You call yourself a ninja and can`t even do a double jump?
...before I start whining about whatever the hell I can, the storyline summary comes first. So, the main character, the super ninja Ryu Hayabusa is training in the hills with his uncle (if you can call `slicing up hostile ninjas who try to do the same with you and nearly killing your beloved relative` a training exercise) when the 14 year old (at least according to the manual) sexy jailbait Ayane (the one from Dead or Alive series) informs Ryu that his village is under attack by... ninjas! (Oddly enough, Hayabusa village is a ninja village who should be able to protect itself) Naturally Ryu rushes back and finds his home destroyed, his relatives - killed. But not only that - the Dark Dragon Blade, an ancient weapon guarded by Hayabusa clan, the cause/source/bringer of all evil - war, starvation, suffering and bad breath - has been stolen. Failed to carry his only reason of existence, that is not letting his village got burned down, his relatives - killed and Dark Dragon blade stolen, Ryu decides to go on a bloody revenge against... well, who the hell knows. After receiving a vague hint from his uncle, Ryu sets out for a trip to Vigoor Empire - a small nation, which, naturally, contains all the evil of Universe. However Ayane`s mission is not over - she, as a REAL ninja, that is, without uncontrollable violent issues, follows Ryu and supports him with various mostly useless hints while staying off-screen except the cutscenes.
A few chapters later, we`re introduced with the tragic heroine Rachel - bondage loving, supersized breast and war hammer wielding babe. She is a Fiend hunter (a.k.a. demon killer) who is trying to track down her sister - a very powerful fiend, and kill her. (Seriously, what`s up with all them? I understand you might want to kill a family member, but these guys need a therapist, not a gigant blade.) Ryu`s and Rachel`s paths cross, but don`t expect any drama, because, even if there is some, the amazing breast physics engine makes Rachel`s massive melons to swing around by the slightest movement and... err, I mean.... oh, forget it.
I guess I don`t have to say that the storyline is pretty weak, but you can still amuse yourself by finding pop culture references - yes, you run from a huge boulder and pick up the Holy Grail, there`s a villain who looks and sounds like Darth Vader, and guess what, his boss is called the Emperor. Weather it is a clever hint or a coincidence, that doesn`t help the game`s design much. The game starts in something like Feudal Japan, then Ryu is on a flying ship, lands on 18th century-styled city which has tanks, choppers and automatic guns and visits underground tunnels which recreate... Ancient Egyptian temple. Mixing architecture and cultures is nothing new in gaming, but since majority of events Ninja Gaiden Sigma takes place in a single region, it makes me think that designers simply read a bunch of books and took out whatever seemed `cool`. It would be ridiculous to think about any character development after what I just wrote, and it`s right, because the manual is where it ends. All you need to know about the characters is in that small booklet which comes along with the game. Heck, I wouldn`t even know Ryu`s uncle`s or maids`s (who got, lets see, 2 seconds of screen time?) names or who they actually are. I hear many claim the plot to be the weakest point of Ninja Gaiden. Nonononono my friends, the WEAKEST point is the most celebrated one... gameplay!
So, what can a mad ninja do? Anything what a real ninja wouldn`t! We get a lot of hacking and slashing, wall running, puzzle solving and viewing `Game Over` screen. OK, H&S first. In the first level we`re already facing, well, not really hordes, but a good bunch of savage ninjas with very violent intentions. The difficulty skyrockets and every single second is a furious fight for survival. Getting used to controls is nothing difficult, but mastering them is. Basically there are three types of attack - light and strong melee offense and a projectile strike. Naturally, light attacks are faster and does less damage, the heavy ones - slower and more devastating ones. By chaining these attacks, Ryu executes combos which are crucial if you seriously consider killing somebody. Ranged weaponry are more like support, so is the local magic - Ninpo. Ninpo is unlocked by finding spell scrolls, however they are generic beyond belief and do surprisingly low damage, so relying on them is no option. Throughout his adventure Ryu will find or buy a pretty impressive arsenal of sharp, blunt, explosive and simply awesome weapons. From your trusty Dragon Sword to dual katanas, from nunchuks to fighting sticks. Each weapon has different combo set, attack speed and feel to it, except nunchuks and flails, which are practically identical. Projectiles are mostly shurikens and bows, however they are fun to use even if they don`t really help much. For some reason the Ninja Honor Codex doesn`t allow to use automatic guns. Now, what is that supposed to mean? Is this still Middle Ages or something? Melee weapons can be upgraded in shops, also you can buy potions, weapons or accessories which enhance certain Ryu`s skills very slightly.
