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Nominee for the Best Ninja Related Interactive Video Sport

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: February 15, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Picture this: you're a ninja, who rocks, and was recently sent on a mission to pick up some Chinese takeout. But when you return to your village, you find it has been ravaged by your arch-nemesis, Ronny the Samurai! After a quick bout, he smites you. This leaves you one choice: using only the hottest ninja chicks as your allies, you must seek VENGEANCE! Not because it's the right thing to do mind you, but because you're really ticked off.

Well, that's not quite how it happens. But anyone who has sort of glanced at the back cover of this game might find the description somewhat mildly similar. But that's beside the point. And the point is that this game rocks. It's just that simple.

Don't get me wrong: this game is not perfect. Many people found some flaws in it. They said it was difficult, and the camera sucked. Well first, difficulty is not a flaw. That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Secondly, yes the camera does suck, but in the long run I'd rather have a camera that centers on your back than one that slowly moves around the room.

My two problems were thus: there was no out of game content. Boy did I get this one wrong. After you beat the game, you can get a movie viewer to see all the graphically flawless cinematics. You can, depending on what internet cheat guide you read, get the original Ninja Gaiden arcade games. I didn't even know those existed! But the best unlocked thingy ever is the soundtrack under "sound test." Why doesn't every game have one of these new-fangled playable soundtracks? Just a suggestion...

My second complaint was a lack of level select, and there's nothing I can do about that. It wouldn't have fit the game design anyway. At least, that's what I keep telling myself. But this a small price to pay.

As I mentioned before, this game is not "awsometastic." It merely rocks, which is saying a lot considering how much ninja video gaming garbage there is out there. So I strongly urge you to go out there, strap a bow, some arrows and nunchaku to your back, and flip out and buy this game. Seriously dude, it rocks. And, oh yeah, did I mention it rocks?

If you dip a turd in bronze... it's still a turd.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 9 / 17
Date: March 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Funny thing: I was at a Gamestop the day this game came out and I was very tempted to purchase a copy. My lovely lady advised otherwise and for once the crack of the whip was a good thing. I rented the game and played about three hours into it before giving up all hope. The graphics were beautiful, but that should go without saying -If you're going to delay a game for months upon months to tweak it, and then ask 50 bucks for it, it had better look nice and purdy. So whoopty-hey on the gorgeous animations. Software designers have no excuse for not raising the bar graphic-wise with all the computer technology they now have at their disposal.

The gameplay is linear and stagnant. - "Fight these three brown ninjas! Here comes a white ninja! - Fight this monster, oh wait, more ninjas!!" About the only rewarding feeling while playing the game was getting to run up walls and flip over people onto ledges etc. But you can't have fun flipping around all day long because that damn "random ninja generator" is cranked to 11, and wave after wave of generic ninjas will keep attacking you as you play. - So you can't enjoy the wall hopping without having to participate in Ninja Gaiden's stale fighting system. (Maybe they should have done a Ninja Olympics game??)

**There is no ragdoll and the ninja's, when killed, die in about the same three or four poses. This makes for very monotonous gameplay. They attack the same way, and then they die the same way. Zzz. (Ps - The camera/view system is bearable at best. - Which is funny, because the game constantly emphasizes how a true ninja must be extremely observant and adept at looking around. - You'll spend a great deal of time wrestling with compromising camera angles.)**

The bosses, as I'm sure you've heard, are ridiculously hard. But not in a fun advanced AI sense, where you feel the joy of battle... No, I'm afraid not at all. The bosses are hard in the sense that they know what you are about to do before you do it, and constantly thwart your every attempt to attack them. To defeat the bosses, you have to waste about 6 or 7 tries finding out what moves not to do, and what pattern it's okay to attack in. To me, that's not a fun challenge.. that's more of a math equation done with an Xbox controller instead of a calculator. Tecmo thinks it's funny to waste our time ;)

To end on a good note I must say that the story is solid. And of course, the character artwork and animation is beautiful and fluid. Very fun to watch. (Sorry Tecmo, I just ran out of compliments.)

If you're a hardcore fan of the original games, hey, buy it. - You're bound to make it fun for yourself. But if it was the hype train that brought you here, I would advise that you rent this one before buying it. - Metaphorically, this game is a shiny new Corvette with my craptacular 4 cylinder Ford engine powering it. Savy?

