A gruesome, bloody game that will keep you occupied for a while with its...brutality.
Anyways, I love this game. I was always interested in the Ninja Gaiden series, having played Ninja Gaiden on the NES, then Ninja Gaiden for the XBox. Ninja Gaiden II is a great game as well, but it's not without its own flaws as well.
Story - This is one of NGII's weak points, but it really doesn't affect the overall game. It's a pretty stupid idea to try to play this game for its story, as it's far superior gameplay more than makes up for it. Essentially, it starts off as a CIA agent, Sonia, comes to Muramasa's shop to search for our lovable hero, Ryu Hayabusa. However, she's abducted by ninjas before Ryu arrives, so he goes to save her. Once she's saved, Ryu quests through 14 chapters of awesome, brutal slaughter to defeat demons called Fiends and eventually defeat the Archfiend. Like I said before, the story's really not that good, but the cutscenes are always nice to watch.
Gameplay - Here we are, the core of the game. Like the previous games, Ryu has a plethora of weapons to wield in order to completely butcher his enemies and make blood flow throughout the streets. The (True) Dragon Sword naturally makes a return and will remain one of Ryu's most balanced and versatile weapons. The Vigoorian Flails also make a return as a great crowd clearing weapon. The other weapons that you obtain include, but are not limited to, the Falcon's Talons, which equip Ryu with claws and foot blades for excellent melee combat, and the Eclipse Scythe, an obscenely powerful weapon that butchers everything easily. With these and even more weapon options to choose from, you won't get bored with the combos and different ways to mutilate the baddies. You also have your secondary weapons (basic Shuriken, Fiend Bane Bow, and Incendiary Shuriken) and Ninpo, which are special magic attacks that have different effects. For example, Art of the Inferno targets one enemy and torches him into oblivion, and Art of the Wind Blades shoots blades of air in the direction you're facing to chop off limbs of any enemy in the way.
A new feature that will make you cream your pants is the Obliteration Technique. Remember how Ultimate Techniques were always the greatest was to kill your enemies in Ninja Gaiden? Although they do make a pleasant return nonetheless, you now also have Obliteration Techs to work with. In NGII, enemies will constantly go after you, even after losing a limb, so you need to destroy them completely before they stop coming after you, which is where the Obliteration Tech comes in. All you need to do is rush to an enemy that lost a limb or more and press the Strong Attack button, which will result in Ryu massacring the individual in a pleasantly gory technique. Use these in conjunction with Ultimate Techs to wipe the floor with your enemies.
Battles in NGII naturally have some distinctions that separate it from previous NG games. One of these is that, unlike in Ninja Gaiden, where you only had to worry about three or four enemies at a time at most, you're going to quickly notice that you're constantly swarmed with 7+ enemies at a time with nearly every encounter. Another thing you'll notice is how the camera isn't exactly good. No matter how good you are at positioning it, you're going to get hit by plenty of off-screen projectiles at one point or another. The camera is one of the weak points of the game that you'll have to live with, but you'll get used to it eventually.
Of course, you'll still be able to run on walls and flip around like crazy, just like a...ninja. The dodge roll unfortunately didn't make a return and you'll instead be given a dash movement as a dodge instead of a roll. The dash isn't quite as useful as the roll was, but it still doesn't change the fact that it helps in avoiding enemies at critical times.
Graphics - You can't really expect anything bad about the graphics. Ninja Gaiden II looks absolutely superb with its cutscenes, battles...everything. It helps for limbs and blood to be flying around in a graphically pleasing fashion.
Glitches - Now, here's something that was discovered not long after the game came out. Team Ninja didn't manage to fix some glitches in the game before release, so they didn't get rid of stuff like bosses getting stuck in walls or groups of enemies not appearing when they should, therefore making you unable to progress throughout the game. Although I, and many others, haven't encountered glitches yet, there are still plenty of people that have encountered several glitches that are either minor and don't affect the game or are bad enough to make them restart the game (Crap, I just lost The Game). There's a higher chance you won't come across these than you will, but it's definitely worth a mention if you want this game.
So there you have it, a general outlook into Ninja Gaiden II, although I still haven't mentioned several other mechanics and whatnot. If you're a fan of the Ninja Gaiden series, I say that this game is definitely worth a try. You'll definitely get a kick out of it. Not only that, but if you're as desensitized as I am, this game will bring plenty of laughs as well. Also get this game if you want something that ISN'T a game that button mashing will get you through easily. Button mashing results in a harder time than learning combos and using them well.