Ninjas and blood, what's not to like?
The game starts out in a pseudo-futuristic Japan where CIA agent Sonia is searching for Ryu at Muramasa's shop to help put a stop to the Spider Ninja Clan. The shop is subsequently attacked and Sonia is taken, shortly before Ryu's arrival. Enter Ryu: Ryu Hayabusa. Badass incarnate. Master of ninjitsu and all forms of weaponry. It appears this time Genshin from the evil Spider Ninja Clan is bringing a world of hurt on the world by attempting to resurrect the Archfiend! It's up to Ryu to slice and dice his way through a horde of unfriendly ninjas, demons, and fiends and put a stop to this travesty.
The game takes you through a visual splendor of blood-splattering, limb-flinging, head-exploding, visceral rage. Ryu has a vast array of weaponry at his fingertips as you progress through the game, and with every gruesome hit you make increases the golden orbs you receive (currency in this game), which allows you to upgrade your weaponry even further for even MORE ninja beat down. There are a myriad of moves you can use with every weapon which ensures you mastery of every weapon in this game will take some time. Fans of other fast paced action games such as God of War should enjoy this game thoroughly.
As stated previously, I hadn't played a Ninja Gaiden game since the original on Nintendo, so the difficulty was pretty intense for someone like me. Newcomers be wary. I had a very difficult time beating the game on Acolyte (the lowest setting). Despite the intense challenges, it's still a very fun game worthy of playing. One item in particular that really let me beat the game with relative ease was the eclipse scythe. This thing does MASSIVE damage and really makes boss fights a cinch as soon as you figure out their patterns.
My largest gripe with NGII was the camera. I was constantly fiddling with the right joy stick to redirect the camera, and even after I fixed it, it wouldn't stay. Ryu has a tendency to jump around a lot in battle and fly across the room hitting different enemies around him so the camera often ends up with you looking at a box or a wall. If you can look past the troublesome camera, however, you're left with a very solid action experience with tons of gruesome attacks and techniques. The game plays very fluidly and only noticed lag in one spot in the game… I won't spoil it but you'll know why. Let's just say you have to cut a lot of people up. A LOT.
Audio was above par. Combat sounds were great. Clashing of swords, howls of pain, explosions… All sounded wonderful. Most of the character acting, however, was pretty pitiful and the music was downright awful. But because most of the time you're fighting, you really only hear the good stuff.
Overall I'd say this game is a "must play". It has some very exciting action, fantastic visuals, and is just downright fun. Newcomers expect a steep learning curve and challenging experience. Definitely rent this if not buy.