A Graphic Masterpeice!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 32
Date: October 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Just looking at this game's screenshots is enough to make someone want to buy this game. It truly harnesses the graphic prowess of the Xbox processer. But, of course, graphics don't make a game. With this game series' excellent history, however, I doubt there is much to worry about with how this game turns out.

If you are the type of buyer that uses Amazon's star rating system to decide whether or not to buy a game, disregard it on this one. The person who gave this a one-star rating obviously didn't rate it right, because in his review, he praised the game.

This game will almost undoubtitely live up to its predecessor's legacy. It's a must-buy.

Almost perfect...but one MAJOR flaw

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: March 08, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is nearly flawless in its execution, but, unfortunately, its one flaw is a large one. First, let's start with the positives:
- The game's production values are superb. Graphics, textures, attention to detail, level design, animation, motion capture (especially for the nanchuku, which are absolutely breathtaking) are all some of the best I've seen on Xbox.
- The cinematics are great (voice acting is a little weak, but not too bad)
- The variety of gameplay (different settings, etc.) is also good
- The combat system works very well, with some great looking combos that flow together perfectly
- The inclusion of the original 3 Ninja Gaidens is also a great addition

Now, on to the negative.
This game is hard - brutally hard at some spots. I've been a hardcore gamer for 20 plus years, and this game ranks right up there with some of the most controller smashingly frustrating I've ever seen. Furthermore, the difficulty isn't always the "good" kind (it borders on unfair.) You will find that some of the routine enemies you fight towards the middle and latter parts of the game are harder than boss fights in many other games. Furthermore, after finishing off these 'routine' baddies, you will often have to fight a boss IMMEDIATELY afterwards, with no chance to save or buy more supplies. That being the case, expect to play through fairly lengthy parts of the game AGAIN and AGAIN as you try and make it to the boss with as many potions, etc. as possible.
This game's difficulty and frustration factor, are, in my opinion, an unforgivable flaw that detract from what was almost a perfect game. And this statement comes from someone who has gamed over 20 straight years - so I would think it is safe to say that I KNOW an 'unfair' difficulty level when I see one.

I would still give this game thumbs up, though, and recommend it wholeheartedly to any hardcore action gamer.

Beautiful

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: March 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

In this game you play the role of Ryu Hayabusa,a master ninja who recently has been appearing in the Dead or Alive series of games. As Ryu, you must recover the Dark Dragon Sword. Ok, well the story is not so great, but you don't play games for the story anyway. First of all, this is just beautiful. This is definitely one of the best looking games I have ever seen. As for the gameplay, I don't find the combat to be too difficult. Actually, I think the combat system is very good. You just have to remember to play it like a fighting game rather than like an action game. You have to block a lot more than is typical in action games. Once you adjust to this point the combat isn't difficult. Actually the difficult thing in this game is when it tries to be Super Mario and makes you jump around on a bunch of platforms. The reason this is frustrating is that the camera is really quirky and it's very difficult to line up jumps correctly, so you spend a lot of time trying the same jumps over and over again. This is the reason I give this four stars instead of five. If they take out the Super Mario, then I'll give it five. Also, it would be nice if they put the save points closer to the bosses. As it is, you have to play through a few minutes before you reach the boss, so if you fail to beat the boss, then you have to go through those few minutes again before you can face the boss again. Basically, I just ran past any enemies that I could to save time. Well, other than these minor problems, it's a super game. Check it out.

Great game, incredibly dificult

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: April 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

After spending 3 days on this game I have to say I'm addicted to it. However this game takes so much time to really get good at all of your abilities that it makes the game really frustrating. As soon as you get the feel for what your fighting style may be (run hack and slash, jump and slash, or projectiles) it does make defeating some of the bad guys easier, but they get so much harder as you go and increase in numbers, so you must get great at all of them. I suggest spending all the money you earn in each level on upgrading your weapons (allows you to do more big moves)and getting health potions as they both come in handy since the amount of save locations are sparse at best. I reccommend this game to those looking for a challenge, but be warned, the frustration level for even the best gamers may out way the incredible graphics and game play.

Game play: 9
Graphics: 10
Difficulty: 10
Sound: 8
Replay value: 6
Cut scenes: 10

Overall: 8.8

Defineately rent before buying, because it's nothing like the demo disc from xbox mag. Enjoy!

