Platform: Xbox 360

Rating: 8.5  |  0 User Reviews  |  Send to Friend

By Scott Hesel

Ninja Gaiden II doesn't really offer many new ideas from the original title on Xbox, but with combat so fluid and rewarding, there's no point in fixing what isn't broken. This sequel is gorier and a little more difficult than its predeccesor, but that's about the only significant change. The plot is simple: The fiends have returned, and you will travel all across the world in various locales to combat them. In the Ninja Gaiden series, however, the plot is secondary to the following core principles: Namely, the action should be fast and responsive, the enemies ridiculously over-the-top, and the difficulty should err on the side of "hard as holy hell". This sequel delivers on all of these elements; just when you are on the verge of getting bored with the current set of enemies and attack options, a new horde of foes and weapons will be introduced at a higher difficulty. The difficulty itself can be extreme; this is not the game for someone who can't devote the neccesary time to master all of the combinations. This series has never really been welcoming to the casual gamer, although it could have improved its accesibility by fixing the one major flaw of the game: The camera. Too often, you are attacked and hit by something that you couldn't see coming, the only solution being blind button-mashing in the direction you think an enemy might be waiting. If the camera was made a little more seamless and expansive to match the great combat system, then Ninja Gaiden II could've been less daunting to the non-hardcore gamer, whether the developers want the casual demographic or not.

GRAPHICS: 8.8

The environments are beautifully rendered, and both the enemy and boss designs are creatively insane (as per usual with the series).

GAME PLAY: 8.5

Superb combat in the vein of its predecessor, but the camera often gets in the way.

SOUND: 9.0

Soundtrack is solid and varied, as are the FX.

VALUE: 8.8

The difficulty and length of the game will most likely require you to devote many hours to it.

OVERALL: 8.5

Great continuation of the series, but the camera needs to be tweaked.

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