why the screens so small?

i really need to finish dmc4 before this comes out because i get the feeling i won't be touching it for a while.

Looks ok, but Ninja Gaiden has IMO by far the worst enemy design ever.

Bad ass game!!!

Damn MS for pulling a fucked up missleading title on their XBLM for "demo coming soon", fuck them!

But hey, glad that we know the month, time to play NG Black, NG Sigma...whatever version of Ng you got, sharpen your ninja skills for June when NG2 comes out.

I for one won't touch the previous titles anymore, I want NG2 to be fresh and challenging after months of not playing NG title :D

I'd like to see this game do graphically :

#1. nicer textures, especially on the floor, parallax mapping would be optimal but I know that might not be realistic. To me it doesn't even look like normal mapping is being used because so many surfaces look so flat in these pics (besides Ryu's outfit of course).

#2. better shadowing, some nice self shadowing would be good.

#3. Some nice lightmaps would be nice at least for the environments, because I wouldn't want to ask them for real time shadows, but it looks like a bad PS2 game in parts without them. [edit : I actually just noticed they are using some, but not nearly nicely enough done]

Thanks :)

I just wish Tecmo would be as good with graphics this gen as they were last gen. DOAX2 had a lot of other effects going on as well as self shadowing, I think some developers could make it work with what I stated.

After shitty DMC4 I hope this game will be perfect as NG black was

People who have seen this being played infront of them says it looks amazing, even better than what we have seen in the compressed videos lurking online.

But graphically, it won't be a jump until release, so you graphics fan>gameplay can scratch that off your list.

Sure we all like great visuals, but when they already a have a great engine with next-gen visuals and amazing gameplay whats the difference.

When I first saw NG Sigma and then played it, it looked amazing, but obviously with NG2 they have added some smaller details.

I always wondered how Ninja Gaiden 2, God of War 3, Heavenly Sword would look like if it was using Cryengine 2, hahaha, that would be a freaking dream come true!

It is possible because non of those games are as large as "sanbox-ish" as Crysis, so it can be done easily.

Ah well, that dream is just far off :(

But I think God of War 3 will nail the visuals, God of War 2 on PS2 was just awe- for a PS2 title. Makes you think really, when God of War 3 hits on PS3 how epic it will be.

But Ninja Gaiden and God of War is my top action/adventure titles I have ever played, so I love them both equally, both have its own style, then its Heavenly Sword.

I'm blown away by the visuals... really clean textures. Not crappy stuff masked by fancy lighting

I've heard that. Part of my problem is I've bought NG, then Black, then Sigma, and it gets duller each time gameplaywise, IMO.

What's more is the additions to this game over NG1* don't appeal to me very much. Real time weapon switching, enemy dismemberment, and it seems they've actually scaled down on the platforming aspects because all I've seen are big flat areas to fight in. While the platforming was annoying in NG1 it was what kept the game from being a straight brawler game.

I don't disagree with you Jigen, at some point.

Sure I have played ALL the NG "expansions", and I have enjoyed them to the fullest, but I stopped playing NG like last year in the last month, it was getting boring, I am surprised I lasted this long :S

But I gotta say, the dismembering enemies for the final kill is just pure awesomeness, just bad ass if you ask me. Reminds me of how Kratos does that for the bosses, but Ryu does it on each enemy he wants so thats very cool.

The platforming in NG was good, but they shouldn't focus on that, unlike DMC4, thats just pure stupid. But if they add some platforming in a few stages like 1-2 small ones on each level it would be fine, but the rest should be run to your goal and kill everyone in your path.

The areas are flat thats for sure, but you ogtta admit though that the areas in NG2 is being larger now, sure its still one path and "tight" fight places, but the environment, view...etc. its larger than NG1.

I personally think NG2 will last like 3-5 years for me, just like the first one did, but I obviously will take ALOT of breaks with other games, so it doesn't get boring quickly, which was one of my misstakes with the first NG.

wooow !!

