Game: NINJA GAIDEN Sigma 2
Publisher / Developer: TECMO
Genre: Action
Verdict: Rent first, buy later if you’re a fan
Pros: Stylish with excellent graphics and a long playtime. Variety of characters to play
Cons: Repetitive and predictable, pre-loading takes a long time
Let’s talk a walk down memory lane. It is 1989 and the hot system on the market is the NES. It is a slightly cool day in Baltimore city as I wait outside for what is to be one of the biggest titles of the year. This is a time before you could pre-order a game, and just go get your copy when ever you have time. The doors open and forty five minutes later I am the proud owner of Ninja Gaiden.
It was a staple in the history of the series and in console gaming itself. It had cinematic cut scenes, the introduction of the shuriken and the magical abilities (ninpo) that later games would follow with.
Now we flash forward to the present with Ninja Gaiden: Sigma 2. It has come a long way from the 1989 release and even the more recent releases in 2004. There were some major improvements made to the game, and I am not talking just graphics. There is a multiplayer mode, additional playable characters and lots of weapons.
Let me first introduce the playable characters:
Ryu Hayabusa – The main character of the Ninja Gaiden series, super ninja, descendant of the Dragon lineage, and current wielder of the Dragon Blade.
Ayane – While she is not one of the Hayabusa clan, she helps Ryu every now and then.
Momiji – Member of the Hayabusa clan, she is the newest Shrine Maiden and start off with a Naginata. Originally appeared in Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword game.
Rachel – Demon hunter who is in possession of the “Fiend’s Blood” curse. Appeared in the Original Ninja Gaiden. “Carries a big gun.”
The Disk
When you insert the disk into the PS3 for the first time don’t expect to jump right into the hack and slash of the game. You are required to install it to the hard drive. At first I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t just jump right into the game, but to my surprise the game creators put a little story in there for you to watch while you were waiting. I have to say that I loved the prologue. It was done in a comic book style and was entertaining for the time I had to wait. I enjoyed it so much that I made my wife watch it with me.
When the game is finally installed, you get to choose which difficulty you would like to play: Path of the Acolyte or Path of the Warrior. I, of course, chose Path of the Warrior, because I am one badass ninja.
You start out as Ryu with a dragon sword and your first mission is to save Tokyo. As you proceed through the storyline you get to pick up new weapons. Every weapon has a distinctive style, but after a playing for a bit you may find yourself using only a few of the combos to get the job done.
The weapons are fascinating and you get to choose from a wide variety. You start with the Dragon sword (katana), followed by Lunar Staff (Staff), Falcon’s Talons (hand and foot claws), Dragon’s Claw & Tiger’s Fang (paired short katanas), Tonfa (hard wood clubs), Eclipse Scythe (really big scythe), Kusari-gama (sickle with iron chain), Enma’s Fang (really big sword). There are three aerial weapons that Ryu gets. They are the shuriken, Fiend’s Bane bow, and the Howling Cannon. All the melee weapons can be upgraded two times each as well. What I like about this is that the weapons physically undergo a change not only on the upgrade menu, but they visually change when you are carrying them around equipped. This is a nice nod to the power of current-gen hardware and software.
Ryu has some cool moves like the Izuna drop and the wall run. He can also do a multi jump (Flying Bird Flip) that allows you to make your way up shafts, back and forth between the walls, Mario-style. There is an obliterate technique that is usable when near an enemy that is missing a limb, this is always an entertaining way to kill your enemy. He also can use ninpo (magic) – the special effects are enhanced with the time that you have wait for the ability to activate.
After a few chapters of playing Ryu, they pull a switch on you and let you play Momiji, the Shrine Maiden. She is from the Hayabusa clan and her first mission is to save a young boy from two lesser fiends. She is pretty darn fast with the naginata but incredibly weak against most of the opponents. I found the mission to be very quick until I reached the final fight. The last boss is actually a set of twin fiends that tended to be a little annoying to fight. Annoying as in, “really difficult.” I would normally try to use more powerful combos but had no success. Finally, after fighting them a few times, I actually reverted to old fashion button mashing. This seemed to do the trick.
The game switches right back to Ryu and fighting through out the rest of the world, and then after a few more chapters you go to the next female fighter, Rachel. Some of you may remember Rachel from previous Ninja Gaiden games. The exciting thing is that she is controllable and is fairly powerful, not to mention really hot. The mission takes place in New York; which is the second time you visit the city. She is a demon hunter and has a few cool moves. The fun part is that she has a heavy machine gun that she uses as her distance weapon. Would be fun if they offered it in a fully automatic version, but that may be a little too much to ask for, so you have to settle for continuously pushing the fire button. This leads you through the city to meet a fiend at the top of sky rise.
Then back to Ryu again, you play him through a few more missions then you switch again. This time to the young, pretty Ayane, not sure ultimately what she has to do with the Hayabusa clan but she is there to help. And to look hot.
I think Ayane may be one of my favorite characters as she has everything that is needed in a female heroine. She has purple hair, she is pretty and carries two swords. If only all women in my life did. Oh, and she also carries explosive daggers, which is very cool if you ask me. My issue with her is how incredibly weak her attacks are. Though she is amazing in the speed category, it seemed to me to take entirely too long to dispose of just one enemy.
Another notable mention is Muramasa, the shopkeeper; this is also the place where you upgrade your weapons. The thing that I didn’t like about the weapons upgrade is that you have to level most of the weapons evenly. You can’t jump the gun and make one weapon more powerful then all the rest. So you find yourself leveling one weapon at a time in the order that you think you will use the weapons. I also am not sure how they came up with the prices, but it seemed a little weird that the main character always had to pay a higher prices then the side characters. Stupid side characters.
In the multiplayer version you can either play online or local, and while multiplayer is fun to play, it is really nothing more then a survival mode. You get wave after wave of the enemies attacking you and your teammate. The one nice thing is that a second player is not required. When you choose to play as a single player, the computer will automatically play as the second.
The game is visually stunning with raining blood, murky waters and eye popping special attacks. The amazing cinematic eye candy of the cut scenes and the equally pleasing ear-candy of the audio makes for one incredible gaming experience. You can actually hear the enemies making their way to you. Make sure you pop some headphones on if you live or play in a noisy room. The main battles are fun, although after fighting the third main bad guy, I began to feel a sense of repetition. It seemed to me that every chapter ended with fight a giant monster of some sort. It was cool to fight the Buddha statue (giant), and the Statue of Liberty (giant), and the fiends (giants). In fact, out side of fighting Genshin (the leader of the Black Spider clan) and Elizebet, all the other main enemies are giants of some nature. I mean, I know you are fighting monsters and all, but does everything have to be gigantic? Couldn’t we see a little tiny monster, all bad ass and Yoda’d out? I like this game very much, but it gets predictable with regards to encounters with the enemies. So, in the end, it goes from a great must-own title to a play through once game. Ok, maybe twice if you have a friend who wants to see it.
Overall, it will be worth your money if you are a fan of the series like I am. The manual comes with a little comic as well, and a soundtrack with the collector’s edition. If you’re not a huge Ninja Gaiden fan, be sure to rent it first to see what you’re getting into before plunking down a whole chunk of change on something that may start to feel a bit repetitive by the 4th ginormous level boss.
Popularity: unranked [?]
