Not quite as good as the first, but still kick ass
This is my first review so sorry if it sucks. Anyway, I like so many others enjoyed and played the hell out of Ninja Gaiden Black and was super stoked when the sequel was announced. I rushed out and bought it as soon as I could. Personally I really enjoyed the game; however this doesn’t mean that it lived up to all my expectations.
To start off the combat is awesome. The weapons for the most part are fun to use. The combat is still fast paste like the original but now it is super gory, with severed limbs flying everywhere. However to me one of the games main weakness is in its combat. Mainly due to how frustrating it gets. Unlike the original it seems that the enemies in this have numerous moves that are absolute cheap shots that don’t give you a chance to attack back. For instance, there is one part in the game where you come to a shallow pool of water and several (10 or so) worms pop out of the ground. These worms have an attack in which they bite you and throw you around. My experience on this part consisted of me being attacked in this way and then being attacked with the same move again by a different worm right as I got up with virtually no time to dodge out of the way or pull off an attack of my own. These “cheap shots” seem to be true for many of the enemies in the game, including the bosses. Aside from this the combat is spot on and very satisfying.
Since it is easy to point out negatives in a game I will point out the games other huge problem, the camera. The camera in this game in many areas flat out sucks, and in some cases is just plain god awful. Sometimes you can’t even see what you are being attack by because you are surrounded by small melee enemies with flying ones launching stuff at you from off camera. Personally I think that the camera should be pulled out a bit.
Aside from these two big weaknesses the game has many strengths. The graphics, for the most part are excellent, however there is some minor slowdown every once in a while. The sound is also good, at least when I paid attention to it.
Overall this is an excellent game and an easy recommend for fans of the series. However the level of difficulty is pretty high which makes it harder to recommend to those who aren’t familiar with either the series or the genre.
