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Frustrating?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

To be fair, this game possibly is indeed very frustrating to some. For me it was perfect. I'm from the first generation that grew up with games, and in the early days, games were short and challenging instead of long and easy as they are now. To me this is somewhat of a throwback to those earlier days, where you had to figure out the enemy's moves to win...you couldn't just keep pressing a button until he's dead. The bosses to me are just fine..though I'm not quite to the end yet. So far I'd say the first boss what indeed the most difficult..even after learning how to tackle him, it's still hard to pull off...but this isn't true off all bosses...some are riduculously easy once you figure out their weaknesses (like the boss on the 3rd level). But the rest of the game paced is high speed ninja action..kind of like you'd see in a movie. It's the first game of itt's kind in my opinion to pull it off correctly. Give it a chance..and make sure you learn all the moves if you want to last.

Ninja Gaiden Goodness!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: March 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I just completed this game yesterday and i have to say it is one of the best games i have ever played, ive been waiting for a sequel to ninja gaiden since i was a little kid and i never thought the next version would be so..Great! Im so glad Tecmo decided to release this game on the xbox, any other system just wouldnt have been capable of holding all this Fast Fluid Combat, Amazing Gameplay, Beautiful CGI, Smart AI, Wonderful Graphics and still do it as well as xbox. I admit it was one of the most difficult games ive played in a long time, but i say Ninja Gaiden hits the difficulty mark right on the dot, not too hard but not too easy. This game has a great replay factor too, Many secrets and treasures can be found your second time through that you may have missed and the classic NES Gaiden games are also availabe after undertaking a side quest. So many abilities and weapons to choose from in an action game is quite suprising, you usually only see that much for one character in RPGs. Except for a couple of typos in certain areas of the game,(Maybe that was just my copy) I cannot find any flaws here, I would say the story could have been deeper but it is great nonetheless, if your looking for the best action game out there right now, but also want a challenge, then go pick up Ninja Gaiden for Xbox now, you wont be dissapointed.

the hardest game ever made

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 11
Date: March 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

this game has little fun factor to it. if you want a game that raises your blood pressure to unhealthy levels during each chapter, to the point where you want to trade it in everytime you play it, then this is the game for you. if you're looking for a game that is fun, DO NOT BUY THIS GAME. as much as i love being a ninja and chopping enemies to bits, it is not worth the hours spent trying to advance 50 yards in the game. the average grunt soldiers can at times give you a run for your money. not to mention bosses. weapon power ups are only possible if you spend hours doing repetative killing with no advancement in the game. i thought i could tough it out but only made it a little past half way before i decided to trade this game in for probably half of what i put in to it. rent it dont buy it.

Overrated

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 7 / 14
Date: March 08, 2004
Author: Amazon User

After playing this game for an hour you'll either love it or hate it with a passion. I would fall into the hate with a passion category. I haven't experienced anything this frustrating to play since BATMAN-DARK TOMORROW. Sure it's pretty to look at, but the awkard control scheme and the unbelievable bad camera work sucks all the fun out of this game. Plus, it gets too hard too fast. Having some kind of in-game training dojo to hone your skills would be very helpful instead of having to do the old trial and error thing over and over and OVER again. My advice would be to rent it first to see it's your kind of game. My copy is going into the trade-in pile.

finally, a game worthy of my awesome ninja moves

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: September 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Alright, time to review my favorite xbox game of all time.

First off, let's take a different approach from the previous reviews and start off with the controls (not the camera), what I consider the most important part of the game.

NOTE: When you get to reviewing a game this good you get VERY nitpicky, the slightest detail will be mentioned, most of the stuff I complain about is so subtle it dosen't change almost anything about the game (unless noted)

CONTROLS 9.8/10:
The controls are basic, intuitive and easy to use, wich is a very good thing considering how much your going to need them. One problem however is in the camera control, the right thumbstick, when moved (even slightly) will enter you into a fist-person view, this is an annouance since sometimes you will accidently reach down and move the stick, forgetting that the camera is not controlled that way. You'll eventually drill out that habbit, and it's not that much of a problem in combat beacause you can't enter first person while blocking, moving or attacking.
By the way, get ready to use the L-Button (block) A WHOLE LOT.

