Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge

Originally written 11-20-12

The Dragon Ninja, Ryu Hayabusa is approached by two agents working for an organization by the name of JSDF (Japan's Self-Defense Force). Ryu believes they are there for his help, yet it turns out they're there to help him. An unknown organization displays footage of Ryu battling the Black Spider Clan, and they demand he shows his presence at a hostage situation in London. Who are these people and why are they after Ryu?-summary

In 2012 when Ninja Gaiden 3 was released for both PS3 and X-Box 360 the game wasn't exactly well received. In truth, the game was expected to be bad due to production problems that took place behind the scenes. Fans were very disappointed on the new direction the series had taken, and after playing the game for myself I understood why. While the game did deliver with loads of hack and slash action, it lacked in other areas where Ninja Gaiden usually excelled in; with the weapons and magic selections being the most notable. Fans were also upset about the difficulty claiming the game to be easier than its predecessors, even too easy some would claim. Team Ninja had lowered the difficulty with hopes of roping in newer fans, since the previous games developed a reputation for being very hard.

Well, Team Ninja decided to release Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge in their attempt to fix a game that needed fixing. It's an update to NG3 in the same vein as the Sigma series, with its goal to deliver smoother game play eliminating things that originally held it back. After playing this title all the way through and making comparisons, well yeah, Team Ninja managed to repair some things. But did they do enough to justify a person running out and buying a Wii U for it? Frankly no, they didn't do that at all, and I highly encourage all of those folks out there whom planned on buying a Wii U just for this game to save their money, and take the extremely positive reviews out there with a huge grain of salt. The fanboys are indeed on the attack, and they are clearly claiming this game to be far better than what it really is. To get this part out of the way now, no, it's not better than the Ninja Gaiden Sigma series, not even close, it's not better than Ninja Gaiden Black, Ninja Gaiden for X-Box, or even Ninja Gaiden II for X-Box 360, but it is better than Ninja Gaiden 3, yet at the same time it still fails as a sequel though.

Game Play:

Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge is a single player action/adventure game, that follows Ryu Hayabusa across 8 days (with various stages in between, plus 2 stages for Ayane) as he wages a war against an organization named LOA aka Lords of Alchemy. The organization appears to be lead by a man in a red robe wearing a mask with amazing sword skills. Their motives are not made clear until somewhere near the end of the game.

NG3 is more character driven as it explores Ryu's human side giving him some type of personality, as oppose to him being the near silent assassin he had been in the previous games. One of the complaints of NG3 was that the story felt uninspired and it was just all around dumb. The game uses the exact same story with no changes in its narrative, yet the fanboys are claiming that the story is great this time around; with the exception of Ryu's ally Ayane being playable now through her own missions. I would really like for these people to show me the greatness in this story. Outside of more hack and slash, she really adds nothing to this story.

The first thing one will notice about this game is the higher difficulty on just the Normal mode alone. This is the part where the fans are apparently going crazy about. Yes indeed, the game is much tougher with far more aggressive enemies that will keep you moving in order to stay alive. The normal mode feels like the hard mode of the original NG3, on top of this, Team Ninja took away all of Ryu's abilities and he has to re-learn everything again. His moves can be purchased in the shop at any time during play as long as he's not being attacked, and the same goes for purchasing and upgrading weapons. In order to purchase things, Ryu must kill enemies and earn Karma points. In addition, the Golden Scarabs from the first game return, and you earn an item every time you collect 10 with 50 being the grand total. The scarabs aren't necessary to beat the game, but since some of them increase your health plus unlock more items in the shop, they will make venturing through the game a lot easier.

Team Ninja clearly uses the rest of the series as its pool source in an attempt to give some of these fans what they wanted, in other words, it's filled to the peak with fan service. This can make or break a game believe it or not. Fan service is just fine as long as the sequel or reboot makes some type of series advances on its own, this is something that Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 managed to accomplish. NG3: Razor's Edge takes almost no steps forward as all it does is rely on past accomplishments, which results in the fan service feeling added just to have it. You do get more weapons and magic this time around, but they're all from the previous games; the quick-paced Dragon's Talon, Double Katana's, and Lunar Staff, plus the slower Eclipse Scythe make their returns in the weapons arsenal and I will admit they add variety, but there is nothing new in this area at all. Ryu can once again destroy enemies completely with the Obliteration technique that can only be done on seriously wounded enemies, whom become suicidal when they're missing limbs. This part is almost as gory as you remember if you played NG2 for X-Box 360.

The only improvement was on the technique introduced in NG3 called Steel to Bone. This was a move that delivered a quick close-up segment that saw Ryu dig his blade deep into his enemies resulting in a vicious one slash kill. In the original NG3, this move felt way too random occurring out of nowhere. In this game it can be pulled off at will and meshes perfectly with the very smooth combat that has been consistent with the series. The move only works as a split-second counter to an enemy's grab. When the enemy's hands begin to glow and they lunge towards you, you attack first with the strong slash to stop them in their tracks, and the blow will multiply all depending on how many enemies are within short striking distance. I landed this blow multiple times consecutively, and it can indeed change the tide of battle in your favor. In fact, this is the one move that must be mastered if you want to beat this game on Master Ninja difficulty.

