Ninja Gaiden (Xbox)

Barnolde

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Introduction:

One of the most hotly anticipated games of this year, this game should be a mystery to no one. After a well received demo, Team Ninja’s new game is finally released. Team Ninja and Tecmo have always catered well to Xbox, by giving them exclusive games, which looked beautiful, but always lacked the overall polish in the gameplay department. Ninja Gaiden was heralded as the action game to end all action games, and supposed to be a crowning achievement. There were a lot of promises made involving Ninja Gaiden, but how do they stack up in the final product?

Ninja Gaiden starts off with you, a young ninja named Ryu Hayabusa. After your training, you find out that your village has been torched and that the other members of the Hayabusa clan have been slain. As you go to investigate who has done this, only to meet a Greater Fiend named Doku who is responsible. He was after the Dark Dragon Blade, a legendary sword, which possesses immense power. You have its sister sword, the Dragon Sword, another powerful weapon held by the Hayabusa clan. Doku severely wounds you and leaves you for dead. You go through a fairly lengthy recovery and then set out on your quest for vengeance. The story is a pretty cookie-cutter affair of a young ninja hellbent on revenge, it is poorly told and easily forgettable.

Gameplay:

The gameplay is a mixed bag of good and bad for the most part. The action in the game is very fast and frenzied, and you have many weapons at your disposal. You start off with only the Dragon Sword and shurikens, but as your progress, you gain more and more powerful weapons from explosive shurikens, bows and arrows, a boomerang/shuriken hybrid, nunchukas, and many more. You can buy more weapons from shops throughout levels, by collecting yellow essence (money) from dead enemies, there are also blue (health) and red (Ninpo) raising essences. In addition to weapons, you also have Ninpo at your disposal to rid the world of enemies. Ninpo is your special power, which when used will cause something to the effect of you shooting lightning from you or being surrounded by flames. Ninpo is sometimes a necessity when surrounded by enemies who are relentlessly attacking you. This game requires quick fingers, as the enemies are relentless. I’m not sure why, but everything in this game absolutely hates you, not regular hatred, but unmatched, incessant hatred. From other ninjas, to animals, to exotic creatures, to soldiers, they all have a life goal of ending yours. The enemy and level design is well done and extremely varied. You traverse through many locations, from your village, Asian cities, caves, streets, military bases, sewers, canals, and more. The bosses are very unique, as well as menacing and they consist of giant creatures like worms or human-type ones possessed by the Dark Dragon Blade and turned into Great Fiends. The level design is pretty good, although sometimes you will be wandering around aimlessly, unsure of where to go.

Despite ninjas being masters of stealth, there is no stealth found anywhere in this game, it’s more of kill everything you see. There really isn’t a problem with the way that the action is presented, but more of how it’s executed. For a lot of the game you use wall running in order to traverse other areas of the game, and for the most part, this is done pretty well, although it is too sensitive. Sometimes you wall run when you don’t want to, which is pretty annoying, considering the fair amount of poorly done platforming elements implemented. Tomonubu Itagaki (lead developer) touted this game as having a superb camera in order to match the action, but if you spend even five minutes with this game, you can tell he’s a blatant liar. The camera is absolutely horrendous, it spends more time looking at you, than behind you, where it should be. Normally, bad cameras can be overcome, just ask anyone who plays platform games, however, in such a fast paced and camera reliant game, such as this one, a good camera is imperative to a quality gameplay experience, unfortunately, there isn’t a good one anywhere in here. This game even has some platforming elements which are ruined, because of the deplorable camera, and poor collision detection. The enemies, while intelligent and relentless, sometimes use cheap tactics to take advantage of you, which becomes more than annoying. Probably one of the most annoying parts of the game is that the enemies respawn, which means that an area you just cleared out will contain more enemies who hate you next time you go back there. The game has a fairly big emphasis on backtracking, which makes the respawning enemies that much more annoying. In a terrible decision, there are some save points which have enemies around them, so as you fight them to save your game, you have to fight them again if you load. The save points are sometimes infrequent, and it can be annoying to die near the end of level, only have to return to the beginning, because you did not reach the save point. For the most part, there are save points close to bosses, but not all the time, which can be pretty annoying. Probably the most commonly addressed complaint about the game is that it’s needlessly difficult. Conquering the normal mode is a feat in itself, and I’m afraid to see what hard mode has to offer. The game is certainly very hard, but nothing impossible, although you will spend many tries conquering the levels due to unrelenting and sometimes cheap enemies, as well as hard, annoying bosses. Sometimes, the game even makes you fight multiple bosses in succession without a shop (to buy health) or save point in between, which makes it a necessity to stock up on health, as it is depleted fast. The game would be much easier, had the camera been something not spawned from the depths of Hell. It’s enough of a task to work against the countless enemies who all desperately want you dead, but to have to fight the camera as well is just inexcusable.

