Realised I haven't written about this one yet, yeah it's a goddamn masterpiece of character action in my eyes.

It's so fast and frenetic, throwing everything and the kitchen sink at you and never giving you a moment to rest. I know some people miss the interconnected world of the first, but I never really felt like that complimented the type of pacing I want from an action game.
Call me simple but I just wanna go-go-go whenever I play a game in this genre, running around a map and getting lost doesn't really do much for me so I'm happy that this one is much more to the point and linear.

Onto the combat, I love the split second decision making that permeates every moment of a duel. Whenever a blue orb popped out of an enemy I always played the positioning game where I held up my guard as to not immediately collect it and had to make the on the spot choice of taking the free health or using it to charge up Oblivion Cross Cut to swiftly take out an enemy.

However, despite my love for this game, there is one complaint I can lobby at it. There are some really tedious bosses that do not compliment the best aspects of the gameplay and in fact force you to whip out your bow and slowly chip off their health bit by bit. The bosses I refer to specifically are GIGADEATH and the Twin Gold Dragons, they're not overly challenging nor cheap but they are a hindrance whenever I go back and play this game.
However this game also has a Vergil equivalent boss. And as any well versed action player knows the best fights are always 1 on 1 duels against an enemy the exact same size as you. To this standard, Genshin does not disappoint.

I implore anyone who's interested in hyper challenging action games to check this one out. I may slightly prefer Devil May Cry 5 and God Hand overall, but this is a bloody good number 3.

love this to death, big respect Itagaki and Team Ninja for creating this

xbox360 release was a disaster because of the bad framerate, but it is much better with an emulator 

Ninja Gaiden > Devil May Cry

sigmas can suck ass

If Ninja Gaiden Black is gaming cocaine, Ninja Gaiden II is crystal meth. Extremely addictive and visceral combat, that for the last 15 years did not had been matched by any other game, will suck everything from you until you will not be able to move your hands. playing on newer Xbox consoles makes issue with framerate and resolution gone (epic staircase battle is finally 60FPS rock solid). This obviously does not solve all issues as uneven graphics and simplistic level designs in some parts of the game. However with such great combat, strong art direction and adrenaline-pumping music NGII is an essence of cool, escapist video game that cannot be stopped by anything.

Is ninja gaiden black an objectively better game? Probably. Do I like Ninja Gaiden 2 more? Oh hell yes.

Ninja Gaiden black is a masterfully crafted, beautifully made game polished to a mirror shine. Ninja gaiden 2 is an exercise in insanity, and I love it all the more for it. It's so completely unhinged and so unapologetic in how over the top it is with its combat and encounters that I can't help but adore it.

Its my favorite game of all time. All killer no filler, cuts the fat from the first game, and smartly moves the focus to what we're all here for: the combat.

It's been changed quite a bit from Black. The speed is ramped up greatly and foes are way more agressive. The game has shifted from being all about good defense and exploiting holes in enemy attack strings to you being on the offensive all the time. The game relies heavily on your knowledge of which moves grant you invincibility frames and when to use them in what situation to survive. This is ESSENTIAL on high difficulties. It's a far cry from Black's defense and counter based combat, way more fun and allows for much more free-form fighting.

Other things have been changed for the better also, no more tedious item fetching, snore inducing puzzles or weird, wonky platforming sections that killed the pacing of the first game. This game starts at 100 and doesn't let up until the credits roll. It's a non stop gauntlet the whole way through of ruthless enemies, ultraviolence and some of the most intense, high speed fighting I've ever enjoyed.

This game gets alot of heat because of how ruthless it is. Hate to say it, but it filters people like no other game I've ever seen. This game ruined action games for me, no other game since has lived up to the thrills of NG2 on master ninja mode, other games come and go, but I always find myself coming back for more NG2 as the years wear on.