A Shinier version of the original Xbox version.
Ninja Gaiden II received a large amount of hype before it was officially launched. After playing it I have confirmed my own doubts about this hype, it is completely unjustified. Why? Well for starters, the game doesn't do anything new...seriously, there is nothing in the game either technically or otherwise that has changed, save for the graphics. Many people may see this as a good thing and try to argue that it boils down to personal taste. True as that may be, not even the most die hard Ninja Gaiden fans can argue away some of the most atrocious, camera work seen in any Xbox 360 title to date. The camera almost always seems to be in the wrong place. You should prepare to fight a lot of off screen enemies, as they are the norm. Another problem with the camera is that sometimes it gets so close to the action, that it makes the incredibly fast and fluid ninja fights come to a screeching halt. This is mainly because of the player having to re-adjust the camera just to get re-oriented. Now that I have ripped this game a new one, I will mention some of the note worthy features in Ninja Gaiden II for the sake of fairness. When the camera is not ruining the action, it is bloody and brutal. I personally like the Lunar Staff because of its crushing power and wide attack radius. Once again, the graphics do look quite nice, especially the weapons and character models. Another one of NG2 merits is that it is an incredibly straight forward game. Which is nice considering a lot of games tend to over do it when it comes to plot and story lines. When you really cut right to it's core, Ninja Gaiden II is a straight forward action game where you slice and dice enemy after enemy. If that sounds appealing to you then by all means give it a try. It's too bad though, that many of the best features of the game are hindered or even crippled by the atrocious,camera work.