Ryu Hayabusa is someone you DON'T want to mess with...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: September 12, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Ninja Gaiden for the Microsoft Xbox is hands down the 2nd best Xbox game ever...period! The game offers jaw dropping graphics, tight controlls and lots and lots of combos and moves you will be practicing for hours. Did I mention the gameplay is intence and incredibly insane? Lets start off by saying Ninja Gaiden IS a challenging game(and we're taking about Normal mode people!), for any avid button mashers you better start changing the way you play games because button mashing will get you killed, EASILY in this game...heck you'll be dead in less then 3 seconds! The great thing about Ninja Gaiden is that the more you practice and getting some of the great moves pulled off you will be more then ready to fight some pretty nasty creatures and tough bosses and defeating them feels SOOOO satisying! Speaking of enemies, they arn't just going to stand around there and let you slice n' dice them, THEY WILL KILL YOU....AND THEY WILL DO IT FAST if you don't do anything about. The enemies will range from normal/taking them down easily to frustrating as hell/I hate Black Spider Ninja Clan!!! The number one thing your finger should be on is the block button(it IS your best friend in this game)as it will block LOTS of the enemies attack(except for a few magic attacks and boss attacks). Ok I'll get back to the enemies and bosses later, I've already said a few things about the gameplay now let me get to the graphics department.......THE GAME IS FREAKIN' BEAUTIFUL! It is the 2nd best looking Xbox game next to Conkers BFD. From the mountains to the sky, the beautiful looking water, amazing character models and I hate to sound wierd but I loved how smooth and soft the water would flow in the game, and boy oh boy there will be alot of pars where you'll be starting at the water and enviorments in the game! Not only are the visuals incredible but the CGI are great as well and a sight to see! the visuals in the game totaly earn a 10/10 in my book. Now lets get to the music...How do I start? The music is like the graphics...BEAUTIFUL! The music is so good and yet so different in each Chapter, they fit so perfectly as well! It's a shame the creators didn't want to release a soundtrack to this amazing game because it would be a must buy, the music is just so damn good(I especially loved the 2nd chapters song)! Now let me get to the second half of the enemies/bosses..

Well I've said a few things about the enemies now let me get to the bosses. Some range to really really easy(chapter 3 boss)to really frustrating(Chapter 7 boss)and some range to just plain normal. If I had to put the bosses in Ninja Gaiden in one word it would be "epic"...There are so many bosses in this game and they are all different and varied in there owns ways, they'll range from a simple Worm to a huge dragon, the game just feels epic when it comes to boss battles(and you'll have to dodge alot in the boss fights). Did I mention this game also is chuckfull of Sub Bosses? They are spread through out the game and you will need to make mence meat out of them if you're going to want to survive this game. Some Sub Bosses go from 1 in a chapter to 3 in a chapter, not to mention the chapters BOSS!!! Now that I've mentioned some of things about the enemies/bosses of the game how does it stack up with the games level of difficulty???...Well like I stated before if you are just a button masher, you will be pumled withen 8 seconds before you are even half way through of the first chapter! But if you practice for a atleast 30 minutes with the moves you DO have with you(untill you upgrade it later)then you will make enemies you face look like little school girls. So if I had to say how I feel about the difficulty, it would be...Not hard, just challenging and abit frustrating at parts, overall if you are a type of gamer that is looking for a short/breez game to play for maybe a 30 minutes a day don't even think about touching this game(it will take you awhile just to beat ONE chapter)because this game is well...I can't say incredibly long but it has an awesome lengh(it took me about 24 hours my first try)including the fact that you will be hunting for goodies such as magic, and life of gods and Lives of a Thousand gods which are items that will increase your health meter and get you one step closer at getting vengance and finally grasping the Dark Dragon Blade..So let me just get this over with

The Good
-Stunning graphics
-Intence action and gameplay
-The bosses in this game are incredibly awesome and intence
-The music is amazing
-The controlls are perfect
-Tons of moves to master and weapons to upgrade
-Lots of Sub Bosses in the game!
-CGI are a treat to see
-Fun and challenging at the same time!
-Second Best video game on the xbox(first being Shenmue II)
-One of the greatest action games ever made
-Very good lengh for the Normal mode

The Bad
-Button mashing in this game = quick and painful death
-First 2 chapters are a pain since you don't have alot of health and the bosses are pretty tough.
-Very frustrating at times but not to the point where you'll leave the game
-If you dont use the block button alot in the game, this game will tear you to shreads

Overall I've said all my ranting, so I'll make it quick and sweet. Ninja Gaiden is not only one of the greatest action games ever made it's also one of the best games ever made on the Xbox next to Shenmue II. Stunning visuals, tight controlls, good atmospher, the music is just amazing and the enemies/bosses in this game are intence! Normal Difficulty will bring a challenge to any gamer and others for more to come. I loved the game and I am very proud to say that Ninja Gaiden is the second xbox game in my review section that gets a.........

