Last updated on November 2, 2014
A serious question, if I may:
Where did all the ninjas go?!
Ninjas used to represent a go-to formula for a successful video game, along with any number of other fantastical warrior stereotypes primed and ready for brutal challenge and combat. As of now, though, the only ninja-based series still running remains in the Team Ninja camp, and even they haven’t released such a game in about two years. Shinobi died somewhere along the way, even after a brilliant PS2 entry! If Strider (or House of the Dead Ninjas) counts, then I think we can say the ninjas keep with us as a sort of tradition, but their popularity waned in recent years. I can only imagine why!
And ninja-based properties always embody challenge and difficulty, which probably explains a lot. I think you already know how highly I think of Tomonobu Itagaki’s Ninja Gaiden reboot series, so I will spare you the spiel. However, I never really got around to its sequel for one reason or another. Call it “sameness syndrome” or just a lack of motivation, but even after buying it it just sorta sat there on the shelf. I bought all the Ninja Gaiden entries dutifully out of sheer loyalty, but I could never get in the frame of mind for the newer Ninja Gaiden games.
Until now, apparently! Playing the Xbox 360 version, I get a sense of its great improvements and faults to the original reboot formula. For one, the combat itself somehow became more visceral; the beheadings, delimbings, blood spatter, and frankly excellent audio/visual affects (the bone-crunching being a personal favorite) contribute a lot to that. As well, the speed got kicked up a notch, both for enemies and Ryu Hayabusa, each of which move at a lightning pace. Showing the power of the 360 itself, the game isn’t afraid to throw a dozen enemies at you simultaneously, offering zero invincibility frames except in Obliteration techniques (the aforementioned executions and removal of body parts), Ultimate Techniques (the “hold strong attack to charge” move) and Ninpo (magic, duh). You need to use and abuse them repeatedly to stand any chance of success.
Even so, every giant war of attrition against multiple foes never feels boring, mostly due to walking that fine line between concentration and defeat for minutes at a time. Each fight feels, in a way, perfectly balanced with just the right number of enemies and waves. The game presents tools, and it never goes for total unfairness (well, except in special challenges, but you’re really asking for it at that point). Even projectile enemies aren’t all that abused, and you basically prioritize the dangerous targets. It refines the combat while also keeping the game pacing on point, never letting up for breath (goodbye, vaguely Zelda-like exploration!). Itagaki frankly knew where he excelled – in making you feel like Ryu has a thousand pound torso and arms of steel – and emphasized that friction throughout. That means not much in the way of an open hub world, just straight action like Ninja Gaiden of old. At first, I didn’t like that change very much, but now that whole interconnectivity strikes me as filler in the earlier game, rather than a necessity.
Adding weapons didn’t hurt either! Along with the default Dragon Sword, now you get giant bladed staves, tonfas, dual swords, ninja claw, scythes attached to chains (a personal favorite, because, come on, how cool is that?! Ninjas!), and all sorts of implements related to destruction.
On the other hand, the camera somehow got substantially worse, almost to the point where you fight it as much as the game’s various encounters. This becomes especially apparent in swapping between Bayonetta 1+2 and Ninja Gaiden II, where the differences become readily apparent immediately. In Bayonetta, you literally forget that there’s a camera at all most of the time; it frames the action permanently, and when you need to see something in particular you just move it around. Whatever algorithm or technological wizardry decides where they place the camera, it functions entirely in the way you’d expect and demand.
Ninja Gaiden II, on the other hand, presents an incredibly rough camera experience. Expect ambushes, and probably not ones intended by the developers! The camera does not move past walls, nor does it seem to make any active 3D models on screen transparent at all, meaning you, the player, must adjust the camera actively. Quick suggestion: the default camera speed will get you killed, so change the sensitivity immediately. Hit and run remains the name of the game in Ninja Gaiden, and since the camera doesn’t adjust well to said tactic, you need to rotate quickly to see incoming enemy attacks. In a way, you might say that the change in speed towards Spinal Tap levels actually leaves the camera struggling to catch up (and you can see this pretty clearly in nearly any video you watch of the game, such as the following).
All of this doesn’t make it an insurmountable element, just a nagging flaw to work around. The fighting remains so challenging and satisfying (aside from the relatively boring boss fights) that I don’t hesitate to say it’s worth the trouble. There’s nary a hint of slowdown or anything problematic, so most of the game comes down to you and your ability to defend, attack, and focus under the correct strategy. Same goes for using the bow and arrow, which now turns into a needed skill for combat sections (even when, yes, you need to go into first person to use it stationary *shudder*).
So yeah, of course I recommend it! I just hope I get enough motivation to finish the game this time (nearly six years after the game’s release).
