Ninja Gaiden 2

[Strafe Mcgee]

So, 10 days until it's finally out an reviews have started to hit the web. I've been waiting a long, long time for this game and I'm disappointed to see that some of the reviews have been expressing... well, disappointment. Anyone else looking forward to Ninja Gaiden, and if so what are your views on reviews like this - http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=143163 ?

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

I'll pretty much ignore any complaints about difficulty or the game being cheap, I already think the first one was patently unfair.

Lets see, what does the review say in terms of complaints...

- too many cheap moves (???)
- bad camera
- something about frame rates (never gave a damn about graphics anyways)

The gist of the review is this: "There's a difference between kicking your arse until you learn from it, and kicking your arse until you get lucky, and Ninja Gaiden 2 fails that crucial test all too often."

Sounds like business as usual for Itagaki.

 

[eggdog14]

I'll have to disagree with Jeffries there. The original Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox was hard, REALLY hard, but it wasn't unbeatable. It had a steep difficulty curve and required adaptation to each new enemy in no seconds flat, something which recent action games tend to avoid.

Ninja Gaiden was also proclaimed one of the best action games ever by many, many critics. Do i agree? It's the best one i've ever played. Unfortunately i never owned a PS2, so i never got to play the likes of God Of War, something i'd really love to see, and as such i can't make a comparison.

Ninja Gaiden was excellent, Black was even better, and the difficulty made success all the more satisfying.

IGN's review, found Here: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/876/876569p1.html gives it an 8.7.

It seems, however, that their sole complaint is that the game isn't as fresh as the original, which is silly: it's a sequal. More of the same, with improvements and extra gore. Is that a problem? I think not.

I'm waiting feverishly for the demo so i can see for myself, if it disappoints i will be devastated, as the original is one of my favorite games ever.


PS:
Has anyone played both Ninja Gaiden and God of War? I'd love to hear a comparison of the two, as they're very similar games as far as i can tell. i know God of War received slightly better reviews, anyone have some thoughts on the matter?

 

[sammyfreak]

I played DMC4 on easy and felt that the dificulty was just right for me. Ninja Gaiden probably isn't my glass of Schweppes.

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

Wasn't saying the game was impossible, just that the game is so damn hard that it's unfair.

 

[eggdog14]

Wasn't saying the game was impossible, just that the game is so damn hard that it's unfair.

Yeah know worries i gotchu.

 

[richtm]

PS:
Has anyone played both Ninja Gaiden and God of War? I'd love to hear a comparison of the two, as they're very similar games as far as i can tell. i know God of War received slightly better reviews, anyone have some thoughts on the matter?

They are pretty different in design philosophy. The god of war series is designed to be pick up and play. The combat system is VERY intuitive and considerably simpler than in DMC or ninja gaiden. However the time that wasn't being spent on combat is clearly being spent on things like level design, puzzles, pacing, music, characters and story. They are just more well rounded games on the whole. This isn't to say it's a bad combat system or even average it just doesn't compare in depth to its two counterparts. There is still plenty of skill involved and I found the titan mode of difficulty more difficult than "hard" in the original ninja gaiden (minus hurricane packs).

The thing that really sets god of war combat apart is the newly termed "fuck-you button." Every enemy and boss in the game can be finished with a grab attack that will result in some sort of elaborate and incredibly brutal finishing move. This is most significant when you do decide to try the harder difficulties and FINALLY get a boss down. Rather than deplete the last sliver of a health bar and go to cutscene you'll seamlessly go into fatality mode and do something horrible like slam a massive stone door into their head 6 or 20 times.

On default difficulty the combat will probably not challenge or frustrate the average gamer much, as checkpoints are frequent and load times are non-existent. The levels and difficulty curve are designed to keep you moving forward in the plot and feel like the bad-ass that Kratos is. The areas are NOT broken up into missions and you will never see a loading screen. Occasionally the game will pause for a half second to load but this is VERY rare unless you backtrack.

