Ninja Gaiden (Xbox) REVIEW!

Devin

Devin

CAGiversary!
Feedback
1 (100%)
Ninja Gaiden (2004) for Xbox

Team Ninja has done it again! What's not to love about this game? You get your badass, agile ninja main charcter who doesn't take shit from no one, you got your state-of-the-art graphics, you got an arsenal of insane weapons, breath-taking FMVs, flawless storyline, and gripping music score! Ninja Gaiden is (un)officially THE ninja game out there. Ninja Gaiden for the Xbox puts all other ninja games (and most action games) to shame!! You play as Ryu Hayabusa and you must avenge your village when it is burned to the ground by the mysterious Shogun badass, Doku. This game is the hands down game of the year for 2004. The game isn't too long, but can get hard and some points in the game. It even lets you play the original three Ninja Gaiden games for NES (only if you find all 50 Scarabs). This game is incredible!

Ninja Gaiden (Xbox) slashes its way to a perfect 10! - Devin
 
You need to work on beefing up the details. What makes it so perfect? I thought it was a great game, though I certainly wouldn't give it a perfect 10.
 
BS, the game is far from a 10. Between insane difficulty levels and a wonky camera, it's lucky to get more than a 9.
 
[quote name='Scorch']BS, the game is far from a 10. Between insane difficulty levels and a wonky camera, it's lucky to get more than a 9.[/QUOTE]
The difficulty was fine. The camera angles did take away from the game play more then a few times tho=-\
 
^really?

not to be boastful or anything, I didn't think it was that crazy difficult. I mean, the first level with murai and all the ninjas took forever to beat but once you got really good at the controls, it wasn't nearly as bad. i mean, i died a couple times on all the bosses but yeah, with mastery of the controls and figuring out the patterns, it's not like the game was unfairly difficult - it just forced you to really get good at controlling Ryu. also, the camera wasn't bad for the most part since you could always just hit the right trigger - and in the hurricane packs, they gave you full control as well.

the only time i thought the game was unfair was when hurricane pack 2 came out and every enemy could break your guard and the chick boss with the whip-like arms kept fucking with you.

i wouldn't give the game a 10 but it would definitely be at least a 9 in my book.
 
[quote name='zola']^really?

not to be boastful or anything, I didn't think it was that crazy difficult. I mean, the first level with murai and all the ninjas took forever to beat but once you got really good at the controls, it wasn't nearly as bad. i mean, i died a couple times on all the bosses but yeah, with mastery of the controls and figuring out the patterns, it's not like the game was unfairly difficult - it just forced you to really get good at controlling Ryu. also, the camera wasn't bad for the most part since you could always just hit the right trigger - and in the hurricane packs, they gave you full control as well.

the only time i thought the game was unfair was when hurricane pack 2 came out and every enemy could break your guard and the chick boss with the whip-like arms kept fucking with you.

i wouldn't give the game a 10 but it would definitely be at least a 9 in my book.[/QUOTE]

For the most part, I agree that it wasn't _that_ difficult, but I'm gonna disagree about "fairness." This game is my textbook example of "cheap" rather than "hard." Wait -- my textbook example would actually be battletoads, but my point remains.

My favorite example? Walking into a completely unexpected boss fight (not like the door is marked, or there's a save point out front) and getting killed on the second hit because the camera couldn't swing around fast enough to let you avoid said boss's COMPLETELY UNBLOCKABLE 70% damage throw, and having to fight all those tedious ghost-fish again from the beginning of the board, because, as I said: no save point.

That's just bad design doubling as challenge, IMO.
 
[quote name='Scorch']BS, the game is far from a 10. Between insane difficulty levels and a wonky camera, it's lucky to get more than a 9.[/QUOTE]
Thats what i think it deserves
 
[quote name='Scorch']BS, the game is far from a 10. Between insane difficulty levels and a wonky camera, it's lucky to get more than a 9.[/QUOTE]

I think Ninja Gaiden Black will be just for you then.

An easier difficulty mode, plus total control over the camera.
 