Graphics:

Easily the best part about Ninja Gaiden is the absolutely gorgeous graphics. Everything is incredibly good looking and extravagantly detailed. The graphics are phenomenal and up to par with previous Team Ninja games. The water ripples as you walk through it and it looks very realistic. The enemies are very well done, and all look incredibly intimidating. The level of detail that went into this game is remarkable, as everything looks polished. The only problem with the graphics is a very minor one at that. The graphics seem to lack a unique or artistic flair, they just seem somewhat plain and boring, especially when compared to other more incredibly artistic games, such as Otogi. The CG cutscenes however, make up for this, as they are incredible to look at, and just jaw droppingly beautiful.

Audio:

The audio is pretty good, albeit exaggerated in some parts. You hear all the sounds from your footsteps, to water splashes, and it all sounds pretty realistic and well done. Somewhat oddly though, every enemy you kill seems to be made out of a blood filled water balloon, as when you kill them, their blood pours out and it makes a splashing noise. The music varies by level, but it’s mostly sped up techno mixed with guitar riffs when there is action going on. While the music is nothing special, it does a pretty good job of reflecting the current atmosphere of the game. There are English and Japanese voices, which are not too frequent, only found in cutscenes. The English voices are pretty mediocre, while the Japanese ones are better and more fitting.

Controls:

For the most part, the controls are pretty good, except in some parts, which seem just like stupid decisions on the developer’s part. Most of the game has solid, responsive controls, although sometimes they just aren’t responsive, which can be frustrating. Right before, or when an enemy may grab you, you may try to pause the game, and it won’t let you pause, which can be very frustrating. The pause button isn’t as quick to respond as I would’ve liked. The right joystick, which looks around in first person would’ve been better suited to turn the camera left and right, and go into first person by clicking it, but alas, that’s not an option. The default controls are as follows:

Left joystick - Move
Right joystick - Look around in first person
A - Jump
B - Projectile weapon
X - Regular attack/action
Y - Strong attack
A & X - Wind run (jump towards enemy)
B & Y - Ninpo
White -Not used
Black - Show map
L - Block
R - Position camera behind you
Start - Pause
Back - Not used

Replay:

The replay of this game is something that seems like it was desperately tried to be extended, while falling short. The difficulty of the game is one of the main factors why I won’t be playing this again. Some points just got hard to the point of being tedious and annoying, which detracts from the overall amount of fun to be had and appeal factor of the game. The original three NES Ninja Gaiden games are included and are unlockable, which does add to the game’s length, provided you can unlock them, which is very difficult. There is also the Master Ninja Tournament, which is just fancy talk for Scoreboards, plain and simple, and you can’t even use it until E3, which is in the third week of May.

Summary:

Ninja Gaiden is a game that could’ve been so much more. While not monumentally disappointing like Brute Force or Enter the Matrix, it certainly is an incredibly disappointing game. The game just feels incredibly average and boring in many parts, as well as being needlessly tedious and annoying. Some moments I find myself questioning, for example, when I missed a weapon, I tried to go back and get it, only to find the path blocked, and no way to get the weapon. The camera is absolutely deplorable, and one of the worst I’ve ever had the displeasure of encountering. With a poorly told story, coupled with immense difficulty, sometimes it’s hard finding the motivation to continue the game. It looks great, sounds decent, and plays okay, but the gameplay is severely lacking, despite having very intelligent, unrelenting, and sometimes annoying enemies. The game is not terrible, but it’s far from being great, and it’s just another average Team Ninja game that has style, but lacks substance. Aside from the pretty graphics, there isn’t all that much here. The very difficult gameplay, coupled with one of the worst and most unresponsive cameras ever make this a game that you’ll either beat out of spite or give up on, and that you should only rent, and nothing more.

Scores:
Gameplay - 7.3
Graphics - 9.6
Audio - 8.7
Controls - 8.2
Replay - 7.8
Overall - 7.6
 
I think you might get flamed for your review, but I thought it was very well written and correlates well with my experiences in playing the demo. It seems like a good game if you were really into Ninja Gaiden 1 or 2, but for those without that nostalgic feeling and/or love for these types of games may not enjoy the game.