What Ninja Gaiden Sigma has a lot to give you is enemies. Ninjas, demons, dinosaurs and robots with giant freakin` lazors all share the same vision seeing you dead. They have their own special attacks and weaknesses that need to be studied if you don`t want to see that `Ha ha, you lose` screen all over again. Slicing things feels fun as long as long as you`re doing it right however it feels really stupid to fight fire spitting devils on the street. If somebody needs an aestheticism lesson, its the designers.
There are boss battles and plenty. They all test your skills to the limit, however they repeat at times and feel quite generic. In most games we are allowed to more or less experiment with bosses, however the lousy placed save points are too far from where the battle actually is, so if you die, expect some tedious running back to the fight. Plus bosses tend to be unfairly hard just because they are big and bad.
To change the pace, there are various platforming sections. Ryu can run alongside walls or push against the wall to jump higher. Platforming is closely tied with puzzles. Most of them require boring key finding, however there are some truly spectacular quests that require improvisation with your trusty bow. Curiosity is also rewarded – looking in corners or difficult-to-reach places mostly award you with a potion or some other precious junk.
Rachel has only three chapters, but it`s okay. She has only her war hammer and the completely useless whip-type weapon. Despite her being much slower, yet stronger than Ryu, fighting fiends is somehow easier and I did enjoy her chapters.
Sounds good, doesn`t it? Yes, Ninja Gaiden can be fun... as long as you don`t get your sorry ass kicked by an average enemy. Why? Well, the thing is that some smartass decided to use the same buttons to do various actions at once. Square, which is responsible for light attack, also is used to open chests and doors. Such an idiotic choice leads to many awkward moments when Ryu attacks door or locks onto enemy instead opening a chest. Ninpo powers can be used pressing Triangle and Circle at the same time, which is even more idiotic. Ryu either will use heavy or projectile attack, what can really piss off, especially in difficult boss fights. Hello, R2 and L3 are used for NOTHING! Most well thought-out action game my ass. Even more - sometimes attacks don`t connect with enemies. Imagine you`re standing next to a boss and instead of finally killing him, your mighty sword just cuts thin air. Lock-on is also a disaster. You`ll be often missing while attacking from air or, while surrounded, Ryu will simply turn away from the enemy you were slicing and try to reach another one you weren`t even looking at, often resulting in very painful and stupid death. The other thing is about movement. Controls can`t decide weather you want to do a wall run or simply run up to a ledge. Also, Ryu is too fast for his own good - doing precise jumps is a real pain since you`ll be down the cliff even before you realize you got to hit the jump button.
What deserves an entire paragraph is the camera. Thankfully, fixed and static camera angles are rarely present, but what we DO have is uncontrollable and very free camera. Now, don`t get me wrong - you can still manipulate the point of view with right stick, but it still sucks. First, while running, the camera zooms far out behind the character, which makes difficult to see a thing behind Ryu`s back and makes the platforming part incredibly frustrating. Secondly, while in combat, camera shows the enemy more than the character itself. It tends to result in getting your ass kicked somewhere behind the screen or those faulty lock-ons I already mentioned. But the worst case is in boss fights. Camera is centered on the boss, so it is difficult to tell weather you`re close enough to hit or evade attack. This all makes the battles twice as harder, because you`re fighting the enemy and the camera simultaneously. A small annoyance is using the bow. You see, when holding the Circle and moving left stick, camera goes into first-person perspective, what lets you aim more precise, however won`t let you move! As you might guess, in such a fast paced action game, it makes you a sitting duck. Was it really that difficult to make dual stick movement?
