This was my first Ninja Gaiden game, but I just couldn't help getting excited for it. The gore and finisher moves just looked spectacular. Unfortunately this game did not release without a hitch.
For most people the camera can come off as an annoyance but this came as a minor hindrance to me. Occasionally it did get in the way when coming around a corner of a building, the enemy would seem to appear out of nowhere and tear you to shreds.
This is where some cheap shots can come in. As you progressively get further into the chapters, the enemies will become very powerful, and can execute ultimate techniques, which is where the enemy uses seemingly non-stop slashes to greatly reduce your health. Of course this can be somewhat avoided by blocking when the move is executed by your enemies but to the novice of the Ninja Gaiden games, blocking will not be a much realized useful tool in getting through the it.
Your enemies start off easy and leave you almost wondering how this game was ever heavily criticized as a hard game, but you soon find out that the enemies get harder, and hard fast. Especially cheap enemies you will come across are the ninjas that use guns and rocket launchers as their weapon of choice that come mid-game. The ninja rocket launchers can be quite the annoyance because they usually appear in the distance and show up in conjunction with especially difficult enemies, causing you to stumble every time you get slammed with a rocket giving the surrounding enemies a perfect opportunity to attack you. The difficulty alone can turn players off of the game completely or cause them to put the game on the shelf for a short while until they work up the courage to face it again.
Boss fights can be fairly easy if you find the right tools and rhythm in which to dispose of them, but you will find that some bosses can be especially difficult, and some you will have multiple encounters with. Most of the difficulty is left into what the best strategy is to defeat the boss. Of course this will lead to a lot of dying and trying new things. Weapons and powers can be useful variants to turn the tables in your favor, however some work better in certain parts of the game then others.
Even with its spectacular difficulty, what it does well, it does it to near perfection. The combat can be surprisingly addictive and satisfying while the boss fights leave you feeling a sense of accomplishment. Just beating the game leaves you feeling great for defeating the most punishing game this generation.
In conclusion, the ups do a very nice job of outweighing the downs. Even with some flaws, Ninja Gaiden II does a very nice job of executing its gameplay, and while the camera can turn off some players it can be easily overlooked, just as long as you stay out of tight corners. Even though this has no multi-player, you feel like you get your money's worth out of the game. With over a dozen chapters it will take you a great deal of time to beat it. While its story was almost non-existent it was hardly noticed as most of the depth and enjoyment in the game was in the gameplay itself.
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A Change.org petition to bring all three titles in the new Ninja Gaiden trilogy to Steam is gaining traction.
While Ninja Gaiden 2 and Demon’s/Dark Souls are the obvious shouts, I’d argue the case for Halo 3 on Legendary being one of the tougher nuts to crack this generation (when played solo at least) and, let’s be honest, COD: World at War on Veteran is a complete pain in the ass (how the hell can the Japanese afford so many grenades?).
Absolutely! IMO, My hardest games this gen were:
-Hard Corps: Uprising
-Demon's Souls
-Dark Souls
-Mega Man 9
-Mega Man 10
-Metal Gear Online (it was the hardest to master (yet most rewarding) multiplayer to play)
-MG Rising Reveangance (not a fan, but it IS challenging!)
-Ninja Gaiden 1 & especially NG 2
-Catherine
-Tokyo Jungle (especially when using herb-eating animals only)
Looking for old-school style of hardcore gaming? These games won't disappoint!
Not sure about Demon's Souls, it more had a learning curve but most fights once learned became easy and more often than not every fight had a "cheap" way to win. When I did my 3rd play-through for the Platinum trophy I got through the entire game in 3 hours, 0 deaths.
That said I have nothing to add to the list, I generally don't play anything besides RPG's. Catherine was probably the hardest game I played this gen, I'd call it harder than Demon's Souls.
You can add Dead Space 1 to 3.
Hardcore mode is hell and you pay a lot on small mistakes.
I don't remember the hardcore mode challenge for 1 but I'll tell you about the rest.
For 2, there's no check points, you start the game from zero and you only get 3 saves for the entire campaign, enemies are aggressive and resources are less.
For 3, you start the game from zero, you can save as much as you want but on death your save will be reset to the start of the game. Resources are less, and enemy will brutalize you.
Halo solo was simple for me, but w@w was a pain. Took me so long to beat it on veteran. Complete insanity with all them grenades
Of generation 7? Well, for me that would have to be Metal Gear Rising. I've never played any other game that was as fun as it was frustrating due to its difficulty.
Agreed. This game is an absolute blast. Pity it is not a multiplatform title so more can enjoy the greatest fighting/ action game yet.
Great review Boldy! You put into words exactly how I felt about NG2.
The same here.A great game with tons of gore,awesome combos,and great weapons.Ive beaten it on warrior,that was hard though.4 Weeks str8 through!
Well after re-looking over this review I forgot about a flaw in the game that I completely forgot to mention in this review. The framerate dropped quite considerably during some sections of the game so my new score for the game has been lowered to an 8.4