The original NG3 also did away with health power-ups, so there was no way to heal yourself outside of using your single magic attack. This part hasn't changed, but you can heal yourself by purchasing a healing technique that uses up some of your magic bar. Plus you can once again manually charge up your attack into a barrage of slashes, yet it still works at random after you kill a certain amount of enemies. The Challenge gates from NG2 return as well. These are portals that send you into another realm pitting you against waves of enemies in arena style combat, except this time bosses from the previous games appears after you slaughter everyone in sight. In the beginning of the game when you encounter the first boss, being the man in the red robe dubbed Regent of the Mask, he places a curse on Ryu's right arm called the Grip of Murder, which merges his Dragon Sword into his arm using the souls of everyone he has slain to torture him. In NG3, when Ryu's arm began to act up causing him pain, he would move very slowly killing all with a single blow, which was quite stupid. This time he teleports into maybe his consciousness, and battles more enemies in arena combat with his health slowly fading. Still stupid as far as I'm concerned. The bosses are still pretty tough and they consist of multiple segment battles, and if you die during any segment you begin at that part like in NG3. The QTE's are still present and this time the Kunai Climb has been improved, more on that later in the controls section.

NG3: Razor's Edge is a game that is being unfairly praised though. If you're familiar with the progression and complaints of the series then you're going to notice blatant contradictions in regards to some fans praise, thankfully there are others whom still acknowledge that part 3 of the series is still the weakest. To these people raving over this game, first the story was terrible, now it's not, yet it's the same story. That alone should raise the red flag for most people who think rationally.

The fan service is definitely scatter shot as it's added with no real thought behind it. The Challenge gates immediately come to mind; in NG2 this part of the game play was bashed by many people and considered unnecessary since it screwed with the pacing of the game play and added nothing to the story. It has the same effect here and all it does is add a redundant feel to the hack and slash. The same can be said for the Grip of Murder segments; all it does is add more needless killing to the game play, but for some reason it was a problem in NG2 and not a problem here. I don't get it. This wouldn't have been too much of a problem had there been more variety to the character types. This is the same problem with regular NG3, you're killing the same enemies over and over with the occasional Alchemist trio and Fiend monsters tossed out there. It does get quite boring, but again, these same people find it just fine here. The previous games had many enemy types with different strategies required for them, here, you can still get pass pretty much button mashing mixed up with well timed dodging. Yet again it's just not a problem anymore.

I also have issues with the kamikaze tactics of the enemy soldiers. I see it as an error in characterization. I can see ninjas killing themselves for the sake of the mission, because traditionally it's an honor for them to die in battle, so it makes sense for them to do that. The soldiers are mercenaries; people working for money for whatever reasons. The soldiers trying not to die in original NG3 made sense and was part of the characterization that did fit with the theme of that game. Here, they're just as suicidal as the ninja's and I find it too out of character for them. When everyone is suicidal it just becomes a failed gimmick.

I also have to comment on the difficulty. NG3 was supposedly easier in order to appeal to a newer crowd. I'm still lost on how that game was meant to appeal to newbies. It was still hard with many trial and error QTE's, plus there was no real way to consistently heal yourself. That's all still the same this time around, but now the enemies and the bosses can be hard even for a vet of the series. In the eyes of newbies, this game will be fiendishly hard. Now I praised Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 and Ninja Gaiden 3 because Ryu kept plenty of his moves from the earlier games where nothing really had to be learned, only weapons needed to be upgraded. I praised that move in terms of story value because I felt a ninja master will not forget what he knows all for the sake of a sequel. I'm not too steamed about having to re-learn some moves, but Team Ninja really did overdo it here.

Ryu has to re-learn some of the simplest abilities that should come naturally for a ninja, such as hopping on enemies heads to evade them or aiming his arrow while in the air and even auto targeting. I have a hard time imagining a ninja master forgetting those things. Here's an example of how screwed up this part is. Take the second day, there's a segment where waves of very aggressive enemies are attacking in full force, with rocket launcher firers out of your reach. In NG3, you were able to leap in the air and automatically lock on them as the greater threat to take them out with arrows. Here, you have to do it while on the ground, which is near impossible with so much ground resistance. In addition, once you purchase the air auto aiming, there are parts in the game where it does not register to fire off at these said threats. Which in turn forces you to kill everyone on the ground while evading constant fire even from areas you can't even see the attacker. I'm not sure if this is a glitch or if Team Ninja were just drunk on Saki; I am sure this is damn annoying though since it removes a strategic approach to these situations. I am sure this next part is a glitch though. When I made it to the final day, for some reason I was stuck with the Dragon Talon weapon with no way of swapping weapons at all. I couldn't use magic, or any other features that required swapping. I was forced to use this weapon the whole way. I eventually got mad and restarted the level by shutting off the system, and everything was back to normal.

