing the frame rate is the extremely far draw distance of backgrounds, very short load times during environment transitions, and a lack of clipping. Aesthetically, this game is essentially perfect in every way imaginable.
Black doesn't slack in the sound department either. With it's diverse soundtrack, extremely fitting and well-performed voiceovers (The english ones are another story though, stick with the Japanese ones), and intense sound effects, this game does not disappoint. The soundtrack ranges from orchestraic classical, to bumpin' techno, to wailing electric guitars; with each style fitting the diverse situations and sequences present throughout the game. With a good system that supports Dolby 5.1 surround, the game feels as you're wrecking demons with swipes of your sword.
The sound effects of the game are truly some of the most realistic you'd hear in a game of such a surreal nature. The sword swipes, clashes, and demon screeches all make you as the player truly feel as if you are, in fact, Ryu Hayabusa. It's truly a wonder how the programmers of the game were able to record these sounds without actually hunting demons with melee weapons themselves.
With every seemingly perfect game, there are always at least one or two noticeable flaws. In Black's case, it's its price. Although there's a ton of additional content added onto the original game, such as extra difficulty levels, costumes, enemies, and modes; I personally believe the price is too high. While the price is fine for those who haven't experienced Ninja Gaiden, it's high for those who already own the original. The dilemma is simply that there's too much extra content and improvements to the original for this edition to be ignored, but the price point seems like this is simply being milked on the part of Tecmo; as this game could have easily been $19.99.
Besides this minor flaw, I believe Ninja Gaiden is the closest gaming experience to perfection available on the Xbox. The extremely deep and challenging combat is very rewarding and exciting; IT WILL truly get you PUMPED. To even have to elaborate any more on how absolutely epic this game is would be insulting to Tecmo. Buy this game. Now. Seriously.