Is This What Ninja Gaiden Has Become?!
NINJA GAIDEN 3 - XBOX 360/PS3
Ninja Gaiden..a household name for all original Xbox owners, Ninja Gaiden 2..a solid follow up title for all Xbox 360 owners..Ninja Gaiden 3..seems to slot somewhere inbetween the two, covered in a crimson mass, cowering behind the cushions.
I didn't allow myself to become excited about 'Ninja Gaiden' 3 and i'm extremely happy that i didn't because i feel if i had, i would have been a little more than disappointed, however due to avoiding all previews and interviews prior to its release, i was able to play through this for what it is and make a very clear-headed opinion in the form of this review.
My first impression of the game was, much like that of the 2nd installment, nice intro, blood and swords, darting around the screen like a bumblebee on a sugar high, fountains of red liquid spraying all over me, this is nice, very nice! I want more! Keep it coming!! But after another 3-4 levels of pretty much the exact same thing, my impression was quickly changing. My mind was now racing with basic questions such as, where are the shiny new weapons? Where is the option to upgrade Hayabusa? Will i unlock any other moves or powers?! The answer became starkly clear, none of the above existed in this iteration.
At this point my impressions and opinion very quickly changed..which i shall break down.
GRAPHICS: 4/5
This is one area the Ninja Gaiden team never fail to impress with. Lighting, backgrounds and general visuals are far above acceptable and in SOME areas, could easily (next opt ME3) compete for best looking game of the year so far!
AUDIO: 4/5
Again nothing really to complain about with the exception of EVERY enemy throughout the game having an English accent..this i do not understand but i guess its all part of the direction Team Ninja were heading for. Other than this, music, voice acting and sound effects are generally above average for a Japanese made action romp.
GAMEPLAY: 1/5
However, this is where the game REALLY falls flat on its face and smashes its nose like a watermelon dropped from 15ft high.
The one thing most people will mention when talking about the original Ninja Gaiden, is how many hours they spent reloading saves, getting sweaty palms, throwing controllers across the room and rage-quitting...either that or they'll simply say it was quite hard!
However whichever way they decide to get that point across, the fact remains the same, Ninja Gaiden was known for being difficult, even #2 had a high standard of basic difficulty...Ninja Gaiden 3 couldn't be further from the days of old, there is practically zero difficulty and in order to complete the game, you simply need to walk in the direction you wish to go and mash X repeatedly for the next 5-6hours. There is no weapon upgrades, no weapons other than the standard sword, the bosses are laughable at best and while the trailers and intro contain several shots of Ryu Hayabusa's right arm being badly scarred, it serves no purpose in gameplay whatsoever.
With no weapon selection, no upgrades for Ryu, no real difficulty, you can see where this is going.
STORY: 1/5
Non-existent would be an appropriate summary. The ideas behind the whole game are poor, i'm trying to keep the story a secret for all those who may chose to play this but to say it doesn't suit the previous games would be an understatement. The game performs one of these ever increasingly popular 'full-circle' stories, where the player begins the first level, at the end of the story and what follows is the build up to that moment, however very well done in Asura's Wrath, it is needless within this title.
Also unlike most Japanese games these day, DMC, Final Fantasy etc the bosses add nothing to it and seem to have been thrown together for humour rather than to further the story. Several things are left unanswered throughout and the idea of what Hayabusa has become compared to what he once was in a joke. More work needed.
MULTIPLAYER: 3/5
From what little i managed to actually play on this, it can only be described as sloppy. This however is something i don't understand with games today, back in the late 90's people could play Unreal Tournament on a slow connection and still get games with no issues, yet with today's modern high-speed connections, finding games, staying in games and them actually running smoothly, still seems to be a huge problem for some companies to get their heads around. Its a brave effort from Team Ninja but again one that falls drastically short of the mark set by many games these days, Assassins Creed, Call of Duty and Street Fighter all manage it well..if they wanted to add a multiplayer feature, at-least be sure to make it good enough to play!
The modes available are pretty weak but enough to keep average players happy once they get into a game, despite being extremely dull to seasoned gamers.
SUMMARY: 2/5
Overall to reiterate, Ninja Gaiden falls very much short of the title it carries, it feels less like a Ninja Gaiden entry to the series and more like a Dynasty Warriors button mash-fest with no feeling of satisfaction past the first level and no sense of accomplishment upon completion. The game deserves all the bad reviews it gets and then some, any that give it praise or a review score higher than a 5/10, 50/100 or 2/5 has either been paid off, never played any of the previous Gaiden series or is simply playing a different game to myself.
Gamertag: Yoda Shinoda
Twitter: @YodaShinoda