5 out of 5

TOO HARD!!!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 8 / 16
Date: October 10, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is the hardest game I have ever played. I like the original better at least you can get passed the first level. I bought this game with my Xbox, and I nearly broke my controller in half fighting to the first boss! If you have ADD or anger problems don't play this game or you'll kill someone. I almost did...

THE greatest Xbox game (next to Halo)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

wow, this game had me from the first second i played it. stunning environments, great attacks, graceful moves, realistic and beatiful in all aspects. one problem. this game is HARD. and i mean hard. the controls are pretty easy (although sometimes when fighting you can't see the enemy, the game is 3rd person), but the enemies pretty much from the start are hard. the first boss took me twenty times (and a few destroyed boxes) to beat, and it became harder from there. but once you master the moves of rolling, jumping, throwing, slashing, and charging you're good to go.

The Coming of our age

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 19, 2004
Author: Amazon User

It doesn't take a genuis to realize just how irrestiably pretty Tecmo makes their games, especially on Microsoft's ever dominate working horse: the Xbox. In case maybe you don't know, Ninja Gaiden was a classic arcade brawler that won over gamers with it's authentic ninja appeal. Fighting in bars, hanging on ceiling fans and launching stools at oppositions was certainly a recipe for a good time. Some sequals were spawned and the franchise made a name for itself. And Ryu Hayabusa earned a certified ass-kicking ninja title long before Shinobi ever showed his ugly mug.

It doesn't take a genuis to realize just how irrestiably pretty Tecmo makes their games, especially on Microsoft's ever dominate working horse: the Xbox. In case maybe you don't know, Ninja Gaiden was a classic arcade brawler that won over gamers with it's authentic ninja appeal. Fighting in bars, hanging on ceiling fans and launching stools at oppositions was certainly a recipe for a good time. Some sequals were spawned and the franchise made a name for itself. And Ryu Hayabusa earned a certified ass-kicking ninja title long before Shinobi ever showed his ugly mug.

Trust me if you can, and I honestly suggest you do when I say Ninja Gaiden is simply the best looking game out in the market period. The graphics are seamlessly done with high-water mark animation that's applied to Ryu's every inertia. The details are flamboyant suffice to say, and the extremely atmospheric levels help achieve a great sense of being there. But I am not going to go any further on how damn pretty this game looks, after all you've probably ran into ten or so other web sites and have read just how 'sick' or 'incredible' the visuals are. I commend more of a see-it-yourself approach. True beauty is found within the eye of the beholder; I think if we can agree on anything it is that Tecmo cares very dearly for us.

As flawless as the graphics are, there is actually one little dent in the armor I didn't mention earlier. The camera -- no, no this is all so very wrong, you know you got problems when attempting to reach a higher ledge and fall flat to your grave all not as a result of your own failure but because the camera was inexplainably horrid. See the way I look at it is Tecmo only had one single route to take. They knew that the game was going to be quick and centered around fast-paced combat. Sadly what they didn't recognize was that with many enemies invading at one time on the screen.....there was going to be some issues with the camera lacking the speed to zoom in on the action. But who can blame the game makers, they obviously knew this was a problem and decided that in order to avoid sacrificing the gameplay, they had to let the camera go nuts a bit. I know it's a doomful exchange but I am just trying to sort out what could've been the problem. Or who knows, maybe it's my own biased perspective at trying everything in my arsenal to defend this crowing achievement.

Ninja Gaiden suffers severly from it's challenge. Again trust me when I say that this is one of the hardest games ever made. Of course against bosses your best friend is blocking and evading, something that needs to be almost second nature. And you are given the choice of so many moves, Tecmo did this for a reason. To imply that hey, just maybe this is an action game where you'll be forced to use everything in any situation to have the greatest success. It's fine by me, because the stiff challenge rewards dearly since I felt like I truly accomplished something undergoing each level. And being given the option to boot up older Ninja Gaiden games when it's completed is in itself a blessing and a shout out to how truly great this game series is. My friends, by now you've heard the positive remarks and they should be seriously taken in. If you need a third reason to buy the Xbox here it is. I am going to assume you know what the other two are. Just between you and me...ahem, Halo and Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic.

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