Ninja Gaiden Black
The real ultimate power.
Tags: Ninja Gaiden Black Categories: Reviews, Xbox Reviews
Posted by Ludwig on Mar 23rd, 2006
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ninja Gaiden Black (title page) | 1 | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Action | Yes | ||
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The way you picture a game in your mind’s eye can be quite different from the way you view it whilst you’re actually holding the control pad. Think of it this way: We all have little game libraries in our heads, with each game we’ve played filed neatly on a shelf and tagged with a Post-It note that briefly sums up how we felt about it. Whenever you’re reminded of a certain title, you mentally reach into the appropriate shelf, look at the game’s cover and note that “the final boss was ridiculously cheap” or that “the storyline was great, but the combat threatened to put me into a coma.” Driven by hindsight and your own personal taste, it’s a convenient system that usually allows you to view each game as a whole and as an object with both good and bad properties.
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Gazing back at Ninja Gaiden and the hastily scribbled note stuck on its casing, it becomes clear that the game did have some minor faults. It says here that the camera didn’t always behave at its best and that the story occasionally felt a little unambitious. From this point of view, it’s easy to see the merit of those observations and it’s likely that they’ll come up whenever you find yourself discussing (or reviewing, in this case) the game. However, taking a few steps back and judging Ninja Gaiden from a distance does the game a great disservice. No, the best way to make up your mind regarding Team Ninja’s epic action opus (and its Black expansion pack) is to examine your feelings on it as you’re busy leaping over enemies, running on walls and lopping snarling heads off. It’s very likely that, during those moments, you’ll come to the conclusion that the game is perfect, or at least as close to perfect as any game has managed in this generation.
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There’s a raw feeling of empowerment that emanates from Ninja Gaiden Black, a feeling that seemingly alters your frame of mind to such a degree that you, at least momentarily, start believing that you’re a supremely agile and exceedingly deadly ninja. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Make no mistake, the character you control, one Ryu Hayabusa, is undoubtedly the most powerful being in the game and indeed, one of the most agile characters in videogaming history. That doesn’t suggest that all enemies and challenges might simply be swept aside, only that you have an extremely powerful tool at your disposal. Much like a gun, it only becomes useful once you take the safety off, learn how to aim properly and muster enough courage to pull the trigger. All it takes is some skill, some practice and some perseverance in order to overcome the game’s initially daunting difficulty level.
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While the absolutely devious enemy AI is a large hurdle in that respect, learning how to effectively use Ryu’s acrobatic abilities, repertoire of weapons and the hundreds of different accompanying attacks effectively is another that’s possibly just as large. The game’s constantly challenging you to better yourself, challenging you to learn something you haven’t tried yet. A conservative number of healing items and an overwhelming array of opponents ensures as much, demanding that you dismiss button mashing and learn the very necessary techniques for yourself. Another layer on top of that is the game’s essence gathering, a system where Ryu can absorb energy from defeated foes in order to perform instant special attacks. The more enemies are killed by a special attack, the more energy is released. Since absorbing the essence requires a second or two of charging, working these pauses into your combat to create a deadly chain reaction only becomes easy with enough practice. And therein lies the fun – the feeling of satisfaction that accompanies your growing prowess so perfectly conveyed by the game’s visuals. When you’re tossing shurikens, countering incoming attacks and defying gravity with aplomb all in one swift sequence, you know you’re doing something right.
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With the feel of the game’s action coming across perfectly, it should be added that in terms of pure design, Ninja Gaiden Black is equally near-flawless. No doubt enhanced by Team Ninja’s deep experience with their fighting flagship series, Dead or Alive, the hit detection in the game is fantastic, allowing you to accurately judge whether or not your sword is in reach of someone’s throat. The visceral feedback is just as accomplished, with enemies exploding in fountains of gore after being struck by one of Ryu’s fluidly animated killing blows. Textures are sublime (especially when running the game in 480p), character models are beautifully modeled, levels are expansive and loading times are minimal.
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More importantly, the controls are absolutely spot-on, responding immediately to your commands to the point where it feels as if there’s really no hunk of plastic tethered to a cable between you and the on-screen action. Partially to blame on Ryu’s lightning fast movements, your thoughts quickly cease dwelling on which buttons to press and instead focus on what your reaction to the given situation should be. If you believe that running up a nearby pillar or launching an airborne attack from a nearby corner is you’re only chance at victory, you’ll have pulled the action off before you’ve even considered which buttons you’ll need to press first. It’s just that natural.
