It's with great pleasure that I've received the review code of Ninja Gaiden 2 last Friday and that I've spent some quality time (but not enough) with the game this week-end. You'll find nothing less than 4 720p 60 fps videos of the first level of the game inside, and while waiting for them to download you'll even be able to read my impressions!
Ninja Gaiden 2 can only be described as a direct sequel of the first Ninja Gaiden, implying a lot of good things, but also a few bad ones.
Let's start with what's not so good, and the camera. As you may know the camera here is more or less the same as in Black. Meaning it's better than the one in the first Ninja Gaiden, but still can get in the way quite often. During close quarters fights like in the stairs of the second level, it was sometimes difficult to see anything of the action. The good old right trigger is still here, but I had hoped for more.
Another bad point, the game isn't perfectly smooth. Most of the time it runs at a perfect 60 fps and all is good, but during heavy action scenes I've seen some tearing and even some major slowdowns happens. It's rare thankfully, but still disappointing. Also disappointing, and we've become used to this coming from Team Ninja, the shadowing and lighting is still very basic and doesn't seem to be that much different from the Xbox games.
But still, the gameplay itself is as good if not even better than before. The new life bar system that will replenish itself (but not fully) when a fight ends both adds and remove tension from the game. On one side we don't have to worry as much as before about health bonus, but on the other each fight now becomes a bit more challenging than before, and death can occur very quickly!
Despite its flaws, I've enjoyed my time playing Ninja Gaiden 2 a lot, and I can't wait to get back home tonight for more!
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All comments (116)
Commented on 2008-05-26 14:12:43Look at the details, look at the environmets, super high Anti Aliasing and NG2 runs still so smooth.
As a Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden Fan, this game is my personally goty.
Commented on 2008-05-26 14:28:53
Commented on 2008-05-26 14:32:46I find the difficulty is an EXCELLENT thing and the Unique copyrights of NG franchise.
This is one of the best games in this year (GOTY probably)..
Commented on 2008-05-26 14:48:32http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=14...
Well done Itagaki! Why would they ship the unfinished version for review is beyond me!
Commented on 2008-05-26 15:06:32
Commented on 2008-05-26 15:47:03 In reply to alimokranehttp://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=14...
Well done Itagaki! Why would they ship the unfinished version for review is beyond me!
N G was always about a hard difficult and I'm glad Itagaki keep this.
Commented on 2008-05-26 15:53:55
Commented on 2008-05-26 16:01:14and these people who are complaining about the camre, can they name game in the genre with a better camera, cause dmc ain't one of em
and how come these fools never complain about it games likegears of war where the player is given fool control of it
Commented on 2008-05-26 16:19:46
Commented on 2008-05-26 16:24:04 In reply to vspectra06It is very stupid to put the scores down just because it is too difficault, or the camera is too bad.
From ALL the videos (and I have seen every NG2 video out there) the camera is perfect, and it is exactly like the previous title.
If you have a camera problem in NG2, you got one in NG, and it shouldn't make you give it a low score.
God of War had MUCH worse camera than NG, atleast in NG, you can just with a press of a button pan it within a second behind Ryus back.
The difficaulty?
Don't be a damn child and complain, you knew what you were getting yourself into.
By all the videos IGN...etc. puts out the player is horrible at playing it.
As a Master Ninja veteran as myself, that was horrible, and a very unprofessional way to lower the score just because the game is too difficault.
Considering alot of people sees reviews as a guidline to a miss and hit, these 7, 8's...etc. will give the game a bad reputation.
Thank god that I never listen or care about reviews.
Commented on 2008-05-26 17:04:37 In reply to Sath
Commented on 2008-05-26 17:05:21 In reply to vspectra06
Commented on 2008-05-26 17:11:34 In reply to SathAfter seeing so much videos attached to reviews, they all seemed to use the same atacks over n' over.
After another glimpse to blim's playtrough... you're a very good swordsman, sir.
If i may say so.
Commented on 2008-05-26 17:20:59Oh and thank you very much for your hard work - can't wait to finally play the game myself.
Commented on 2008-05-26 17:23:01 In reply to BlimBlim
Commented on 2008-05-26 17:40:00The visuals are definitely upgraded with its lighting, bloom effect, blood...etc. than NG Sigma, very awesome.
Thank god you can use d-pad menu during a combat like NG Sigma, but in this one it freezes the gameplay which is great.
I also saw you can switch weapons through the d-pad menu...kind of like a real-time weapon switch like DMC, but it freezes :P
But anyways,. a 10/10 by just watchung, and I had the controller in my hand and it felt like I was playing it...but in my bad NG days...no offence to Blim ;)
Ps. You usre abuse that Flying Shallow ;)
Commented on 2008-05-26 17:48:55the less depended you are nimpo the better you'll become at sword fighting
Commented on 2008-05-26 18:00:44 In reply to BlimBlim
Commented on 2008-05-26 18:06:03 In reply to gmulisThat was how I thought about her when I first played NG.
But no more damn it!
Commented on 2008-05-26 18:15:55 In reply to JohnRamboHell even big sites like Gametrailers.com call their craptastic heavily xvid encoded videos "HD", without even using the actual HD codec! LMAO :)
Huuuge blocky muchy dirty blurry artifacted videos, all of them.
Saving bandwidth and $$ by any means neccesary..
Thank you for being pure gamersyde, keep it up!
Commented on 2008-05-26 18:25:15
Commented on 2008-05-26 18:40:13Sure, the combat may be great...but it's the mix of platforming, puzzle solving and finding loot/upgrading + combat that made NG on Xbox so great!
Seriously, what's the deal with this game?!
Commented on 2008-05-26 18:46:37 In reply to JatoSure, the combat may be great...but it's the mix of platforming, puzzle solving and finding loot/upgrading + combat that made NG on Xbox so great!
Seriously, what's the deal with this game?!
Commented on 2008-05-26 18:52:22 In reply to BlimBlimDE server #2: +/- 3,30MB/s
You finished that endboss nicely.. Game looks nice to.. To bad hack&slash games are not really my thing.. They're usually way to fast, chaotic, liniear, and repetative for me.. This looks no different, but I'm sure the fans of the genre will love it.. Good ammount of glorious violence, smooth over the top moves, colourfull effects, and plenty of blood..
Commented on 2008-05-26 18:58:16 In reply to JatoSure, the combat may be great...but it's the mix of platforming, puzzle solving and finding loot/upgrading + combat that made NG on Xbox so great!
Seriously, what's the deal with this game?!