I played it on a 53 inch HDTV and the graphics were good, but it was obvious that the TV could certainly do better and the game did not look that good because the high resolution of the TV accentuated graphic flaws/inabilities. The camera was workable at best and I have no intention of purchasing the game. However, please note that I am not a fan of this genre of games, so the game didn't have much of a chance going in. It was fun to jump around and slice off peoples heads, but I found that repetitive after about 15 min. But hey, thats just my opinion.
 
Replay:

The replay of this game is something that seems like it was desperately tried to be extended, while falling short. The difficulty of the game is one of the main factors why I won’t be playing this again...

I'd have to agree with this. After I beat it, I was all ready to play through again and get all 50 scarabs (finished with 42 the first time through). However, when I realized I had to start all over, without anything but those 42 scarabs... I thought about having to go through the entire game again, looking for scarabs... and I put it back on the shelf. There is no way I would play through that game again so soon. I was hoping to start from the beginning and play with all my weapon upgrades/health improvements/gold, just so I could go scarab hunting (and give some payback to all the bosses who kicked my butt.)

The game did get a bit tedious towards the end, but... I think partially that was my fault. I didn't have enough health to fight through the last part (or so I thought), and ended up backtracking all the way past those stupid ghost fish... and back to the church to find a spot to buy some potions. Then I had to fight all the way back up.. it was brutal. I think that's about the only reason I was annoyed or miffed at the game towards the end.


However, that being said, taking into account the difficulty and such, I would definitely rate this as one of the best XBOX games available. It is absolutely beautiful, the gameplay is fun (it definitely has a huge WOW! factor the first time you decapitate a group of enemies), and I figure if I give it a month or so, I'll be ready to go unlock the 3 other NGs. It's definitely not a game to buy if you're looking for something easy to play... but... that's half the fun.
 
[quote name='-Never4ever-']decently written, though a bit harsh. 7.6?? it seems like the difficulty has blinded your judgement.[/quote]

I never complained about it being difficult. The 7.6 (above average, mind you) was because it was boring, tedious, had an atrocious camera, and just wasn't fun to play.
 
just read your other reviews and it seems like you come off anti-NG. While I hate the camera, never did I find NG boring, in fact I doubt anyone with a pulse would.

Go back and replay the game (as in all the way through), see if your opinion changes.
 
[quote name='Barnolde']Probably the most commonly addressed complaint about the game is that it’s needlessly difficult.[/quote]
 
[quote name='-Never4ever-'][quote name='Barnolde']Probably the most commonly addressed complaint about the game is that it’s needlessly difficult.[/quote][/quote]

This is not him complaning about how difficult it is. This is him saying that most people and reviews say that it is a difficult game.
 
Yeah I suppose your right.

But after reading his POP review, there's just nothing else it could be. I mean POP had a horrible camera, tedious fights and repetition up the wazzoo, yet he scored it higher than NG, not that scoring it higher is what matters, it's that 2 very similar games are ranked too far apart. The only true diff between the 2 if NG's insane difficulty. I can understand giving NG a 7.8 if POP got something similar, but ranking like that nearly destroys your credibility as a reviewer.
 
It seems that the difficulty is the only thing that makes people like it or not. Whether he admits it or not, Barnolde only thought the game was boring and repetitive was because he ended up seeing the game over screen too often.
 
I never complained about it being difficult.
Your sole purpose for not replaying is because it was too difficult.

I think the review was well-written, but I don't agree with your view of the game. I think it was slightly flawed.
 
I'm right now at Chapter 13 and by any means has the game been boring. It's just plain fun but some parts are f**ing difficult but my only complaint is(in some battles) the camera.

I hope the PH version of Gaiden will have a EASY setting cause it will be more fun to play the game
 
[quote name='suprsaiyanMAX']
I never complained about it being difficult.
Your sole purpose for not replaying is because it was too difficult.

I think the review was well-written, but I don't agree with your view of the game. I think it was slightly flawed.[/quote]

A nice little summary of what I've been trying to say, thanks suprsaiyanMAX.
 
[quote name='st0neface']It seems that the difficulty is the only thing that makes people like it or not. Whether he admits it or not, Barnolde only thought the game was boring and repetitive was because he ended up seeing the game over screen too often.[/quote]

No, not really. There are MANY more harder games. Hell, Steel Battalion makes Ninja Gaiden seem like Pokemon Snap! I just thought the Resident Evil (goddamn I hate that game) style gameplay (with crap cameras and everything) plain sucked. If they ditched the stupid puzzles and item hunting, it would've been better as the action wouldn't have been broken up so much.