Personally, I'm very biased in favor of the god of war series and will make no effort to hide it. This is mainly because of the game's production values and the fact that they do not chop the game up into missions with those damn report cards at the end. The music is epic, and there is a lot of eye candy in the environments as well. That said, I still loved DMC3 and Ninja Gaiden and recommend those games too. If you're a combat junkie and dream of combat systems that you could write a masters thesis on, you will probably enjoy NG and DMC more than God of War.

edit: It's probably worth it to note that the camera in God of War is going to give you far less problems than in the other two games. It can't be controlled by you the user but it stays zoomed out so that you can almost always see the whole battle area. The side effect of this is you don't get to see the action as up close as you might want to (the visuals are damn nice), but it zooms in for grab animations. The other side effect is that enemies in God of War don't usually have audio cues for you to listen to. This might be me but I always thought it was to DMC's credit that after a playthrough or two you would be able to reliably dodge multiple attacks coming from offscreen without even giving it much thought.

 

[Irrok the Wide]

So, 10 days until it's finally out an reviews have started to hit the web. I've been waiting a long, long time for this game and I'm disappointed to see that some of the reviews have been expressing... well, disappointment. Anyone else looking forward to Ninja Gaiden, and if so what are your views on reviews like this - http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=143163 ?

Of coarse not every game is suitable for all audiences. But in terms of Quality within a product. That Reviewer is cunty. Some developers don't make average games. Team Ninja is one of the greatest Developers of QUALITY software today. They make long, detailed, story driven games with perfect graphics and gameplay. I doubt that reviewer even played all of the first game. I am Dying for NG2. And I won't read reviews, they just ruin the game.

 

[sammyfreak]

So, 10 days until it's finally out an reviews have started to hit the web. I've been waiting a long, long time for this game and I'm disappointed to see that some of the reviews have been expressing... well, disappointment. Anyone else looking forward to Ninja Gaiden, and if so what are your views on reviews like this - http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=143163 ?

Of coarse not every game is suitable for all audiences. But in terms of Quality within a product. That Reviewer is cunty. Some developers don't make average games. Team Ninja is one of the greatest Developers of QUALITY software today. They make long, detailed, story driven games with perfect graphics and gameplay. I doubt that reviewer even played all of the first game. I am Dying for NG2. And I won't read reviews, they just ruin the game.

FANBOI FANBOI FANBOI

Sorry, I could not resist. Much love <3

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

The IGN Review is great, it doesn't ***** about difficulty. It basically said this -

The Good:

1.) It's awesome, it's a solid and well done action game
2.) Overly copious amounts of blood.
3.) The blood is nothing without the "finishing moves" that Ryu has now - it can also be done on bosses, and is clearly the coolest thing to do to them, and is of course the trend now, thank you for this best trend ever God of War!

The bad:

1.) A single explosion just makes the game skip and have framerate issues, so lots of enemies on screen and such makes this a problem.
2.) Well this isn't exactly "bad" but since it's an anticipated ninja gaiden sequel, we of course thought this would be the best thing in the world - but it'snothing to cry yourself to sleep about if you don't own a 360 - but that doesn't make NGII any less awesome.
3.) Camera angles, etc. - the usual problems with hack n' slash.

Basically it said "It isn't perfect but it took Ninja Gaiden, fixed what was broken, added some cool stuff and a lot of Gore."

EDIT: And if anyone knows about that asshat "Itagaki" well...it's best not to listen to him, don't keep his words in mind when playing NG.

 

[Juzari]

I bought the first NG as an Xbox Original, so I played it on my 360.... loved it.
It is difficult and sometimes a little frustrating, but so rewarding when you finally win and you feel a little bit of pride.

I was also amazed at the amount of gameplay, it took me around 30 hours to finish it on normal.

So if NGII is anything like the first, then it will be awesome

 

[shadow skill]

You know I would say God of War is much cheaper than Ninja Gaiden or DMC for the simple fact that neither of the other two franchises require you to do rapid button pressing (IE mash O) just to get through the game with no other alternatives. I simply could not have beat the last two games without a turbo controller or having my brother take over for me. It's kind of pissing me off that I may have to go buy a third ps3 controller (I have one I use for FPS that lets me remap all the buttons.) just to get through one game because it's devs will likely be total pricks again.

