Steep difficulty distracts most reviewers from the apparant action purist's masterpiece in front of them....until now!
Generally people dislike the difficulty called "unfair" and the camera. I've detirmined, however, that it is simply a steep learning curve that turns people off. The reason for this is that NG veterans who were allready used to this game's overall system love the game and are not bothered by the camera or the difficulty in the least. These individuals in fact don't find the game cheap at all but incredibly fun.
First all talk about the gameplay. The meat and potatoes of any game are found in whether the proper play yields entertainment. NG does in an incredible way. Ordinarily I would be getting furious at a game that made me die 100 times when im barely a quarter through it( that was me on warriror :). Thing is I wasn't mad because the gameplay is so fun I was not put off by dying and playing again. The combat is SOOO fun that the game has reduced me in a way to being the defensive girlfriend in an abusive relationship. The game constantly punishes me but is so good that I find myself blaming myself and not the game!" I am aware of this and not minding because it is simply that good. I was at first skeptical about being able to do obliteration techniques or ultimate techniques without essence but the ramped up speed, quantity of enemies, brutal AI and overall difficulty serves as a completely fitting justification. Not to mention also the joy of seeing all of this unfold on screen as your super powerful ninja lays waste to legions of smart, deadly adversaries.
The story was remaniscant to me of Diablo 2. *slight spoiler* it involves the protaganist chasing an enemy who is traveling the world waking sleeping demons and confronting challenges found allong the way. The story is unduly criticized. First off this is because the joy in this game is found in the momment not in the realization of world events in the game. You are too busy trying to stay alive to mind yourself with cutscenes and backstory. That being said the cutscenes are still really good. Just not Hollywood material. That's OK because Hollywood expects the viewer to be simply that. A viewer. If you are sitting still for half an hour and a half then the story better be imaculate. If you are participating in epic standoffs the entire time its the action itself that takes center stage. So while the story was not the greatest I feel the context of this game's style makes the story far less neccessary then say Metal Gear which relies on story because it lacks decent action.
The environments are somtimes terrific and occasionally not that good. This never mattered to me that much again because even if they are only slightly better then NGB I remember that game being way ahead of it's time.
The sound is decent. A little more variation in the score would be apreciated, however, the music available is good enough to where this is not a major drawback.
The weapons are VERY fun and a good incentive to scour every corner of the environment so you don't miss out on the dismemberment!
If you are a fan of NG you will likely immediately hail this a worthy sequel and amazing game. If you are new you will likely die lots of times before getting to the goods and this may turn you off before you get good enough. For that and the environments I give it 9.5 instead of 10.0
Bottom line is that if you are a NGB veteran and especially one that played the original NES games you are likely to apreciate this game as a 9.5 - 10.0. Thing is these games even since their early counterparts are classically difficult games. Let's just say it's no Wii title that will be easily picked up, loved and just as quickly forgotten. NG takes work to learn but once you are past that difficulty you will find fun that lasts a long time. Most reviewers make a mainstream slant to their reviews so that they may be alligned with the least common denominator and therefore deamed credible by the most ammount of people. Because of this they will allways take points away for games that are insanely difficult to learn. This, however, does not make this game any less of a masterpiece. It was made to satisfy fans and it does what it intended beatifully!
So I guess the question we all want to ask here is whether a sequel ought to be made for new fans or for the original ones. Itagaki's so-called mistake was in making something that the older fans would adapt more quickly too and new fans would be turned off.
From the gamer's perspective obviously a game ought to be somehow true to it's roots. What I mean by that is that while inovation is paramount there still needs to be certain things present to make it feel like this game is a part of the same family that it's predececors came from.