I tried playing it again, and I got stuck and just was really bored, so I jumped in the lava, and then played Crimson Sea (much superior game).
 
why do people always seem to hate on Resident Evil? I thought the remake of the first one was amazing. It was scary as hell (anyone who did not jump when a Crimson popped out for the first time must have nerves of steel)

The action in that game was not badly paced, it was perfect. Sometimes there were puzzles and some were annoying, but they always seemed to add something to the experience
 
I like everything about Resident Evil except for the controls, I don't have the patience to get used to them. The bad camera is the only thing NG has with RE. The puzzles in NG are nominal and for the most part, extremely easy. Again, when you get stuck in a game, thats usually due to the difficulty, I don't consider myself an excellent gamer, better than your casual player, but suck compared to most people who play the same amount as me, and I didn't get stuck in NG at all.
 
I played this game and beat it in about 2 days, then replayed it immediatly to get the rest of the scarabs, ( and in chapter 2 you can turn in the scarabs that carried over so you will have a much easier time with the regen bracelet) i loved everything about it, but i do agree the camera is a little bit on the weak side. But one thing i never felt during this game was boredom, i don't know what games you are playing that keep your attention, but i need to get my hands on them.
 
[quote name='"Barnolde"'][quote name='st0neface']
I tried playing it again, and I got stuck and just was really bored, so I jumped in the lava, and then played Crimson Sea (much superior game).[/quote]

Ah I see you’re the type of gamer that prefers intense combat, but hates silly puzzles, and difficult gameplay. I guess that makes sense.

As for your RE comment, NG is similar to DMC, which is vaguely reminiscent of RE. NG and RE have completely different control, and camera setup.

Lastly, a tip for you: as a reviewer it is your job to rate the game based on how good it is, not on how much you like it. You are not a "jack-of-all-trades" gamer; you favor one type of gameplay over the other. Now I understand you may not be trying to become a reviewer, or your just trying to give your opinion. In that case please to remind the reader somewhere in your review, that this is all your opinion (such as using the abbreviation IMO), and that as such it is neither right nor wrong.
 
This is so far my favorite game of all time. I just enjoy the different abilitys Ryu has and all the different weapons. I am anxiously waiting for the dough to buy xbox live so I can download the hurricane pack and get the extra weapons. I have logged over 120 hours into this game and still seem to find some facet of playability in it.
 
Also a favorite of mine, to the point where I sold it after beating it , then bought it again because I was going through withdrawl bad.
 
I thought they should have added a new game plus mode or something, keep all stats/items except key items. The difficualy on the other hand was a breath of fresh air compared to all the games a kindergardner could beat easily.
 
[quote name='-Never4ever-']Lastly, a tip for you: as a reviewer it is your job to rate the game based on how good it is, not on how much you like it. You are not a "jack-of-all-trades" gamer; you favor one type of gameplay over the other. Now I understand you may not be trying to become a reviewer, or your just trying to give your opinion. In that case please to remind the reader somewhere in your review, that this is all your opinion (such as using the abbreviation IMO), and that as such it is neither right nor wrong.[/quote]

Your argument is severely flawed. Games just aren't that objective.

It's kind of funny that you recommend he state that it's his opinion somewhere as if it were some sort of disclaimer. Reviews are essentially opinions. That's why EGM has multiple people score it - that's why people should utilize sites like Gamerankings to get alternate viewpoints. THAT'S why you attempt to find a reviewer who syncs with you in terms of titles - because reviews are opinions.
 
[quote name='Rig']Doesn't the Xbox Live download fix (most of) the bad camera issues??[/quote]

I'm not fully aware of the contents of their update via live, but it shouldn't have had to be fixed through a patch.

We're not PC gaming here.
 
[quote name='"Sartori"'][quote name='"Rig"']Doesn't the Xbox Live download fix (most of) the bad camera issues??[/quote]

I'm not fully aware of the contents of their update via live, but it shouldn't have had to be fixed through a patch.

We're not PC gaming here.[/quote]

This is true however in the past there hasn't even been the ability for designers to fix bugs they discover after the release date. There are plenty of them out there. We are lucky that they can resolve the issues. My main complaint about that argument is that it is based on a "perfect" program right out of the box and that has never happened when games on consoles or on pc come out there are always glitches we are all human just as the programmers are. We just have to accept the fact that this is the world we chose to play in and be gratefull that they created a way to fix the problems that were found when the products were released to the public.
 
[quote name='jall'][quote name='Sartori'][quote name='Rig']Doesn't the Xbox Live download fix (most of) the bad camera issues??[/quote]

I'm not fully aware of the contents of their update via live, but it shouldn't have had to be fixed through a patch.