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The same holds true for the game’s camera. Yes, occasionally it doesn’t point in the direction you’d like to. This is easily remedied by a mechanic that really should be implemented in more action games. Rather than worrying about twiddling the right analog stick and being unable to press any of the face buttons at the same time, one only needs to pull the right trigger in order to force the camera behind Ryu. It works marvelously and quickly becomes second nature, even in the midst of a hectic battle. The technique is also well suited to adjusting the camera when involved in one of the game’s few (but excellent) Prince of Persia-esque platforming sequences where Ryu must swing on branches, avoid traps and cross deadly chasms. You know, the usual Ninja stuff.
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Clearly, Ninja Gaiden Black is worthy of a purchase based simply on the merits of the 2004 original. Is it worth buying when you’ve already completed Ninja Gaiden? Yes. It would be fair to say that the game should be especially attractive to those that enjoyed the first release simply because they are most likely to appreciate Black’s many, many additions. The most superficial enhancements come in the form of additional real-time cutscenes (with a rather cool one at the very beginning) that slightly enhance the very straightforward yet well presented storyline of the first game.
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Your encounters with fellow DOA alumni Ayane are a bit more interesting now, especially should you choose the new Ninja Dog difficulty. Berating you for your weakness and forcing you to wear an embarrassing pink ribbon, she makes sure you don’t soon forget that you chose the game’s most forgiving difficulty level. It basically amounts to more healing items being dispensed, but it’s a good way for newcomers to get to grips with the game’s intricate combat system. Of course, there’s also a new difficulty level added on the opposite end of the spectrum, namely Master Ninja. Needless to say, it is soul-crushingly grim and nigh impossible. All the difficulty levels have been slightly modified, with those from Hard and upwards benefiting from the new, tougher enemies added by the original game’s initial Hurricane Pack (a downloadable Xbox Live add-on). Those annoying cat ladies are as certainly as agile as ever, but with the help of the spectacular new Lunar staff (also from the first Hurricane Pack) , you’re well equipped to handle them.
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Ninja Gaiden Black also boasts a new standalone mode that packs in no less than 50 unbelievably brutal missions. These missions are surmountable, but only after a great deal of practice and effort will you reap the very satisfying rewards. If you thought some of the individual bosses in the main game were tough, just wait until you have to face more than one at the same time. The challenges in this mode, which incorporate some of the content from Hurricane Pack Vol. 2, would be enough to fuel an entire game and so receiving them as a bonus feature is most welcome indeed.
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Aside from those obvious additions, the game is riddled with minor alterations and adjustments that, for the most part, make a lot of sense. The button command to activate the Guillotine Throw has been changed to avoid confusion, the abusable Intercept attack has been removed (it was first introduced by a Hurricane Pack), Ultimate Techniques may now be charged without essence (though it takes much longer), several bosses are less susceptible to the Diving Swallow attack (this makes Doku and second Alma more difficult), Tomonobu Itagaki is a hidden playable character and the unlockable NES Ninja Gaiden trilogy has been replaced with the original Ninja Gaiden Arcade. I made at least one of those up.
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Ninja Gaiden was a genre-defining masterpiece when it was released in 2004. Ninja Gaiden Black is the same genre-defining masterpiece with new and refined content. Honestly, it doesn’t get much better than this. It’s a masterfully designed game and it happens to be one of the most addictive, challenging, rewarding and exciting experiences to ever grace a console.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
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+ The most intricate, fluid and engaging combat in any action game. Ever. + Well presented story. + Beautiful graphics. + Devious enemy AI. + Flawless controls. + A truly challenging level of difficulty. + New missions should be a blast for fans of the original release. |
10 |
| What Doesn't | |
| - Camera has to be adjusted occasionally. | |
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| The new content alone more than makes it a worthy purchase even for those who have played the original release. A year on, Ninja Gaiden is still an extraordinary game. Game of the Year? Insulting. Game of the Generation. | |
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Tags: Ninja Gaiden Black
Posted by Ludwig on Mar 23rd, 2006 and is filed under Reviews, Xbox Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