I agree with you basically. As far as dismemberment, I hope that you have very good, not too difficult control of what limbs to take out, and that it really does change up the gameplay a lot.

I agree it can't be all platforming, the platforming in DMC4 wasn't worked into the gameplay well and the cameras could really hurt it, I hope they tweak it, but I think it's gonna need at least some platforming to be interesting, and I haven't seen any so far in NG2.

That was a large part of what made you feel like a ninja in NG1, running on walls, doing jumps that seemed impossible (except that one one around level 11 which was more annoying than fun), and especially fighting enemies WHILE platforming!

Good that we are on the same page Jigen.

I actually think that once you have either stunned the enemy or the enemies life is so damn near the end that its almost over you can pull one of those moves and they are dead, so you won't be able to do dismembering from the start.

And yeah, one thing about the platforming in DMC4 was that it was so damn boring and damn long to do it, and most of the platforming had shitty camera, the camera was fixed like some security camera on the top of the walls hahaha.

But some, and I mean very little of it, in NG had good platforming, you had to do everything yourself. Like if you had to get up higher because there is a iteam, you had to figure out how to use ninja skills like running on walls, flips, even use attacks in midair to rach other areas.

But some puzzles was boring do it.

I remember in NG one after you beat Doku you had this panel stick you had to pull down and their was around 4-5 pads you had to keep moving them, it was a pain and confusing.

But in NG Sigma, all you had to do was to pull the obvious panel which was on the other side of the entre and all the pads went to their place, easy, quick, and yet takes off the fast action a bit.

If they do that type of stuff in NG2 I am happy.

One area I just hates as hell was the Magma level, that you could fall down in the lava, man that was glitchy, the jumps, the enemies did some wierd shit...etc. just a pain.

But I think Itagaki won't pull any platforming/puzzle stuff in NG2, I think he wants this to be the most brutal, fast action game with the easiest, non-annoying puzzle game there is, if that makes any sense :P

I thought that the magma level was fun. At least it was a bit easier level and was a nice relaxing time for me and I liked the dragon boss :)

I have to agree that the panel thing was boring.

I thought the panel thing and the magma level were fun the first time or two. But after that they did start to get boring. I wish there would have been a way to shortcut your way through puzzles on repeat plays. Who wants to have to play through puzzles that you've already solved several times before?

Some of the images are from an old build though, not from the latest build we saw at GDC. I see several images that were in the EGM magazine when the game was first unveiled.

That dragon is my second bitch boss after Alma/Alma version 2.

There is ONE thing I hope to see in Ninja Gaiden 2 from the first one...Itagaki pulling Alma out of his ass and give us another annoying and hard boss haha.

Imagine another boss like Alma, fast and swiftly, cheap way to attack you while you can't attack her until the right times.

Now you guys ask me "sath you are out of your fucking mind!?"

Actually no I am not...atleast once the bitch is stunned I will chop the shit out of her with the dragon sword, which will be very satistfying for all the stress and sweat she caused...or him depending the boss of course.

Is that how you think the game *does* implement the dismembering or how it *should* implement the dismembering?

That is how it IS...from ALL the analyzing I have done from all the NG2 videos, that is how it is.

I have yet to see one enemy being dismembered as soon as they show up.

They have either have been attacked a few times or they are stunned. They neccesseraly (sp?) don't have to look like they miss a limb to show they are hurt.

I have analyzed NG2 right to its bone, gameplay wise, add-ons, details. (not talking graphically)

i think this game looks so underwhelming visually. considering the first pushed the original xbox to the brink, and looked amazing compared to practically everything on the system. i find it kinda dissapointing that this doesnt do the same on the 360. i dont know it its a limitation with team ninja's very restricted art style, or whether its just laziness on their part. either way it could look a whole lot better imo. i mean, it looks the same as sigma and that was just a basic port from xbox to ps3 with a few tweeks.