We're not PC gaming here.[/quote]

This is true however in the past there hasn't even been the ability for designers to fix bugs they discover after the release date. There are plenty of them out there. We are lucky that they can resolve the issues. My main complaint about that argument is that it is based on a "perfect" program right out of the box and that has never happened when games on consoles or on pc come out there are always glitches we are all human just as the programmers are. We just have to accept the fact that this is the world we chose to play in and be gratefull that they created a way to fix the problems that were found when the products were released to the public.[/quote]

I wouldn't consider the "camera issue" something that they didn't notice the entire time in development.

That's just me.

Your rationale applies to a lot of stuff - but this isn't it.
 
I just beat the game about 3 days ago and can definately say that it's one of my favorites. The camera took some getting use to but I never felt like it got in the way of the gameplay...
 
I kept hearing about how hard Ninja Gaiden was and that kinda held me from buying the game.

I bought ninja game for the Xbox, Genma Onishima and that game was hard as hell. I hated it. (The Xbox version is different than the PS2 version-the gameplay is tweaked and its harder). Supposely, Genma Onishima's controls were patterned after the Resident Evil games. I haven't verified this because I never played RE. But I find it interesting that some people here in this thread mentioned RE having bad controls.

After playing that, I really wasn't in the mood for playing another tough Ninja game.

Maybe I'll pick it up when the price falls
 
everyone complains about the difficulty in this game, me and my little brother had no problems trashing every single thing in ninja gaden. I found shinobi to be 100 times harder than this. as far as how much i enjoyed it...sigh...its pretty much a clone of devil may cry and onimusha, although it probly is the best out of the bunch, definatly the prettyest. And usually i like to have a reason to swing my sword (a good story). the whole way through the game i found myself killing demons i didnt have anything against, except that they were so damn fugly. "so what? you burnt down my village..i didnt know those ppl anyway." that blond chick with the absolutly enormous tits made up for it a bit...but only a little
 
[quote name='masta0031']everyone complains about the difficulty in this game, me and my little brother had no problems trashing every single thing in ninja gaden. I found shinobi to be 100 times harder than this. as far as how much i enjoyed it...sigh...its pretty much a clone of devil may cry and onimusha, although it probly is the best out of the bunch, definatly the prettyest. And usually i like to have a reason to swing my sword (a good story). the whole way through the game i found myself killing demons i didnt have anything against, except that they were so damn fugly. "so what? you burnt down my village..i didnt know those ppl anyway." that blond chick with the absolutly enormous tits made up for it a bit...but only a little[/quote]

Shinobi is tough as fuckin nails.
 
I love hard games, I want a game that'll kick my ass, laugh at me, and shout, YOU LOSE, BITCH! Its something I liked about Robotech, it could be difficult, and it taunted you when you lost with stuff like, "Are you drunk?". I bought Ninja Gaiden a few weeks ago for $22 used, haven't played it yet. I hope its hard as hell.

I'm very disappointed by easy games. If you guys think some of this stuff is hard, play a good 2d vertical shooter, thats hard.
 
[quote name='dafoomie']I love hard games, I want a game that'll kick my ass, laugh at me, and shout, YOU LOSE, BITCH! Its something I liked about Robotech, it could be difficult, and it taunted you when you lost with stuff like, "Are you drunk?". I bought Ninja Gaiden a few weeks ago for $22 used, haven't played it yet. I hope its hard as hell.

I'm very disappointed by easy games. If you guys think some of this stuff is hard, play a good 2d vertical shooter, thats hard.[/quote]

I love a challenging game, but I have limited playing time (college, work) and I want to reach the end. I have been known to quit a game or two thinking, "I don't got no time fo' dis shiet!".
 
i have no problem with hard games if there good. at the end of breakdown that game beat the shaq-fu outa me. but i kept comin back untill i beat it...shinobi was too simple to be fun with that kind of difficutly....one combo attack? one sword and useless shriokens...boring
 
simply put..graphics blew me away, they are freakin awesome.story as ...'eh..it felt generic to me :\, and it was TOO DAMN HARD!!!
like 3 hits of anything killed u...and it really pissed me off when i was re-loading/spawning in the middle of like 3-4 enemy ninjas..:(
 
I don't know why Ninja Gaiden is considered so difficult, maybe it is just the style of gameplay that it has but I didn't think it was all the difficult. I played through the game 3 times on normal with no difficulties, then played through about half on hard but stopped because I had many other games to play and playing through a game I already beat 3 times wasn't too smart.

Currently I am being repeatedly getting my ass handed to me in Devil May Cry, I've never heard anything about the difficulty of this game, but for some reason I just can't do it.

And this game deserves much more than what it has been given, especially with the downloadable content/master ninja tournement.
 
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