What Ninja Gaden is also famous for is the excessive difficulty. No, that`s not the word. Unfair and cheap would fit so much better. Enemies are designed to be flawless - they block your attacks with greatest ease and break your defense without taking a sweat. Their special attacks are simply laughable, for example, ninjas who throw around exploding shurikens like some goddamn knife juggler clowns - nobody explains how to evade them and you just end up being blown up and knocked to the ground to await further beating, because you couldn`t even prepare a block! There are many frustrating and unfair situations like that when the enemy will simply spam the same attacks without giving you a chance, but it all seems meaningless when boss fights start. They are fast. They are strong. And they cheat like hell! Expect to receive severe beatings because of their unavoidable and often unpredictable attacks. Discovering boss weak spot normally takes little time, however the more you are closing to victory, the less they will expose their weaknesses, which is simply cheap. There is no balance. There are no deliberative tactics. There is just you, annoyment and a lot of swearing.
If there is something else left to bash, it`s the level design. It`s fine for the most part, however there are various maze-like levels what take forever to finish. Constant requirement of finding detours and collecting numberless keys also get on the nerves. There is massive amount of backtracking, especially in Rachel`s chapters (actually those are exactly the same places Ryu visits, just with different items and enemies), however in the last levels you can revisit almost any area you have previously been to, which is a neat idea.
NGS is definetly not the most complete version of the trilogy of the same game. There is no original NES Ninja Gaiden Trilogy, nor the Ninja Gaiden Arcade game, less outfits and, for some reason, the opening movie is removed. Not enough space on Blu-Ray? All we get is a reharsal of previous levels just with different enemies, called `Mission mode`. Also, starting a new game won`t allow to carry over weapons from previous playthrough, but that`s not really that terrible.
Ninja Gaiden Sigma is not exactly how a next-gen game should look. It does run in smooth 60 frames per second, however many textures beg for more polygons and character models are nothing compared to any other PlayStation 3 title that came out in 2007. Shadows are also not done accurately (I say that because that was specially mentioned on the back of the CD case) and levels could have loaded much faster. Heck, there even are loadings IN the middle of some levels. What is there to load? Blood splatter is faulty at times, for example it`s possible to see where the invisible walls are when blood splatters on a surface where a gap is supposed to be. It looks pretty lame. Despite that, I was staring at the beautiful landscape in Ch. 1, moonlit bridge in Ch. 2 and storm in Ch. 3 etc. etc. for quite a time. Special effects were pretty cool too but they should have ditched those absurd breast physics. Seriously, it`s pretty distracting. However if pre-rendered cinematics, which looked kickass in 2004, now feel a little dark and blurry. Still, Ninja Gaiden Sigma looks good. Nothing I`d take my hat off to, but still good.
Sound design is fine, however I think that they should have re-recorded most of the `huff`, `cling` and `bang` type-ish sounds, because some of them were medium quality, however it can only be noticed by people with sensitive hearing (like me). Voice acting is as corny as it gets but you can choose from the original Japanese cast, however I didn`t fell any necessity to do so. Music is mixed reactions. Beautiful, traditional melodies co-exist with cheap, looping drum & bass tracks but were very few tracks I actually disliked.
To sum it up, Ninja Gaiden Sigma is a remake of a remake of a mediocre game. All the time I was playing the game, it felt more like going through a very unrewarding and painful exercise. This overrated, cheap, and frustrating title is definitely not what I`d call a classic, and if it wouldn`t be presented as God`s gift to gamers, Ninja Gaiden Sigma might get a higher grade from me.