May as well open with this world-shattering opinion: No, I don't think this game is better than Ninja Gaiden Black. Of course, it would be difficult to improve on near-perfection without just doing it again, so I can understand why they'd go in a different direction gameplay-wise. It's still got "Ninja Gaiden" intertwined in its DNA. Enemies are relentless and will rip Ryu a new one if you hesitate for even a few seconds. The big difference is that in NGB, understanding Ryu's moveset and reacting accordingly could get you out of any situation. In NGS2, I felt like my playstyle revolved entirely around vaguely calculated button-mashing. It has its own appeal (it's almost as cathartic as a musou game on lower difficulties), but it tends to lack the deliberate action of NGB.
A lot of the game's additions and changes are good in a vacuum, but often clash with each other in practice. The most notable of these are limb dismemberment and obliteration techniques. While slicing and dicing your enemies, there's a chance one or more of their limbs may come off. You'd think this would put them at a disadvantage, but it's actually quite the opposite; they become the biggest threat in your vicinity. Turns out these motherfuckers will do literally anything to make sure Ryu is taken down, even grabbing onto him with their last ounce of life for a kamikaze attempt. This is where obliteration techniques come in handy. All Ryu has to do is use a heavy attack in the vicinity of a dismembered enemy, and he'll execute them in a single stylish blow. This helps a ton since enemies always show up in crowds of 5-6, and are packing much larger health pools than usual. The new gameplay loop is basically dismember->obliterate->charge essence->ultimate attack->repeat. Outside of normal fights, all bosses died within 30-60 seconds (this may or may not be because I insisted on using Enma's Fang, the greatsword weapon).
The other mechanics that bear discussion are your health meter, save points, and the shop. Ryu's health refills automatically once he's out of combat, but only to a certain extent. As you take damage, you'll accumulate a portion known as "lasting damage", which will only heal via blue essences, one of the game's two healing item types, and hitting a save point for the first time. Save points provide a single-use health refill at every single one. I feel like the value of these is diminished by how linear the stages actually are. It never felt like I was too far away from a full refill, and tended to use my items sparingly. You can only carry three of each health item now, a limitation that was probably put in place due to the addition of a quick-select on the dpad. Lastly, there's the shop, which comes in two varieties: with/without blacksmith. For some reason, weapon upgrades don't cost money in this game. You just get to pick one upgrade per blacksmith shop. This means you can spend the rest of your yellow essence on healing items, and since your supply is already strictly limited, you can treat shops like yet another full health refill. I had way more essence than I knew what to do with by the end of the game because I had almost nothing to spend it on.
NGS2's ridiculous plot could give a Platinum Games title a run for its money. A sacred artifact is stolen from Ryu's village, and in order to stop the awakening of the Archfiend, Ryu must go on a globe-trotting adventure to take down the four Greater Fiends. It sounds simple on paper, but so much dumb shit happens in this game, it's like a cheesy action flick. There is a point in this game where you fight the Statue of Liberty, and it fucking rules. The biggest afterthought in the story has to be Sophia. Aside from being a CIA agent who deus-ex-machinas Ryu to his next destination, she doesn't do a whole lot in the story. In fact, she spends the last chapter or two of the game turned into a sexy prisoner. Very tasteful. In between chapters where Ryu takes down a Greater Fiend, you'll play an intermission chapter as one of Ninja Gaiden/DOA's lovely ladies. I will never understand for the life of me why they cram these in between Ryu's chapters, and not just let you play them standalone outside of his campaign. They only serve to break up the pacing of what little cohesion Ryu's story has. On the bright side, I have a soft spot for playing as shrine maiden Momiji and kunoichi Ayane. I will never understand how to play as fiend hunter Rachel, but I do at least like how they gave her a heavy machine gun. Real missed opportunity not letting me play as Sophia though, just blasting everything with an RPG.
I feel like NGS2 tends to cover up a lot of its shortcomings by using excessive amounts of spectacle. Performing an ultimate/obliteration technique zooms in for a fancy closeup of Ryu's technique. I say this in every god damn review I make of a Team Ninja title, but they know a thing or two about pumping out shiny graphics at a silky-smooth 60 FPS, and this game is no different.
The last thing to mention is Team Missions, this game's version of Ninja Trials. They're meant to be tackled co-operatively with a partner, which honestly sounds like a blast. Seeing as the online is basically dead though, you can still play with an AI (they won't be able to carry you through the harder fights though). You also unlock Chapter Challenge after beating the game, a way to replay any chapter of the game with the Karma scoring system turned on. You can also choose to play as any character in both these modes, which is a really cool extra.
