Ninja Gaiden II Review

Heads and limbs severed in glorious showers of blood, blades glistening in the moonlight, a mysterious figure in squeaky PVC... it can mean only one thing Ryu Hayabusha is back, and if Team Ninja's Tomonobu Itagaki is led to be believed it could well be the Dragon Ninja Clan's last outing.

Fighting once more against the Black Spider Ninja Clan who plan to steal the Hayabusha's Demon Statue to resurrect the Arch-Fiend (got to be evil with a title like that), Ninja Gaiden II is the finale to a storyline that began with 2004's Ninja Gaiden and continued through Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword on the Nintendo DS.

Focussing intently on action and combat, Ninja Gaiden II upholds the virtues of its predecessor, offering eyeball-busting intensity, a stern challenge, and literally buckets of blood. Unfortunately, it also suffers from its flaws, namely an antiquated camera setup that requires constant supervision.

Perhaps it's the immediacy of Ninja Gaiden II and the lack of padding that reminds us of games from time gone by. It's hard to put a finger on exactly what it is, but playing through Ninja Gaiden II reminded us of the old-school scrolling beat-em-up's from yesteryear. It makes no attempt to add "variety" with poorly attempted puzzles or longwinded plots, instead it's Ryu fighting against legions of other ninjas and fiends (demons) from start-to-finish, often with a magnificent boss battle to round it off. Think Devil May Cry or God of War, but without the puzzles.

The exceptional combat system behind the original Xbox Ninja Gaiden makes a return and it's even more refined then before. As smooth as melted butter and more responsive than a fighter-jet with a missile on its ass, Ninja Gaiden II's chief improvement stems from the flow between moves and the ability to chain attacks together in a spectacular fashion - and yes there's quite a few moves to master. It's the combat that takes central stage and in many ways it's superior to the likes of Devil May Cry 4 and God of War, the faster pace and smooth transitions just feel more visceral and more enjoyable as a result.

Despite being restricted to just two buttons and a guard, Ninja Gaiden II makes you feel like a ruthless ninja with a wide repertoire of stylish attack and defensive moves. Beyond the "conventional" standard attacks and crucial counter-attack/dodge manoeuvres, the Ultimate Technique is as rewarding and entertaining as it was in Ninja Gaiden. Often the key to dealing some serious damage and looking pretty nifty, the charged attack typically leaves Ryu vulnerable to attack, however the key is to absorb any orbs that are nearby which instigates the attack instantly. With practice you'll seamlessly string Ultimate Techniques together, causing carnage on a massive scale but oh so gracefully.

Starting the game with Ryu's trusty Dragon Sword and Shurikens, a variety of different weapons and a range of projectiles are gradually unlocked throughout the game, although in fairness these seem to offer little variation and rely on the same attacking techniques as the Dragon Sword. Being able to upgrade each weapon adds a subtle sense of depth, but once again, when the Dragon Sword is so effective this area seems largely downplayed.

The new Obliteration technique is a worthy addition and lends a tactical opening to gain the advantage in a fight. Whenever an opponent has lost a limb and is baying for Ryu's blood, a simple press of the Y button prompts a brutal finishing move with plenty of stylish camera flourishes. The violence is exaggerated and completely OTT, never coming close to causing a shock through its brutal depravity. When ninja's from the Black Spider Clan insist on carrying on the fight despite missing an arm we couldn't help but think of Monty Python's Holy Grail, "It's only a flesh wound!"

Of course what would a Ninja Gaiden game be without overly outlandish magical attacks? Ninpo special moves make a return in glorious visual splendour, but much like the original Ninja Gaiden their ineffectiveness seems particularly odd. Despite being able to level up the Ninpo attacks, it's often easier just to wade through the opponents slicing and dicing with the Dragon Sword or the other weapons available in the game.

Now let's not get too caught up in the general brilliance of Ryu Hayabusha, Ninja Gaiden II won't impress everybody and is quite likely to irritate the pants of some people. Like Dead or Alive 4 before it, the lack of visual prowess on the Xbox 360 just doesn't create the same stir that DoA3 and the original Ninja Gaiden did back on the Xbox. Also some will have some problems with the very reason I hold Ninja Gaiden II so dearly, it feels like an old game. Throwing away modern concepts such as openness and accessibility, Ninja Gaiden II offers linear levels and hard as hell difficulty to the point of using cheap tricks against you and steep increases during the later stages - but we loved it all the more for that. Team Ninja have made some steps to softening the game somewhat with the introduction of health that regenerates and a better save point system, which goes someway to addressing the most frustrating aspects of the original and Japanese developed games in general.

Although Ninja Gaiden II uses the manual camera setup featured in the re-release Ninja Gaiden: Black, there's still a number of issues with the setup and it's the one feature that really lets the game down. Although it's easy to look beyond the occasional poor view of the action or getting stuck on a corner, this becomes insanely frustrating during some of the game's more elaborate platforming sections. The same can't be said for the camera direction during Ryu's more fierce attacks however, throwing the camera all over the place and cutting to close-up shots to bring an impressive dynamism to the action.

Ninja Gaiden II easily wins the award for one of the most thoroughly pointless features ever to appear in a videogame. Being able to record your gameplay and upload it to Xbox Live may sound quite cool, particularly for those occasional moments when you string a really impressive combo together, but the actual implementation leaves us wishing they'd never bothered. For starters, it's only really the occasional bite-sized section that you'd really want to see, but instead Ninja Gaiden II forces you to watch the entire sequence - it's as fun as it sounds, watching somebody else playing a videogame. Secondly, there's no ability to fast-forward through the footage or rewind, and being able to manually control the instant replay camera for some funky footage wouldn't have gone amiss either Team Ninja.