So Tomonobu Itagaki; everyones much loved, some what introverted man of
modesty got around to finishing up Ninja Gaiden 2 much to the squealing
school girl delight of many and it has a some what large pair of boots
to fill. Ninja Gaiden wasn't just good, it was awesome and arguably (I
said arguably people) the best action game of last gen. Finally, 3
years into next gen we can finally sink our teeth into the fully
fledged sequel.
Straight off the bat one thing is immediately
obvious; Ninja Gaiden, like the original is brutal; in all senses of
the word. It's brutally fast, brutally gory and much to the lament of
lesser beings, it's still brutally difficult. From the moment you gain
control of Ryu you're thrown into a foray of visceral action so
blindingly fast and persistent you may need to actually consciously
remind yourself to breathe. Blades clash, shurikens pierce and limbs
divorce torso's so fast it all makes your head spin. If Ninja Gaiden
was a quick as a cut cat, Ninja Gaiden 2 is faster than a ferret on
meth amphetamines.
Ryu does fortunately have a rather large
arsenal of weapos to at least give players some hope of keeping some
resemblence of sanity throughout the course of the game. A few family
favourites make returns; the Dragon Blade, Vigorian Flails and the
Lunar Staff are all mainstays of the series, while claw draped boots
and wolverine like claws give players more options and depth to lop
limbs of readily. Again, each weapon can be upgraded at Muramasa's
shop; yes, the old crone with the 3ft eyebrows makes his geriatric
return.
Giving reason to the madness, Ninja Gaiden 2 starts
out with our moderately mammoried heroine being abducted by members of
the Spider Clan, a clan that has waged war with members of the Dragon
lineage for many years past. From here, the story gets nuttier than
squirrel turd, to put it lightly anyway. There's ninja's, demons,
ninja's with rocket launchers, ninja demons with rocket launchers,
mechanised robots with rocket launchers, dragons, bats, ninja dogs with
explodey shurikens and swords and ninja sloths that shoot fireballs
from their *** (that last one may or may not be made up) but suffice to
say, don't expect to see Ninja Gaiden 2: The Play performing at a local
stage theatre near you any time soon.
So it's the same old Ninja Gaiden we've grown to love (and hate equally) then yeh? Well, it is and it isn't.
One
of the games major criticisms of the first game was the ball crushing
difficulty, a concern Itagaki reitterated in an interview; commenting
that this is one department the team would be working on for the sequel
to make it more accessible. So is the game actually more n00b friendly?
Honestly, not really, it's just difficult for entirely different
reasons, for what Itagaki giveth with one hand, he uses the other to
crush testicles. Unlike the original, Ryu will actually regain health
after enemy encounters. Not all, just some. Repeated blows will drain
Ryu's potential maximum health until it can be reset by collecting blue
essence or using herbs. In return however, the maximum allowable health
herbs that can be carried at any one time is now 3. Having trouble
beating a boss? Well stiff cookies. You have 3 minor health herbs and 3
moderate health herbs in which to deal with boss creatures or to trek
from one check / save point to the next. Not an easy task when some
enemies will leave Ryu with wobbly legs from a single combo or throw
especially when compounded by the fact that some sections of Ninja
Gaiden 2 just plain feel 'cheap.' Too often players find themselves in
fights for life or death surrounded by anything up to a half dozen
enemies in melee combat while support enemies rain down rockets from
afar sending Ryu stumbling about the place hapless to do anything but
take the incoming barrage of melee assaults. Similar frustrations arise
when players are to required to take out rocket foes from afar with the
bow an arrow; a weapon that requires significant time to build potency
and power capable of taking an enemy out, all the while constantly
every rocket hit requires the player to charge up again from scratch.
The
series is well known for being hard, but unlike the original, portions
of Ninja Gaiden don't just feel hard; they just feel poorly designed
and ill conceived. Poor design choices isn't just limited game design
either. With such a severe difficulty curve it's fair to say players
will die...and often, with each death followed by an excruciatingly
frustrating waiting period while the game loads. In times of sheer
frustration, loading periods frequently draw the player back out of the
game for unacceptably long pauses. Accessing the menu often requires a
small load, using or changing items often require a small load and the
break down of mid level sections also require a loading period. In all,
there's just too much loading going on. All might be forgiven some what
if the game was in other area's a technical marvel, unfortunately
though it's not.
Ninja Gaiden 2 utilises the same engine as
the original. It looked gorgeous in 2004, now however it just looks
dated. That's not to say the game is ugly, not by a long shot. NG2
often serves up incredibly detailed enemies, often in groups of up to a
dozen or more, all zipping about the screen at lightning pace with
superb visual effects at 60fps. There are some drops in the frame rate
here and there but for the most part it's solid. That however can't
change the fact that the environments in NG 2 are static, lifeless and
largely uninspiring. Occasionally there's a glimmer of brilliance, but
it's too few and far between to get excited about.
Mercifully
however, the audio is brilliant. The *****s and groans of combat are
all superbly realised but it's the music that really steals the show,
fusing a blend of traditional Japanese percussion with modern
electronica Ninja Gaiden 2 is an audio feat, certainly one to crank the
5.1 too.
At this point you must be thinking I'm not really
digging NG2. The truth is actually the opposite. I infact love the game
but it does raise an issue with how 'reviews' are often written. You
see, putting on my 'I'm completely impartial and reviewing the game
objectively hat' the game is maybe a 6 from 10 at best. The game lacks
technical polish and is fraught with poor design choices that may leave
many gamers too frustrated to continue. Now taken in context of my own
opinion, Ninja Gaiden 2 while not exactly reinventing the wheel still
rules the roost as far as action slasher games are concerned. Small
changes to the health system call for a new challenge in strategy while
the combat is even faster and more visceral than ever, it's an exercise
in precision execution that is as rewarding as it is punishing and
really, that's the most important part. The rest there after, is
trivial by comparison. For that, I would score it 9/10.
