Ninja Gaiden

Sales Rank & Price Trend

Product Details

Customer Reviews

too hard?

For those of you who feel this game is too hard, maybe you should try out a different game. Hell, don't even bother trying to play Prince Of Persia 2 if you can't past this game b/c it is much harder. Yeah, the game is somewhat difficult but it's easy if you a)upgrade your weapons earlier in the game or b)use block (it really does help).

I beat this game in about 3 weeks while going to school and holding a full-time job. It is worth the money though especially w/ all of the sweet extras in it.

An insanely difficult masterpiece!

This game will make you sweat, and cry, and hurl your controller at the wall, but O the beauty when you slowly, every sooooo slowly, work your way towards the incredible end game....aewsome!!

What a waste of talent

First off I think the game is too expensive for $70. Its worth about $50 considering all of the extra content in it after the first person campaign.

Consider Tenchu for $40. I think that game leaves you with a better impression of "the life of a Ninja" anyway (i.e. stealthy assassin). It plays like the Hitman series only, instead of guns and fiberwire, you're using swords and shurikans.

Before I get into my complaints I'd like to mention the wasted talent. The game has some of the best artwork I have seen on the Xbox supported by good music and sound effects. Its obvious a lot of effort has been put into this.

The fighting system is OK. Its not the best I've seen nor the worst.

Now to my complaints.

Two things in which the game needs an overhaul in (and the 2 reasons I did not bother buying the game after an initial rental) are the often mentioned saving system and (my personal favorite) the counter-productive camera system.

I don't normally mind a "check point" type of saving system, but for this game I have made an exception. First off the check points have to be looked for and made use of as opposed to just crossing over a point in the game. This isn't such a big deal, but I am not really a fan of it. What really sucks about this system though are the save point locations. Sometimes they are 10 or 15 minutes apart (when you find all of them). When I die in the game I am not really interested in redoing 15 minutes worth of a level. Once or twice is OK really, but after that I'm getting aggravated. The worst part about this saving system is when dealing with masters or sub-masters. The first time you go through a level you never really know when to expect a master (even when you are looking for one). When you come across a master you have no way to back out to ready yourself. You just hit a cut scene and boom you are in for the initial beating. When you die (and you will die) you get spawned back at your last check point which tends not to be right by the master. This could be 10 minutes back and now you have to redo everything between the last save point and the master. The idea here is to fight through everything and to take on that master yet again, but this time you are supposed to be prepared for him. It doesn't matter. You'll probably die a second time and a third etc. etc. each time being respawned at the last save point 10 minutes earlier (now half an hour into it). Very quickly I learned (as I am sure everyone else who plays this game did) to make a "clear path" between that last save point and the master. Basically after you get burned the first time by a cut scene and subsequent death by the hands of a master and you are respawned at your last save point you make it a point to kill off all minions (clearing out a level) and resaving before taking on a master again (now that you know were he will be). This way one can cut down on the time it takes to get to a master for a rematch because there is no other resistance now. Even with this it still can take 5 minutes and, as with that dude with the weight problem on top of the zeppelin, death can take only seconds. This saving system only encouraged WORK arounds for players to incorporate into their game. Anyways, I got real tired with this and my patience eventually gave out.

As far as the camera system is concerned; it sucks! There's no better way to put it. What where the guys at Tecmo/Team Ninja thinking? For a game this fast why didn't they think of adding a camera lock feature. Either lock it behind your player for the normal (and proven) 3rd person view, or at least allow players to lock the camera to an enemy of his/her choice. All they provided was a "handy" snap feature applied with the right trigger button. This does shift the camera behind the player but it doesn't keep it there. As soon as you move in any direction other than forward you lose sight of were you are heading because the camera doesn't adjust to stay behind you. With this you end up seeing many angles of ninja gaiden. Again with the graphics it's neat to see, but how is this practical? Instead of seeing where I am going, or who I am engaging, I am watching myself reorientate to the unexpected shift in view. Towards the end of the rental I found myself snapping the right trigger once every 2 seconds (approx.) just so I could keep a bead on where I was heading. This sort of system could of been acceptable for Gemma Onimusha, or the Resident Evil series Onimusha was modeled after but not for something this quick. I still shake my head thinking about it.

I'll say this much for the game. It is as frustrating as Ninja Gaiden games of the past have always been, only in different ways now.

Beautiful, But Beware

If you were a fan of the original Ninja Gaiden games on NES, then you must own Ninja Gaiden on Xbox. Why? Well, because not only do you get this great looking new game, but you also get the three originals, all packed into the same disc! That's four games for the price of one, folks--you can't beat that!

WARNING: This new game, however, is beyond difficult. A lot of people have given up and traded their copies without ever beating it. So I advise you to rent before you buy. Ninja Gaiden isn't for everybody.

Amazing Game

This game is richly detailed and has incredible graphics, but the difficulty may be too much for many people. I consider myself good at games like this, and I found the game very difficult on the lowest setting. The lack of any sort of training or tutorial doesn't help as even the first level is full of battle-hardened foes to challenge your skills.

The plot is fairly shallow, despite its attempt to create a "history", but nonetheless is cool and addictive. It never elaborates on key points, leaving many things left open, which is my major complaint. Basically, you are left in command of your clan (your father is off doing something else). This clan is responsible for guarding an ancient sword that is basically evil and actually grows as death and evil surrounds it. This sword is stolen by a Higher Fiend, and taken into the Vigoor Empire. Your mission is to retrieve it.

The game is definitely not short and is worth the money. The fighting is intense and strategic (button mashers don't waste your money), and the styles vary with your weapons (which are for the most part plentiful).

I highly recommend this game, as the down-sides do not come close to outweighing the benefits. If for no other reason, buy it for Rachel(?), who surpasses Lara Croft in "eye-candy" goodness!