Ninja Gaiden was originally an arcade beat-em up, then became a side-scrolling action title, and after sequels and spinoffs, simply disappeared after 1994's Ninja Gaiden trilogy, which was a collection of the three NES games. Afterwards, the main character, Ryu Hayabusa, became one of the fighters in the Dead or Alive games. Now, a decade after his last solo title, we finally see Ryu in another game of his own. Is it worth the wait? Somewhat, but not really.
First the good. It's obvious that the graphics are winners here. After all, Tecmo's Dead or Alive games are are quite graphically impressive. The story is also quite good, those who expect stuff on par with the NES trilogy's cutscenes will not be disappointed. It's just that when it boils down to the actual gameplay, the game falls apart. It seems simple enough, as it's similar to games like Devil May Cry and Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, with exploring huge areas in 3D, as well as gigantic bosses, but in the end, things fall apart for the reasons that can plague many action games: 1., the controls, especially the faulty XBOX ones. They're just screwed up, for example, the main attack button also happens to be the same as the action button. Not only that, but the controls themselves can screw up. You may try to make Ryu run across a wall, but instead he'll try to run up the building. Second, the one thing that haunts about 99% of all 3rd-person games: The camera. It's just AWFUL. It will often screw you up in the direction you don't want to go in, or make it impossible to tell what enemy is hitting you at what time until half your lifebar is depleted.
So in the end, we have a decent, at best, action game, but far better than the horrid NES original. But it's not perfect. People wanting something to rival Ninja Gaiden 2: Dark Sword of Chaos will be disappointed. Proceed with caution.
First the good. It's obvious that the graphics are winners here. After all, Tecmo's Dead or Alive games are are quite graphically impressive. The story is also quite good, those who expect stuff on par with the NES trilogy's cutscenes will not be disappointed. It's just that when it boils down to the actual gameplay, the game falls apart. It seems simple enough, as it's similar to games like Devil May Cry and Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, with exploring huge areas in 3D, as well as gigantic bosses, but in the end, things fall apart for the reasons that can plague many action games: 1., the controls, especially the faulty XBOX ones. They're just screwed up, for example, the main attack button also happens to be the same as the action button. Not only that, but the controls themselves can screw up. You may try to make Ryu run across a wall, but instead he'll try to run up the building. Second, the one thing that haunts about 99% of all 3rd-person games: The camera. It's just AWFUL. It will often screw you up in the direction you don't want to go in, or make it impossible to tell what enemy is hitting you at what time until half your lifebar is depleted.
So in the end, we have a decent, at best, action game, but far better than the horrid NES original. But it's not perfect. People wanting something to rival Ninja Gaiden 2: Dark Sword of Chaos will be disappointed. Proceed with caution.