After some more time playing today I will say that the game is flawed...I have the PS3 version of the game, and there are substantial graphical slowdowns. When facing 4 or 5 grunts ( which seems to be the SOP of the game ) things start to get into slow motion when other things are going on. The response time for the controls are not quick enough either, and there is a notable difference between the Normal and Hard modes. Enemies facing you seem to wait for you to attack them on Normal but on Hard mode they are vicious and aggressive. I faced one of the Bosses and he had several more moves on Hard mode than on Normal. The voice acting is rather suspect, Ryu's voice sounds too harsh and old and the sound quality of the other voices are vague. I have issues with the health gauge only replenishing after killing everyone in the section. There are no items to collect or maneuver around, and Bosses have no health bar to see what damage you are inflicting on them or a hit counter to see your combos at work. As cool as the closeups and slashes seem they turn unrealistic quickly after you slice a 4 foot Dragon Sword thru the guy and his waist is still attached to his torso...I don't know, seems like they extracted the best points of the previous two games in the first 40mins I've played of the game. Probably end up giving it a 7.0, as in passable, and oh yeah the story is not Oscar worthy either...

After some more time playing today I will say that the game is flawed...I have the PS3 version of the game, and there are substantial graphical slowdowns. When facing 4 or 5 grunts ( which seems to be the SOP of the game ) things start to get into slow motion when other things are going on. The response time for the controls are not quick enough either, and there is a notable difference between the Normal and Hard modes. Enemies facing you seem to wait for you to attack them on Normal but on Hard mode they are vicious and aggressive. I faced one of the Bosses and he had several more moves on Hard mode than on Normal. The voice acting is rather suspect, Ryu's voice sounds too harsh and old and the sound quality of the other voices are vague. I have issues with the health gauge only replenishing after killing everyone in the section. There are no items to collect or maneuver around, and Bosses have no health bar to see what damage you are inflicting on them or a hit counter to see your combos at work. As cool as the closeups and slashes seem they turn unrealistic quickly after you slice a 4 foot Dragon Sword thru the guy and his waist is still attached to his torso...I don't know, seems like they extracted the best points of the previous two games in the first 40mins I've played of the game. Probably end up giving it a 7.0, as in passable, and oh yeah the story is not Oscar worthy either...

What sword? That thing he supposedly hits the enemies with? Worst sword in the world.

I swear, if it weren't for the blood, everybody just looks like they are play-fighting.

@Lunar_Aura said:

What sword? That thing he supposedly hits the enemies with? Worst sword in the world.

I swear, if it weren't for the blood, everybody just looks like they are play-fighting.

I would not go that far, I think it just looks wierd after how gory ninja gaiden 2 was. Which does look kinda silly given the finishing moves he does.

I think NG3 is dope. Maybe I'm the minority but the game really does kick ass. Look at this.. When u fight someone in real life do you know how much health they have? No lol. So why have it in NG. I personally like the surprise of killing the bosses.

On Day 4 right now, and definitely enjoying it more than NG1 or NG2. This one's finally like the NES games again in terms of tone and story. That's what I've been wanting from day 1. Has some flaws in the gameplay and such(still not as fun as Ninja Blade), but a massive step up regardless. Also, it's nice to have female characters whose giant boobs aren't just spilling out and jiggling all over the place.

@Dragon_Blade said:

Look at this.. When u fight someone in real life do you know how much health they have? No lol. So why have it in NG.

There's no way you thought this was a good argument.

@Quarters said:

On Day 4 right now, and definitely enjoying it more than NG1 or NG2. This one's finally like the NES games again in terms of tone and story. That's what I've been wanting from day 1. Has some flaws in the gameplay and such(still not as fun as Ninja Blade), but a massive step up regardless. Also, it's nice to have female characters whose giant boobs aren't just spilling out and jiggling all over the place.

I find it interesting how many of the people who prefer NG3 over one and two do so because it returns to the series NES roots.

I prefer videogames to stay videogames in some aspect or form and not become too 'real' that's the main reason we play them in the first place, to escape reality somewhat.

Started playing the game myself today, gotten about a quarter through it. My biggest gripe is that the game is terribly tutorialized. Things like not even telling you that you can do different style attacks by doing specific combos, not even having any form of moves-list (heard the US version might have it in the manual?) and the fact that one of the first bosses is pretty much unbeatable unless you have discovered a certain mechanic the game never told you about. Other than that it's an offender of my biggest pet-peeve darkness. It's not terrible but enough to be annoying. Also, when I booted the game up for the first time I thought there was something wrong my TV settings or something, but I quickly realized that it was just the terrible combination of no AA and a lot of contrasted fine mesh on the main character. That's just not a good choice.

I gotta say though, the beginning of the game is pretty damn bold. Starting a game with just a black screen and a button prompt sends a pretty strong message. Although at this point I barely ever see any button prompts anymore as I've learned what I'm supposed to push and they only appear if you take too long. I guess in that way it actually has tutorialized me well. I also actually sorta like the KI mechanic, but I see how people could easily not understand it and end up getting annoyed by the fact that they're spamming the same spell over and over. I do wish they had kept loot in though.