[quote name='Kayden']Welcome to last year?[/QUOTE]

Reviews don't have to be about the newest games out there. Especially here where many of us wait to buy a game until we can find a deal on it. Also, the reviews spark (usually) intelligent discussion about the game, regardless of its age.

It doesn't have the greatest discussion following, but check out the review of Tetris (GB). It is very well written, and I wouldn't have been surprised to read it on Joystiq.
 
[quote name='jclast']Reviews don't have to be about the newest games out there. Especially here where many of us wait to buy a game until we can find a deal on it. Also, the reviews spark (usually) intelligent discussion about the game, regardless of its age.

It doesn't have the greatest discussion following, but check out the review of Tetris (GB). It is very well written, and I wouldn't have been surprised to read it on Joystiq.[/QUOTE]

Ok, I'll give you the doesn't need to be current... but this is not even close to a review. Its more like obnoxious fanboyism. He doesn't really give any hows or whys, just that its teh ZOMG!!! gr8!!!!!!!!!!!!!111
 
Not a great review; lacks detail.

But I think the game is a solid title and easily one of my all-time favorites. The difficulty ranges as you progress, mostly because your skill grows after a few levels. I never had any major parts I was stuck at, except for Murai at the end of the first level -- but now I go back and that's cake. Not to brag or anything, though. The only thing I didn't like after playing this game was how much my finger hurt from holding down the Block Button.

Anywho, this game definitely deserves a 9, and I'd give it a 10. The camera angles were never a big deal for me, except for maybe the jumping part in Chapter 12(?) in the arena. Otherwise I didn't have much of a problem.
 
[quote name='Kayden']Ok, I'll give you the doesn't need to be current... but this is not even close to a review. Its more like obnoxious fanboyism. He doesn't really give any hows or whys, just that its teh ZOMG!!! gr8!!!!!!!!!!!!!111[/QUOTE]

Well, you've got me there. ^_^
 
I just finished the game through the first time tonight (Master Ninja #1 rank in the early 3000's), so I'll throw in my two cents in this thread rather than start my own.

The Good:

(1) Ridiculously good looking character models. A little to plastic at times (I'm looking at you, Rachel), but nicely high poly and smoothly animated.

(2) Rewarding combat. Sucks at first, controller breaking at times, but once you get it (I mean really GET it) there isn't a better fighting engine to be had in an action game to date. Some other games in the genre have more accessible (and some would say better because of it, as I did until I spent more time with Gaiden) fighting setups, such as God of War or DMC, but if you take the time to really learn the ins-and-outs of Gaiden you're rewarded much more than other similar games.

(3) Great weapon variety. Flails, Giant Hammers, Bows, Exploding Kunai... lots to choose from to find what suits your style of play the best.


The Bad

(1) How the camera ever made it out of QA I'll never know. It's as if it was some new father and his Sony Handycam taping his obnoxious children while putting the finishing touches on a bottle of Crown Royal -- the quality and angles taken got gradually worse and worse as the game went on. The last boss fight SHOULD have been a hell of a lot easier (note also I had no potions -- one lesser healing potion would have facilitated much less frustration on my part), but the camera seemed to be in cohoots with the boss. If anyone here's played the DC version of Berserk -- remember how wonderful the camera was at showing Guts' boots in the Zodd fight? That's about how I felt at the end of Gaiden.

(2) Forced repetition with unskippable custcenes. One of these alone is unforgivable in a game where death is as plentiful as big-breasted teenagers in Japanese cartoons, but both is inconceivable. Ok, so you can make difficult bosses. Why the hell do I have to do a five-minute section of platforming and/or fighting each time I screw up? All that does is lower my appreciation for how well put together (or not) the boss battles are. And when I die, don't make me watch two minutes of cutscene. It's pretty the first time, ok the second, but by the third time what was once a supermodel of a videogame cinematic has now become the hot chick's fat friend who has to hook up with someone before the good looking girl will go home with you.

