Ninja Gaiden II

(Page 2 of 2)

More often than not, you'll find yourself getting into in tight spots where you'll need to refuel your health. The revamped d-pad from Ninja Gaiden Sigma allows you to quickly use items or change weapons, projectiles and Ninpo styles instead of having to exit out into the menu to configure elements. If you run out of health or Ninpo items, you'll periodically run across Muramasa shop statues to buy healing potions, Ki herbs to replenish Ninpo, and eventually upgrades for your weapons.

Visually, Ninja Gaiden II looks quite a bit better than the Ninja Gaiden PlayStation 3 regurge Sigma, but while it is ultra-crisp, a few things look rather sterile. The environments look fine, but more or less on par what we've seen in previous versions. Character models and Ryu's animations are fluid and elaborate, but it would have been nice to see his costume take some damage. For example, when Ryu reaches the rainy New York stage, he doesn't actually get wet. While the game runs at a blistering 60 frames per second, I wish the developers would have sacrificed the frame rate in favor of attention to detail.

As you finish each level, the game grades you on your performance. Your kills, essence, remaining Ninpo, and time it took to complete the level are all tracked, and you can view the online leaderboards to see how well you stack up against other gamers. A new Ninja Cinema feature has been added for Ninja Gaiden II, which allows you to record your entire gameplay experience to analyze your tactics and also upload your clips to Xbox Live for other gamers to peruse. This is perhaps my favorite addition to the game. When checking out the leaderboards, you'll see an icon next to a player's name that will indicate he has uploaded his clips. Going to the best of the best and seeing how they survived in a certain level should provide plenty of helpful tips.

After so many reiterations of the same Ninja Gaiden with Black, Sigma and even Dragon Sword, it's nice to finally get some new Hayabusa ass-kicking. With a refined control scheme, accessibility for newbies, depth and difficulty for the hardcore, and an inspiring Ninja Cinema mode, this could be what gamers of all types of skill sets have been waiting for.

This preview was based on hands-on demo of a near-final version of the game.