TAG | Review: Ninja Gaiden II – now with added gore |
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| by Mike Bantick | |
| Saturday, 21 June 2008 | |
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Page 2 of 3 The environments whilst well rendered, are devoid of life other than Ryu and his deadly quarry. Occasionally a rainstorm or other weather affect adds atmosphere, but otherwise the backdrops are merely that, wallpaper to the combat.  Speaking of combat, it is speeded up in this game, with much of the early action being difficult to follow as you battle not only the Black Spider Clan, but the games awkward camera angles and foes that look very much like Ryu himself. It is easy to lost on screen as the blurring action can make it hard to do other than button mash But once you get hold of the combat techniques the game becomes immensely more enjoyable. And combat techniques there are, through the use of strong and weak attacks, coupled with blocking and movement combo's Ryu can take on a horde of enemy Ninja or fiends in a whirr of blades and Ninpo (Ninja magic). Weapons vary from the Dragon Blade up to the Eclipse Scythe whilst Ryu can also equip projectiles such as Shurikens, a Bow and during the Venice level a Gatling Speargun, which does seem to introduce some balance bugs during its appearance. Add the Ninpo magic and a limited inventory of healing items and the Ninja management is pretty simple to handle. Some weapon attacks can be powered up in dramatic fashion, and the weapons themselves can be levelled up to add further combo options for Ryu to use as the game progresses. The battles themselves are studies in gore, Ryu can dismember enemies and follow up with an obliteration move that finishes the foe off in cinematic style. Bloodied body parts and stains will litter the landscape behind Ryu and he himself will take a beating along the way. Luckily, TECMO and Team NINJA added a layered health system involving automatic regeneration and restoration at save points, a boon for survivability in a hostile video game world. Boss characters are regularly thrown into the challenge, though their incarnation varies in difficulty from god-awfully difficult to disappointingly easy. The Boss battles are satisfyingly epic in presentation and the resultant exultation is enough to forgive the balance issues. |
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