Do you like difficult games?
What I want to convey to you about this game is how difficult it is. It's not challenging, it's difficult. In my mind those are two completely different things when your talking about a game.
The game is way too difficult at times. You'll be doing fine then all of a sudden the game cranks it up to 11. This uneven curve is one of the most apparent signs of bad game design. Thats right it is bad game design. Because had the game had a normal flow, I would have given it a 9.5 but as it is it's too damn tedious to want to play through a second time.
It often feels, even though you controls are developed very nicely, the games is holding you back from truely taking the enemies on. Also, these enemies are very cheap. You'll guard yourself only to have someone grab you anyway and slice into you. What the hell is that? You are a ninja on alert facing the enemy who does this while your guard is up. Not cool.
I recommend only hardcore action fans who can get over the steep difficulty that rears its head up ever now and again. As for myself and anyone else, just play Devil May Cry over.