GRAPHICS 9.9/10:
Why even mention it? There awesome, there so good that they make the CG cutscenes from recent titles look like Space Invaders, seriously, the only thing beating this is maybe Pandora, or Riddick. Unlike riddick it dose not suffer slowing framerates or litter jaggies, fuzzys etc. The CG cutscenes are amazing; you could play through an entire level just to be rewarded by the cutscene, wow.
Ryu's (the main charecter) animation, as well as those of all the enemies are awesome, every move is pulled of with such smooth animations your actually playing it.
By the way, plenty of blood in this title, fountains of blood gushing from every sword-swipe, head's flying off in a fountain of blood and bodies bursting into a puddle of blood (the bodys dissapearing are a clever way to keep clutter away, leading to a better framerate).

CAMERA 8.4/10:
A lot of people are having trouble with the camera, (Personally, I think there making excuses for not having enough skill) but I just don't see what the whole problem is. The camera cleverly aligns itself with important objects such as enemies and items, there is a camera-centering button in easy reach and it is definitly not so bad it will kill you. Let me say this right now, the camera system in NG is the only camera system that could work for a game of this caliber, believe me, the diffuculty level is so extremly high you couldn't take one millisecound to worry about cameras. I see no seriouse problems with the camera, and if you think it's so bad download the Hurricane pack to manually contol the camera by clicking the right thumbstick.

GAMEPLAY 9.9/10:
Ninja Gaiden is all about pushing you beyound what you ever considered your limits, it's all about making you a better player than you ever imagined you can be. There is nothing more satisfactory than losing to a boss hundreds of times and then finally smashing the punks face into the floor.
Some say the difficulty level in Ninja Gaiden is too high, I don't think so, I think Team Ninja finally got it right. There were plenty of games for NES, SNES and GENESIS were harder than this, not to mention arcade games. If you think it's just to much for you, than back out, maybe this game just isn't for you.
I have only one problem with the diffuculty of Ninja Gaiden- they call the two diffuculty levels easy and normal- EASY! YOU CALL THIS EASY!!!!... excuse me.

REPLAY VALUE 9.6/10:
Replay? You could spend six months playing through the game one time. But they do package the origianall three gaidens cleverly into the title, and those could take you just as long to beat. This game will be played for years to come. Also, the Master Ninja tournament will test your skills against players around the globe (all who are way better than you) so you could spend plenty of time doing that. To bad it dosen't have multiplayer.

TOTAL SCORE: 9.6/10

Well, that about sums it up. If you aren't too anoyed by the difficulty than don't get it, if you've been aching for a game that will actually challenge you, buy it- NOW!

What a waste of talent

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 9
Date: August 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

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.

too hard

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 16
Date: May 08, 2004
Author: Amazon User

this game is way too hard. i was ready to throw it out the window as soon as i died from the first boss.. but no i stuck with it and beat him.. just to find out he was on my team.. ugh. next level.. complete idiot on a horse with dissapearing guys helping him? impossible odds. note this was on the easy setting too.. i would hate to think of what the hard mode is like. this game dissapointted me. its just too damn hard. i like a challenge but this game was so hard that it just wasnt fun anymore. not for those of short tempers

