THIS IS A THUMBS IN THE MIDDLE.
For a little backstory, check my 3 Ninja Gaiden Master Collection Reviews for Sigma 1, 2 and Razor's Edge, since I am on a Ninja Gaiden journey...
So, I spent 7.5 hours in the Game, 33/49 Achievements.
First I started on hard. In the middle of Chapter 2 I realized, it was too frustrating. Enemies were to tanky, I died too often and I didn't want to sweat after finishing Ninja Gaiden: Razor's Edge. I just wanted a nice pallet cleanser Game before playing NG2: Black.
So I restarted the Game on normal. Played until the middle of Chapter 4 and I was still frustrated at how tanky the enemies were, at how much the special enemies would block and dodge around like crazy and also got projectile spammed from outside the screen and the counter didn't work 90% of the time.
So I restarted again and this time on easy. Even on easy, there were some cheap encounters and it was still annoying. But I finished the Game.
Let me tell you, it has some good bones. I mean, it is just a Ninja Gaiden Spin off with a self-contained story but it had some things going for it.
The artstyle is nice (I like me some cel-shaded Games), the bones of the combat felt simple but still very good, Music is not bad, the Game ran really well.
Story is forgettable, the humor is more for a 13-year old boy in puberty but it didn't bother me.
But there is also a ton that was pretty bad. Like really bad.
The Game was janky, sometimes glitchy/buggy and hella frustrating.
The Camera was really bad, it is basically fixed angles. And thus many encounters became bad, including jumping sections. And even though the Game is completely linear, some collectibles were hidden in annoying places, sometimes just in a dead spot from the camera and sometimes in jumping sections where you couldn't possibly know how to jump there.
Then there were the enemies. Not an extreme amount of variety, but still enough. Problem is, as I said, the counter doesn't work 90% of the time, special enemies are way too tanky, you can get stunlocked pretty quickly, getting up takes too long and when you die you have to endure 10 seconds until you can get back into the action.
Also the final boss: Absolute garbage and boring...
So yeah, it had some good, some bad, mostly it was just annoying and frustrating. But for a heavily reduced price, for some mindless "fun" on easy, I could recommend the Game.
Slap a number on it, it would be like a 5.5/10. Also I sensed that not that many people played the Game, because so many Achievements had the golden border around. Many people probably gave up after a few levels.
But yeah, don't expect too much, don't pay much and your disappointment will keep itself in check.
Now that my pallet is cleansed, I kept the best for last: Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, Ninja Gaiden 4 and Ninja Gaiden Ragebound...
See you in those reviews....
