Ninja Gaiden Black

Ninja Gaiden was a game that I liked. I played it once and put itside, thinking that that was that. Time passed, numerous other games were played and I, for some reason, became interested in Ninja Gaiden Black. Perhaps it was the talk of the insanely difficult that, reportedly, only one Tecmo tester could finish. I picked it up. Played it on Normal. Played it on Hard. Played it on Very Hard. Played (and finished) it on Master Ninja. It was that time, 80 hours later, I realised that this game was practically perfect.

Ninja Gaiden puts you in the skin tight ninja outfit of Ryu Hayabusa - the deadliest, take no bullshit Ninja to ever grace a console. Many complain about the story: it isn't deep, it doesn't make much sense, 2d characters. I say, these people are dead wrong The story fits perfectly with the game it is - OTT and simply cool. The story gives you a villian with a decent motive to fight and sends you to beautiful locations for fairly good reason. I don't want Ryu questioning what it is to live and whether each ghost-fish has as much right to live as he does. p.s. the ghost-fish by the way have no right to life.

The gameplay consists of wandering around lovely looking locations, killing numerous baddies and solving not-completely-braindead puzzles along the way. Despite the locations changing regularly so that you never get bored of the background, you won't have much time to stop and stare with the fierce, fierce combat. You're constantly outnumbered by ninja and fiends who, even individually, may seem tougher than you are. They fight to kill you as quickly as possible and the only way to survive is to defend, defend and then attack. As you progress you're quickly nab a few very different weapons. They vary in speed and strengh and each one is simply more than a paint job. You'll have to change your game completely depending on which weapon you prefer. As well as all these weapons, using only 'X' and 'Y' for normal and strong attack respectively, there are a countless number of moves at your disposal.

You start with the difficulties 'Normal' and 'hard' only. I would recommend 'Normal' for virtually all players. 3 deaths on the first level allows you to play 'Ninja Dog' which is far easier but much more enjoyable for the more casual, don't wanna learn loads of combo, players. Normal will be challenging first time, getting to grips with all the moves at your disposal, learning the enemies attack pattern and gaps in their defence to attack with the right move. At first, actually thinking during an action game may seem too much but most will soon get used to it and love it you shall.

So, the new difficulty - Master Ninja. Is it the hardest difficulty ever? Perhaps, perhaps not. It's been only one of few games where I've actually attempted the hardest difficulty so I can't fairly say. I can fairly say, however, that it is hard. Damn hard. Despite this, it is never cheap. Unlike its dissapointing sequal, if you die it's most likely your fault. No enemies will appear from a hidden corner where one moves means the next is unblockable and so on til you and the controller is dead. You mess up in your fight, allow yourself to get hit then you'll lose serious health but it will have been on your fault. There becomes no such thing as a fight along the way. Every fight is one that requires full concentration. And it's bloody brilliant because of it. By the end of finishing Master Ninja, Normal mode will seem ridiculously easy and you will look like a complete pro playing it. Play it with a friend and let them play and die and take over. They'll see you as a God! The girls love it!

The enemies are fantastic and very varied. Speedy cat women from hell, giant club-weilding monsters, ninja, ghost fish and many others. Some have similarities but overall are different. The bosses are also a highlight and like the days of old, require careful study of their attacks to learn when to strike effectively. On Master Ninja most bosses are accompanied with quite a few regular enemies which ups the challenge considerably. You my want to tear your hair out but you'll also want to kick that idiot's ass! Hard!

There is one other enemy in the game but he's very mild and not quite as difficult and scary as most make out - The Camera! He's fine really. By a click of a stick you can alter the camera to have full control but you'll never use it. Tapping one of the triggers (I forget) you'll centre it behind you. It's fine. On the odd occasion you may not be facing exactly where you want but overall it does work fine. Forgeddaboutit!

Sound is also great. Fun music that isn't too OTT and surpirsingly decent voice acting, although you can still listen in Japanese, which with all the Ninja I feel fits better!

So, you there. The game may be a few years old now but it hasn't been beaten. It's utter brilliance and whether you pick it up dirt cheap or on the market place you owe it to yourself to play this game. You may not love it at first but stay with it, learn a bit and love it a lot! Beautiful graphics, outstanding gameplay and lovely noise! Ballistic, fast-paced and violent! Get this game!