If Ninja Gaiden II had absolutely no plot, no cut scenes and nary an instance that required anything but fast-twitch fibers, fans of the franchise would still buy it….for sixty bucks. Point being the sales pitch here, after the Natural Born Killers blood numb effect kicks in, is furiously paced, third-person action good enough to stand on its own.
Followers of the series will quickly realize that Team Ninja didn't go overboard with the changes when concocting the gameplay for Ninja Gaiden II. Those familiar with its predecessors will be able to pick-up-and-play Ninja Gaiden II with a decent amount of success on the lesser difficulties. The good news for the hardcore NG faithful is that Ninja Gaiden II seems to possess less parity among the weapons, which means individual skill sets brought forth by the user will need to be more sharply honed. This goes right along with the Gaiden series being as cerebral as a game deemed hack-and-slash can get.
Gameplay: 9.3
Addictive hack-and-slash, now with matching blood and gore.
Graphics: 9.0
Impressive art direction paints pretty pictures. Looks better in the stills, however.
Audio: 8.8
Where's the Aerosmith?
Longevity: 8.8
We don't need no stinking multiplayer with solo action this crack-like.
Innovation: 8.5
Not as much innovative, as it is a solid hack-n-slash from the developers that define the genre.
Overall:
TeamXbox SILVER Editor's Choice Award
9.0 out of 10