 

[Strafe Mcgee]

Hmm. I'm intrigued to see what they mean about frame rate drop, because the original NG had flawless graphics. I usually trust Eurogamer, so their 7/10 is a little bit disheartening. Jeffers is right though, the camera really isn't that much of an issue in NG because you can instantly flick it behind you.

I really hope that theres still going to be extra missions at the end though (a la the Hurricane packs) because they really added to the longevity of the game.

 

[shadow skill]

Hmm. I'm intrigued to see what they mean about frame rate drop, because the original NG had flawless graphics. I usually trust Eurogamer, so their 7/10 is a little bit disheartening. Jeffers is right though, the camera really isn't that much of an issue in NG because you can instantly flick it behind you.

I really hope that theres still going to be extra missions at the end though (a la the Hurricane packs) because they really added to the longevity of the game.

Well if its not Mass Effect level of framedrop it should be fine. I really expect that there will be at least one revision to this game in the end. I'm kind of annoyed at the prospect of having to pay for extra costumes though, to me it is just lame.

 

[eggdog14]

Personally, I'm very biased in favor of the god of war series and will make no effort to hide it. This is mainly because of the game's production values and the fact that they do not chop the game up into missions with those damn report cards at the end. The music is epic, and there is a lot of eye candy in the environments as well. That said, I still loved DMC3 and Ninja Gaiden and recommend those games too. If you're a combat junkie and dream of combat systems that you could write a masters thesis on, you will probably enjoy NG and DMC more than God of War.

Thank you muchly for the details!

Looking at the screenshots of God of War, i can tell the level design is excellent: Giant chariot of the gods stands out for me. NG has some gorgeous visuals, but nothing quite as epic as i see in the greek-inspired landscapes.

I'm beginning to regret my decision not to buy a PS2, as i seem to have missed out on alot of excellent games. Pity, the graphics whore that i am, i stuck with Microsofts ugly brute.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

PS:
Has anyone played both Ninja Gaiden and God of War? I'd love to hear a comparison of the two, as they're very similar games as far as i can tell. i know God of War received slightly better reviews, anyone have some thoughts on the matter?

They are pretty different in design philosophy. The god of war series is designed to be pick up and play. The combat system is VERY intuitive and considerably simpler than in DMC or ninja gaiden. However the time that wasn't being spent on combat is clearly being spent on things like level design, puzzles, pacing, music, characters and story. They are just more well rounded games on the whole. This isn't to say it's a bad combat system or even average it just doesn't compare in depth to its two counterparts. There is still plenty of skill involved and I found the titan mode of difficulty more difficult than "hard" in the original ninja gaiden (minus hurricane packs).

The thing that really sets god of war combat apart is the newly termed "fuck-you button." Every enemy and boss in the game can be finished with a grab attack that will result in some sort of elaborate and incredibly brutal finishing move. This is most significant when you do decide to try the harder difficulties and FINALLY get a boss down. Rather than deplete the last sliver of a health bar and go to cutscene you'll seamlessly go into fatality mode and do something horrible like slam a massive stone door into their head 6 or 20 times.

On default difficulty the combat will probably not challenge or frustrate the average gamer much, as checkpoints are frequent and load times are non-existent. The levels and difficulty curve are designed to keep you moving forward in the plot and feel like the bad-ass that Kratos is. The areas are NOT broken up into missions and you will never see a loading a screen. Occasionally the game will pause for a half second to load but this is VERY rare unless you backtrack.

Personally, I'm very biased in favor of the god of war series and will make no effort to hide it. This is mainly because of the game's production values and the fact that they do not chop the game up into missions with those damn report cards at the end. The music is epic, and there is a lot of eye candy in the environments as well. That said, I still loved DMC3 and Ninja Gaiden and recommend those games too. If you're a combat junkie and dream of combat systems that you could write a masters thesis on, you will probably enjoy NG and DMC more than God of War.

That was well put!

In terms of the NG2 frame rate, in a couple of reviews I read they were playing a pre-release version! Don't know if the release build is any better.