Official Ninja Gaiden Thread

[baad bwoy]

I have to have it!!!!!
Now wheres the feckin cristal Xbox ft:

[Bredrin]

xbox.com have a mini Ninja Gaiden site up: LINK

[JU!]

How i wish i did not have a PAL Xbox. If it was'nt for Live wud have bought a Japanese one. This game seems like it's pretty hot if all u guy think it's good plus mags n websites it must be. Depth seems to be a big problem for Tecmo tho so the game may not be that long. Not that that affected MGS in any way

[Shoju]

The music in those videos sound very subdued even for the boss which is a shame considering the fast pace of the action. In DMC the loud pumping music really complimented the action and enhanced the atmosphere in a big fight.

[Che Musashi]

I've heard of camera issues, but everywhere else says this game is perfect. So please, do tell does the camera suck that bad?

Ninja camera haters! - see here

[baad bwoy]

What a negative Fecker that reviewer is, I will have to pass over Ninja Gaiden now because he thinks

"Ninja Gaiden is just not the Ninja Gaiden I expected. It's overwhelmingly mediocre, not enjoyable to play, and the horrendous camera alone destroys any redeeming factors the game may have. Most PlayStation 2 owners should remember Square's similarly over hyped The Bouncer. I'd almost go as far as proclaiming Ninja Gaiden to be the Xbox equivalent. "

Eds Note: While we do not usually need to justify a review score (C- is "good or average" on our scale) or a writer's personal opinion, sometimes fanboy goggles seem to cause some gamers to lose their sense of reasoning. Gaming Age only reviews games which are intended to be reviewed. As is the case with Ninja Gaiden, we have reviewed a gold "review" copy which Tecmo delivered earlier last week. And of course, as we always do, the game was thoroughly played and completed prior to review.

Well that explains all

[Uli]

well, i wish ninja gaiden to be a great and enjoyable action game and i have it on preorder as well. but i found these early and extremly positive reviews (gamespot, ign etc.) a little bit suspicious.

i can't remember a team ninja game coming out after DOA2 that came close to being a real great game. so maybe the gaming age review comes closer to ninja gaiden reality than we all want them to!

it's no hard to see that the next reviews will certainly push ninja gaiden's gameranking index score down below 90 or even 85.

but who really cares for reviews other than the ntsc-uk reviews?

[Prine]

Well every great game has its share of negetive reviews, though im a bit surprised one review managed to influence your decision over a wave of great reviews.

Too bad 8)

BTW, the same reviewer awarded BMX XXX a B, also noticed he complains that Ryu possesses more moves in DOA than Ninja GAiden. A fighter compared to a action adventure

[BungiePeterRare&Odd]

BMX XXX was trash.

[John Beaulieu]

Pete Bryant is a pseudonym which the Gaming-Age reviewers use from time to time - so just because BMX XXX was reviewed by Pete Bryant does not mean it was the same reviewer.

though i can't understand why a reviewer feels the need to hide behind a pseudonym

[Bleeders]

My copy has been shipped from Tronix.

IGN awarded it 9.4.

Closing Comments

There are a few things Ninja Gaiden does wrong. There's some backtracking, some fights near the end that seem a bit unfair, and a camera that is at times bothersome. However, these minor points are just that, minor. There is no perfect game, but there are those that come close. Ninja Gaiden sets a new standard for third-person action games in terms of length, depth, speed, and gore. It is Itagaki's masterpiece, easily Team Ninja's best work, and one of the finest games on the Xbox to date. How many action games combine great controls, amazing visuals, superb gameplay, and incredible design? Not many.
What's most impressive to me is how over a dozen areas overlap with one another and how Team Ninja perfectly nailed game progression. Many games in the same genre either stay at the same difficulty or suddenly ramp up the difficulty at the very end for no apparent reason. But with Ninja Gaiden, each chapter brings slightly more difficult enemies. It doesn't just stop with the enemies, though, as the early parts of the game are very light on puzzles and platforming challenges, but just as you get a handle on combat, the platforming aspects kick into high gear. It just doesn't get stale or repetitive. I never once rolled my eyes when enemies appeared and sighed, "Oh boy, more of this crap." Instead it was muttering, "Oh crap, I don't wanna die after having just getting past that last set of enemies! Must. Cowboy. Up."

All these words (and boy, I've typed quite a lot of them for this review) lead up to a final score. Scoring any great game is difficult, because the difference between say a 9.4 and a 9.5 is much greater than the difference between an 8.4 and an 8.5. In the end, Ninja Gaiden doesn't deliver quite as great an experience as Halo and its depth does not match Knights of the Old Republic. It would have been helpful to have the ability to toggle a close and raised camera perspective and the story could have been more involving considering the length of the game. Really, all of those concerns are small potatoes compared to the overall experience. This is a great game, one of the best on any system, and worth more than one play through.

-- Hilary Goldstein

[Salsa Party Animal]

It will be on top 3 games to buy when I get a new job.

among with Metal Gear Solid Twin snake and Harvest Moon on GC.

[Fat_Bob]

What a negative Fecker that reviewer is, I will have to pass over Ninja Gaiden now

I think was meant to be inronic..... right? I look forward to reading the NTSC-UK review and making up my mind at the weekend!

I still think this will be very special. The new screens in Famitsu show great variery in level design.

FB

[Prine]

Tronix sent mine too

Ofcourse, i opted for Fed Ex Ninja Delivery. 2 days only.

[Saurian]

Blatant

You get visual tracking with them too!