Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2

Ninja Gaiden Σ2+ is a difficult game to recommend. A mostly playable and entertaining 3D action game on the Vita is always welcome. On the other hand, frame rate issues hinder the fluidity of combat and responsiveness of the controls, both expected staples of any respectable action game. Those who do brave the technical missteps of Team NINJA's port of a port will find a 10 hour single player story and many hours of extra content.

The single player story of Σ2+ revolves around protagonist Ryu Hayabusa, the Dragon Sword wielding star of past Ninja Gaiden titles and frequent guest of the DOA fighting game series. Ryu discovers a collaboration between the rival Black Spider Ninja Clan and the Greater Fiends, who plot to revive an archfiend using a Demon Statue long protected by the Hayabusa clan. The plot does little but serve as a reason for Ryu to be in so many different area during his adventure; from an aircraft carrier to a dense jungle with ruins scattered about, there is good degree of variety in environments. The game does a decent job in keeping the game-play fresh throughout its lengthy 10 hour single player story. The player is constantly receiving new weapons and ninpo abilities, with each weapon having their own move set, charge up attacks, execution animations, and nuances. Each weapon can also be upgraded in levels, each level opening up new combos and appearances for the weapon. Finally, there are three additional missions during the campaign that allow you to play as the female characters Rachel, Momiji, and Ayane, each who play differently from Ryu. Unfortunately, these characters cannot be used outside of their own missions in the story mode.

The biggest issue Σ2+ faces is in its presentation. Load times feel a tad too long, with some hitting close to 20 seconds, and bringing up menus in game is occasionally accompanied by an awkward pause. Textures and graphical detail have been downgraded from the console version, and the maximum number of enemies on screen has been reduced, an expected trade-off for portability on the Vita. However, despite these sacrifices the game still struggles to hold a stable 30 frames per second. Such instances of unstable frame rate result in the feel of delayed inputs, difficulty in stringing combos, and the inability to know what is even happening on screen. There is also strange drop in resolution and detail that occurs for a second or two in what feels like the game is trying to play catch up with what is on screen. The game does run decently enough for the majority of the time which makes the instances when these graphical hiccups do occur quite jarring. While it is unlikely Team NINJA will issue a patch to address these issues, players have found that increasing camera speed and turning off gore help mitigate the frame rate problems.

Content-wise, the game has quite a bit more to do after the single player story mode. Chapter challenges allow you to replay specific chapters in the story at different difficulty modes. At the end of the chapter the game will rank you on performance based on your karma score, time to completion, and remaining ninpo uses. However, the lack of online leader-boards reduces the competitiveness of the scoring system to little more than a condition to unlock a costume or a screenshot in an online gaming forum. A tag mission mode allows you and an AI partner to fight and survive through waves of set enemies. Player control can be swapped between either character, but the lack of online or local co-op between human players can make tackling some of the more difficult missions a nightmare due to the underwhelming AI of your partner. Finally, a ninja race mode tasks the player with reaching the end of a linear map within a certain time limit. Players can choose to fight enemies for maximum points or just run past them. The three female characters, in addition to Ryu, are playable in tag missions and ninja race. Σ2+ introduces a new difficulty mode called Hero mode designed for newcomers that allows for auto-blocking and increased damage to enemies. Being on the Vita, the front touch screen is used to control your projectile weapon. Tapping the projectile icon brings up the weapon and locks on to nearby enemies. Tapping elsewhere on the screen causes your character to quickly fire in that direction, automatically shooting at enemies if tapped they are tapped on. The rear touch pad is also used for aiming but is disabled by default. The touch screen controls are inoffensive and work well enough.

As mentioned, Ninja Gaiden Σ2+ is a difficult game to recommend. An unstable 30 FPS action game is difficult to pass as acceptable in a game where enemies are more than capable of killing your character in a few attacks at higher difficulties. The lack of online leader-boards make high score chasing in the extra modes a personal affair. However, if you really do not mind the several instances of rather severe frame rate drops found in both the single player story and the extra game-play modes like the tag missions, or just need a portable action game, Σ2+ is still a mostly enjoyable ride throughout with enough content to keep coming back to for many hours. However, if you are looking for a new action game to play, portable or not, your money might be better spent on recent console titles like Ninja Theory's DmC or Platinum Game's Revengeance.