A Brave reminder of how games should be made

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: July 12, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Yes, this game is amazingly hard. Yes, you have to devote time and certain effort in order to give yourself a reasonable shot at beating the game. But Ninja Gaiden sets the standard (among other games) of how the final product should be. Most games have become so easy that most can be completed within a week and traded at the local Gamestop or EBgames without a second thought. This game does not do that simply by the fact that once you are beaten, you know that you could have done it differently and better. Every enemy has some sort of advantage over you whether it be strength, speed, or sheer number. Yet while that is the case, they all have weaknesses. Figuring out the weaknesses of the enemies and (especially) the bosses makes them go from insanely hard to simple enough to beat. Also the game plays like a fighting game (ie Street Fighter, Dead or Alive) which means blocking, countering, and combos aren't just some feature that the creators added that don't have to be used. Once you can pull off the combos and the counters you find yourself playing the game in a completely different way. Once you look at the game like this, you realize that there are many different ways to get through the game depending on what weapon you like using. The better you get, the more fun this game becomes. Secondly, there is the huge issue with the camera. While it is not perfect there is good logic as to why it is the way it is. The camera trys to stay still as much as possible so as to not throw you off in the heat of fighting someone, only changing if it's absolutely nessesary much like a fighting game. The tradeoff? The camera's focus doesn't like to pan out at all so you won't see the other guys until they run up to you or you change the camera yourself. Very frustrating when they are shooting you. The game's puzzles are easy. Pick this item up after beating up a bunch of enemies and use it over here a couple of minutes later. There is little backtracking and when you do, it might take you a whole 3 minutes at the most.

Visually, you will not find a better game. The frame rate plus the insanely great graphics show off just how much the xbox can do. I have YET to see any slowdown and there is only one giant loading screen in the very beginning which means that once the game starts, you will rarely see a break in the action. And since it's stored on the harddrive you don't have to wait for it every time you start it up.

Overall, this is not for the casual gamer. But if your up for a good challenge and you want something to master, buy Ninja Gaiden.

ninja action... and frustration

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: July 31, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I want you to ask yourself what your definition of "difficult" is. What your definition of "dedication" is. If you are someone who likes to sit down twice a week and play a nice adventure game for 30 minutes or so, Ninja Gaiden is not for you... at all. If you are some one who never finishes games, or looks online for a walkthrough or cheats the second the difficulty of a game ramps up... You shouldn't even think about wasting your money on Ninja Gaiden... because you won't get past level 3 (I promise). However, If you view your self as someone who enjoys a great challenge, has the dedication to tackle that challenge to the end, and has the reflexes and the speed of a ninja...If you define your self with the words "hard core", then Ninja Gaiden is the game you have been waiting a long time for. This game may very well be one of the most difficult ever made... and I mean it's hard... In fact that is the game's only down fall: That a grand total of only 80 people will actually ever finish it. Which is a shame because it has fantastic controls, retina searing graphics and an awesome story... not to mention the fact that it is addictive and extremly fun to play... If you aren't easily frustrated that is. It is worth the money if you meet the criteria stated above and are willing to dedicate yourself to finishing the game, because there are no fancy cheat codes, and a walkthrough will do you no good because it is very linear. Instead, you have to learn to get good at the game, and aquire the ability destroy the enemies on your own... good luck.

No doubt one of the greatest action games ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: June 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

To call this game good would be an insult. There is so much to like about this. The graphics, voices, story, action, weapons, gore, music, and movie sequences are a 5+. The graphics are completely crisp and detailed. Especially when the hero's throat is slashed and the blood squirts, that is incredible. The voice acting is the best I ever heard in a game. The music is top-notch. It fits each stage and scenario perfectly.

Now lets get to the fun part. There's a variety of weapons; swords, nunchucks, exploding shurikens, and a host of moves and magic attacks, that can be linked together for really big and entertaining combos. Use your imagination and it might work. I saw a few reviews explaining how frustrating this game is. That's no exaggeration, this game is hard. The regular grunts will beat the hell out of you with the quickfast if your not skilled, and you might still get pounded. The bosses and sub bosses are no pushovers either, it takes patience and fast execution to eliminate most of the bosses. Blind head on attacks will most likely see you to your grave a few times.

The action and difficulty isn't all that makes up this game. Finding all the goodies throughout the game and completing the levels with perfect ratings rewards you at the end of the game, by unlocking the original versions of ninja gaiden on the NES. So if you were frustrated before, wait until you try these 10 year old gems. Overall this is one of the best action games I've seen up to this day.In fact, I've owned this game for seven months now and I play it like I just bought it last week. If you haven't played this, you been missing out.

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