This game indeed has its issues that some people are willfully ignoring. The main campaign is about 6-7 hours, but I can imagine it being longer to those new to the series due to excessive dying. If you're not familiar with the rest of the series or original NG3, you're going to be killed a lot, believe me. I'm not crazy about the bland stage designs either, since nothing really tests Ryu's ninja skills in the least. The actual story introduces quite a bit of characters, and although many of them manage to be quite stereotypical, they get the job done for the most part. The bigger plot portions are wrapped up and the organization's motive concerning the Dragon Sword and the awakening of a new threat does make sense. I only wish that the game at least delved into the Black Spider Clan's involvement, whom happens to be Ryu's clan nemesis. Their appearance feels pretty tacked on.

Controls:

The Wii U controller is somewhat mixed for me. The screen can be used to quickly access ninpo magic attacks with a single press, as opposed to using two buttons on the pad, which sometimes can be unresponsive. Here you can access the complete shop, and it can be seen on both the controller and TV. The moves list for your current weapon is also visible, so if you have a quick memory you can memorize attacks on the fly. It's a pretty cool feature. The only problem with the controller is that the bulky size doesn't feel quite right for a game that relies on such quick reflexes and button prompts. I prefer the Pro Controller but I powered through with the Wii U controller anyway.

All of the buttons have some type of function and they perform well for the most part. Combos are pretty easy to get out, even the ones with various mix-up presses; with practice they will become easier. I had no problem pulling them off since I been playing this series from the beginning. The Kunai Climb is better since you do not have to alternate between the shoulder buttons simulating using Ryu's left and right arms. You can hold one button, and rapidly tap the other and he will climb just as well. Steel to Bone has more to do with practice than actual controls. If you're having trouble with that, well the key is just practice and memorizing character's grab animations which gets easy since they do telegraph it.

Graphics/Music/Sound:

Nintendo fanboys will hoot and holler all day on how this game blows away NG3 on the other systems visually. No, it doesn't blow them away. It does look good though. The character designs look good with some nice animation, and you can track the actual moves during combos for yourself and the enemies. The Obliteration's are very vicious leaving enemies in pieces with loads of blood, but it pales in comparison to NG2 though. In that game, Ryu was leaving one man in about 12 pieces all depending on the weapon. I mean he had moments of putting people through visceral blenders almost as if he was preparing a flesh and blood protein shake. Here there's usually about 3 to 4 big chunks.

Although many of the boss mechs and flying gunships with multiple turrets and missiles look awesome. I still don't care for the heavy Metal Gear influence. Perhaps it's just me, but Ryu feels quite out of his element here and I just favor the more supernatural and mythical beast settings. Some of the battles take place on destroyer ships with some nice ocean like backgrounds and gun fire aiming towards the sky. Unfortunately no stage truly stands out to me though. While the BGM at times captures the energetic feel of combat with various techno tunes that fits very well with the setting of this particular story. It feels quite stale to me now. There are too many tracks reused here. The sound effects are awesome with surround sound; the overly loud bombs dropping sound great and the slicing of flesh is noticeable. I love the sound of the splattering heads when driving enemies head first into the ground. It really does sound like the skull and brain are being completely destroyed. Voice acting is spot on and fits the characters designs, yet I can imagine some people growing quite irritated with the forced cursing from enemy soldiers as they drop the F-bomb almost constantly. It definitely got on my nerves.

Replay:

There are additional game play modes to choose from here. There are challenge stages where you get to speed run through any stage you want after they're unlocked, and you can go online and see how you rank on the leader boards. There's actual online play where you can customize and build up your character to battle in an 8 player death match. I didn't notice any lag in this mode outside of the frame rate drop that does occur in the main game when there's too much traffic. This also goes for the co-op mode when you join forces to tackle some hard missions with other characters being playable such as Momiji from Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword and Kasumi from Dead or Alive. For someone new to this game, there are plenty of things to explore that may take up a good deal of your time only if you're that invested in this title. Also, the most serious fans will want to play through the Master Ninja difficulty, where bosses are shooting much quicker and you can be killed a lot faster.

DLC:

At this moment I believe all of the DLC has been added to this game. On one occasion when I turned it on, the Wii U just started automatically downloading extra characters and stages without a hassle. So you get quite a bit here if you buy this game now.

Who would I recommend this too?:

I only recommend this to hardcore fans that already played NG3 for PS3 or 360. If you're going to buy a Wii U for this, then make sure there's at least one more game on your mind, New Super Mario Bros U or Zombie U. If you're new to the series you're not going to feel this game much. In fact, if you fall into that category, I highly recommend playing this on Hero mode first which is the easy setting, so you can experience the entire game. Normal setting is going to annihilate you, especially once you get to Ayane's story and your skill is not up to standard. If you're a hardcore fan, all you're getting with this game is a higher difficulty and weapons you seen before. If the story was lackluster to you then, you're getting that story again.

Final Thoughts:

Had I purchased a Wii U just for this game due to fanboy reviews I would have felt swindled. It's an improvement over NG3, but I think anything would have been an improvement over that. The game play only managed to fine tune one feature as far as I'm concerned, and that was Steel to Bone. In any case, if you love really tough games you have one here. If you don't, then try to rent this instead.

Rating: 5/10

Pros: Solid multi-player, good sound effects, visuals, and loads of action

Cons: Not that much of an improvement, rental at best