(3) Sometimes muddy/bland/repetitive texture work coupled with sterile environments. You've seen one cave, you've pretty much seen them all. It's also occasionally hard to tell what direction you want to go in, since everything looks the same.

(4) Cheap enemies. If I react to every little bump or scrape, they should too. I speak of the fact that bigger enemies and bosses don't have to block to ignore what you're doing to them. Sure, sure, the game wouldn't be as challenging, but think of how sweet it could be if this seemingly little benefit was taken away from the enemy? The enemies would have to be even smarter, and it would feel less lame when they do end up taking off half your life in one move if it didnt come after ignoring the fifteen slashes you just put in their skull.

(5) Piranhas. Bullshit.


....

Overall, I'd give the pre-hurricane pack version an 8/10 -- a great, challenging game that verges into "too-cheap-to-be-fun" territory a bit too often but rewards you well enough to make it worth sticking around. Probably could be a 9 if some of the technical issues are addressed (and no, giving us Mario Sunshine-like manual control of the camera doesn't fix the problem ).
 
It's as if it was some new father and his Sony Handycam taping his obnoxious children while putting the finishing touches on a bottle of Crown Royal
Click to expand...

Best Metaphor Ever! :lol: Though I disagree that it was that bad, it was a pain while platforming. Of course, I had to hit the "recenter" button a lot.

Piranhas. Bullshit
Click to expand...

Imagine this set up-- you've just barely survived a huge battle with black ninjas or some other tough enemy, you have a shread of health left and no potions. All you want to do is find a treasure chest. To your delight, you find one! You open it up, but you don't get a potion, or a weapon, or even bats.....you get about 20 pirahnas in your face--- that's what Black is going to be all about :rofl:
The best move for those guys is the X X Forward + X X X X combo with the Vigoorian Flails-- it's the "blender" move, they fly right into it and you are invincible while doing it.
 
Reminds of of Aliens Vs Predator. People bitched about the inability to save in the middle of the mission and said it 'ruined' the game. The game was supposed to be difficult, scary and intense. I agree dying at the end was a bitch, but hey, you felt better after beating it in one shot.
 
[quote name='Kayden']Reminds of of Aliens Vs Predator. People bitched about the inability to save in the middle of the mission and said it 'ruined' the game. The game was supposed to be difficult, scary and intense. I agree dying at the end was a bitch, but hey, you felt better after beating it in one shot.[/QUOTE]

I agree "save anywhere" can ruin the feel of a game, but what I was going for is a "retry" for boss battles. You took your time, you fought the good fight to get there, you shouldn't have to go through it each and every time you die. Make the bosses harder for all I care, but do so with the ability to jump right back into battle afterward. 10 tries in a row is much preferrable to 3 tries where I have to do platforming and fighting in between each attempt.

Come to think of it, that's something I didn't like in the original NES Gaidens.

+.02 for consistency brings the overall score to 8.02/10.
 
Just got my copy of NGB yesterday, and I am really enjoying it. This game has some of the nicest controls ever, to bad they are brought down a little by a terrible camera system. The game isn't as hard as everyone has sad, or maybe I am not far enough in yet. I have only died about 5 times, and 4 of them were on the first boss (on the bridge) and I think that was because I didn't have the concept of the controls figured out yet. I am only at the monastery so far, and hoping this game doesn't prematurely end like Halo 2 did :( .
 
[quote name='Toireht']Just got my copy of NGB yesterday, and I am really enjoying it. This game has some of the nicest controls ever, to bad they are brought down a little by a terrible camera system. The game isn't as hard as everyone has sad, or maybe I am not far enough in yet. I have only died about 5 times, and 4 of them were on the first boss (on the bridge) and I think that was because I didn't have the concept of the controls figured out yet. I am only at the monastery so far, and hoping this game doesn't prematurely end like Halo 2 did :( .[/QUOTE]


it doesn't. there are 16 chapters in all.
 
I think the difficulty is overrated. The hardest part for me was the first three levels - once you get used to the controls (especially abusing the flying swallow), it's only somewhat challenging. Still a great game though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top