Genre: Action / Hack’n slash

Ninja Gaiden 2 maintains its hard difficulty level and satisfying gameplay, however the severe technical flaws prevent it from being as good as its predecessor.

Gameplay

This is the game’s strength and one where the game really shines. It should be noted however that the game is not meant for the casual gamer that gets turned off by dying. You will die a lot in the game. They actually have an achievement that rewards you for dying and continuing over 100 times. Something that I achieved before the halfway mark of the game.

There are eight melee weapons and four ninpo (spells) in the game. Each can be upgraded to their third levels from the shop. The swords can be upgraded to their fourth levels but that only happens in the last few chapters. For the melee weapons, each upgrade gives access to higher level combos and increase the damage dealt. The weapons vary widely and have an impact on gameplay. That being said players are likely to only use the sword, 2-swords, scythe and maybe the staff in the game. The combat is fluid and feels intuitive as the weapons follow the direction on the left thumb stick.

The camera turns out to be the thing that players will fight against most. It especially has trouble keeping up with Ryu’s movement speed and often will not display what exactly is being sliced. That being said, tapping the left trigger centers the camera and the right thumb stick can be used for camera movement, something that is not as useful as the action is very fast paced.

The boss fights were one of the major reasons why Ninja Gaiden on the original Xbox was so great. They were difficult yet the fluid controls made the player feel in control. Unfortunately the boss fights in this game have seemed to have lost their epic feel. The only boss fights that feel epic are the ones that require ranged attacks. This is sad as the game is primarily a melee based game. The bosses do not feel as fluent or well designed. They feel especially easy when players use their upgraded Scythes and Piercing Void ninpo.

Another let down in the sequel is that in trying to live up to the hard level of difficulty, it seems that the developers have resorted to tactics that feel cheap. There is a boss that blows up after you kill it, taking you with him unless you know what to do. In addition after another boss fight where your only available path is through a narrow cave, there are hard to see mines that just before the entrance that wipe your whole health away. In both cases if you die, you will have to repeat the boss battles!

Players expecting a story line will be greatly disappointed. Similar to past Ninja Gaiden games, the story simply feels like an excuse given to players to go around slicing and dicing. Not necessarily a bad thing.

Graphics & Sound:

The sound is well done as you can make out the enemies screaming as you hear the sound of your weapon piercing their flesh.

The graphics however are a bit of a disappointment. Apparently the same graphics engine as for the previous game on the original Xbox has been used. It does show as the graphics do not feel next-gen.

It’s the coding, stupid

 The greatest disappointment in the game is that when fighting near a waterfall, a fire or when there are simply a lot of enemies coming at you, the frame rate slows down rapidly. This happens quite a few times in a game, and is something that we feel is inexcusable for a console game. In addition to the fact that the patch makes the game freeze on the non-skippable cut-scenes signals to us that the developers simply are not as committed to the game. It could also be the fact that the main person behind the game left the company day before release and filed a law suit against his previous employer.

Final word: I had a love-hate relationship with this game. On the one hand its combat system is outstanding and feels very intuitive, but on the other there are technical flaws, some so basic, that make you question if the game was ready when released.

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