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Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2
October 3, 2009 | 12:14 PM PST
Kombo's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.
What the Game's About
This sequel to Ninja Gaiden Sigma is a remake of the 2008 Xbox 360 title that reworks some of the existing content and makes this version more of a director's cut more than anything. You take up the role of Ryu Hayabusa as you fight the evil Spider Ninja Clan as they try and resurrect the Archfiend with the help of the Demon Statue that the Hayabusa Villiage is in charge of protecting. You travel around the world hunting down the Spider Ninjas using your own brand of deadly ninja skills and a few marked improvements over the first Ninja Gaiden formula.
What's Hot
Ninjas make perfect heroes in video games. They are incredibly agile and can dish all sorts of silent death to any evil doer in sight. Ninjas make for even better heroes when they are developed by Team Ninja, apparently. Ryu is a master ninja in every sense of the word. He puts all other ninjas to shame. He moves fluidly and uses range of weapons from his trusty Dragon Sword to the Ninja Talons to stop the Spider Ninjas dead in their tracks. It is nice that the aesthetics are in proper place since it segues into NGS2's gameplay and surrounding mechanics.
Most of the gameplay involves hacking through the Spider Ninjas and there are plenty of ways of going about that. The controls are easy to grasp and as you flow from one move to another, the combat process is buttery and seamless so there won't be any disjointed animations between the high-flying acrobatics with sharp weapons. What sets NGS2 apart from Ninja Gaiden Sigma, combat wise, is the fact you can dismember your foes. Once one-armed or one-footed ninjas start charging you with menacing ferocity, you can bust out the most devastating move Ryu has: the obliteration. The obliteration technique is a finisher that makes your life as a ninja that much easier because NGS2 is a difficult game to complete.
NGS2 isn't a cake walk, which makes the game worth investing in. There is an art to the battles that involves a lot of attacking and strategic ducking and blocking. Ultimately, you are going to get schooled as you slowly come to the realization that this game is played with brains and brawn. Challenge in video games is something of a rare commodity and NGS2 teeters on the line of being too frustratingly difficult. The effect is pulled off with ample save points and the feeling that if you performed your attacks a little better, the next time will be a success. So while there might be some raging when you fail a hard spot, you'll know that next time will be better.
At the end of each level, it unlocks a corresponding online co-op level that you and another PSN gamer can tackle. The system is rather interesting. You select your character, main weapon, ranged weapon, ninpo (magic spell) and costume and you are set in an arena that resembles the mission you select. There are a couple goals, the first being survive the match. You and your partner may work towards that goal of surviving the waves of fiends but there is a competition between the two of you to see who can rack up the most kills.
What's Not
NGS2 received a lot of care and attention that makes it stand out from the 360 effort; an extra year of development time and playing to a new platform's strengths will do that. What is rather sad is that Team Ninja continues to pander to a low common denominator with the SIXAXIS implementation of jiggling virtual boobs. It is hard to imagine that in a year's time, this was a great use of resources since it has zero effect on gameplay. The only conceivable reason this might have been done is Team Ninja wanted to show how much value motion controls have in their eyes but it is rather unlikely.
NGS2 will load, frequently. There is a mandatory system install first and then when you change weapons or interact with object, there is a hiccup in the gameplay and it feels like the game freezes when you see the loading screen pop up. You'll forget about the disjointed feel when you start combating enemies again, but there are those parts where you are taken out of the otherwise seamless experience.
Final Word
There aren't a ton of sweeping differences between the PS3 and 360 versions of Ninja Gaiden 2 that were released a year apart from each other. It was nice to see the violence toned down a hair and the graphics turned up and an online added but disappointing to see that more meaningful changes like those didn't happen in the extra year that NGS2 received and the much publicized SIXAXIS jiggle mechanic was added for no purposeful reason.
What the Game's About
This sequel to Ninja Gaiden Sigma is a remake of the 2008 Xbox 360 title that reworks some of the existing content and makes this version more of a director's cut more than anything. You take up the role of Ryu Hayabusa as you fight the evil Spider Ninja Clan as they try and resurrect the Archfiend with the help of the Demon Statue that the Hayabusa Villiage is in charge of protecting. You travel around the world hunting down the Spider Ninjas using your own brand of deadly ninja skills and a few marked improvements over the first Ninja Gaiden formula.
What's Hot
Ninjas make perfect heroes in video games. They are incredibly agile and can dish all sorts of silent death to any evil doer in sight. Ninjas make for even better heroes when they are developed by Team Ninja, apparently. Ryu is a master ninja in every sense of the word. He puts all other ninjas to shame. He moves fluidly and uses range of weapons from his trusty Dragon Sword to the Ninja Talons to stop the Spider Ninjas dead in their tracks. It is nice that the aesthetics are in proper place since it segues into NGS2's gameplay and surrounding mechanics.
Most of the gameplay involves hacking through the Spider Ninjas and there are plenty of ways of going about that. The controls are easy to grasp and as you flow from one move to another, the combat process is buttery and seamless so there won't be any disjointed animations between the high-flying acrobatics with sharp weapons. What sets NGS2 apart from Ninja Gaiden Sigma, combat wise, is the fact you can dismember your foes. Once one-armed or one-footed ninjas start charging you with menacing ferocity, you can bust out the most devastating move Ryu has: the obliteration. The obliteration technique is a finisher that makes your life as a ninja that much easier because NGS2 is a difficult game to complete.
NGS2 isn't a cake walk, which makes the game worth investing in. There is an art to the battles that involves a lot of attacking and strategic ducking and blocking. Ultimately, you are going to get schooled as you slowly come to the realization that this game is played with brains and brawn. Challenge in video games is something of a rare commodity and NGS2 teeters on the line of being too frustratingly difficult. The effect is pulled off with ample save points and the feeling that if you performed your attacks a little better, the next time will be a success. So while there might be some raging when you fail a hard spot, you'll know that next time will be better.
At the end of each level, it unlocks a corresponding online co-op level that you and another PSN gamer can tackle. The system is rather interesting. You select your character, main weapon, ranged weapon, ninpo (magic spell) and costume and you are set in an arena that resembles the mission you select. There are a couple goals, the first being survive the match. You and your partner may work towards that goal of surviving the waves of fiends but there is a competition between the two of you to see who can rack up the most kills.
What's Not
NGS2 received a lot of care and attention that makes it stand out from the 360 effort; an extra year of development time and playing to a new platform's strengths will do that. What is rather sad is that Team Ninja continues to pander to a low common denominator with the SIXAXIS implementation of jiggling virtual boobs. It is hard to imagine that in a year's time, this was a great use of resources since it has zero effect on gameplay. The only conceivable reason this might have been done is Team Ninja wanted to show how much value motion controls have in their eyes but it is rather unlikely.
NGS2 will load, frequently. There is a mandatory system install first and then when you change weapons or interact with object, there is a hiccup in the gameplay and it feels like the game freezes when you see the loading screen pop up. You'll forget about the disjointed feel when you start combating enemies again, but there are those parts where you are taken out of the otherwise seamless experience.
Final Word
There aren't a ton of sweeping differences between the PS3 and 360 versions of Ninja Gaiden 2 that were released a year apart from each other. It was nice to see the violence toned down a hair and the graphics turned up and an online added but disappointing to see that more meaningful changes like those didn't happen in the extra year that NGS2 received and the much publicized SIXAXIS jiggle mechanic was added for no purposeful reason.
November 20, 2009