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 is a different kind of fun. It's what I would describe as "junk food" fun. It's nowhere near as tightly designed as NGB, but I can't stop playing it regardless. Maybe one day I can wrangle someone who's willing to play the online mode with me. Now I only have the infamous third game ahead of me...
A lot of the game's additions and changes are good in a vacuum, but often clash with each other in practice. The most notable of these are limb dismemberment and obliteration techniques. While slicing and dicing your enemies, there's a chance one or more of their limbs may come off. You'd think this would put them at a disadvantage, but it's actually quite the opposite; they become the biggest threat in your vicinity. Turns out these motherfuckers will do literally anything to make sure Ryu is taken down, even grabbing onto him with their last ounce of life for a kamikaze attempt. This is where obliteration techniques come in handy. All Ryu has to do is use a heavy attack in the vicinity of a dismembered enemy, and he'll execute them in a single stylish blow. This helps a ton since enemies always show up in crowds of 5-6, and are packing much larger health pools than usual. The new gameplay loop is basically dismember->obliterate->charge essence->ultimate attack->repeat. Outside of normal fights, all bosses died within 30-60 seconds (this may or may not be because I insisted on using Enma's Fang, the greatsword weapon).
The other mechanics that bear discussion are your health meter, save points, and the shop. Ryu's health refills automatically once he's out of combat, but only to a certain extent. As you take damage, you'll accumulate a portion known as "lasting damage", which will only heal via blue essences, one of the game's two healing item types, and hitting a save point for the first time. Save points provide a single-use health refill at every single one. I feel like the value of these is diminished by how linear the stages actually are. It never felt like I was too far away from a full refill, and tended to use my items sparingly. You can only carry three of each health item now, a limitation that was probably put in place due to the addition of a quick-select on the dpad. Lastly, there's the shop, which comes in two varieties: with/without blacksmith. For some reason, weapon upgrades don't cost money in this game. You just get to pick one upgrade per blacksmith shop. This means you can spend the rest of your yellow essence on healing items, and since your supply is already strictly limited, you can treat shops like yet another full health refill. I had way more essence than I knew what to do with by the end of the game because I had almost nothing to spend it on.
NGS2's ridiculous plot could give a Platinum Games title a run for its money. A sacred artifact is stolen from Ryu's village, and in order to stop the awakening of the Archfiend, Ryu must go on a globe-trotting adventure to take down the four Greater Fiends. It sounds simple on paper, but so much dumb shit happens in this game, it's like a cheesy action flick. There is a point in this game where you fight the Statue of Liberty, and it fucking rules. The biggest afterthought in the story has to be Sophia. Aside from being a CIA agent who deus-ex-machinas Ryu to his next destination, she doesn't do a whole lot in the story. In fact, she spends the last chapter or two of the game turned into a sexy prisoner. Very tasteful. In between chapters where Ryu takes down a Greater Fiend, you'll play an intermission chapter as one of Ninja Gaiden/DOA's lovely ladies. I will never understand for the life of me why they cram these in between Ryu's chapters, and not just let you play them standalone outside of his campaign. They only serve to break up the pacing of what little cohesion Ryu's story has. On the bright side, I have a soft spot for playing as shrine maiden Momiji and kunoichi Ayane. I will never understand how to play as fiend hunter Rachel, but I do at least like how they gave her a heavy machine gun. Real missed opportunity not letting me play as Sophia though, just blasting everything with an RPG.
I feel like NGS2 tends to cover up a lot of its shortcomings by using excessive amounts of spectacle. Performing an ultimate/obliteration technique zooms in for a fancy closeup of Ryu's technique. I say this in every god damn review I make of a Team Ninja title, but they know a thing or two about pumping out shiny graphics at a silky-smooth 60 FPS, and this game is no different.
The last thing to mention is Team Missions, this game's version of Ninja Trials. They're meant to be tackled co-operatively with a partner, which honestly sounds like a blast. Seeing as the online is basically dead though, you can still play with an AI (they won't be able to carry you through the harder fights though). You also unlock Chapter Challenge after beating the game, a way to replay any chapter of the game with the Karma scoring system turned on. You can also choose to play as any character in both these modes, which is a really cool extra.
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 is a different kind of fun. It's what I would describe as "junk food" fun. It's nowhere near as tightly designed as NGB, but I can't stop playing it regardless. Maybe one day I can wrangle someone who's willing to play the online mode with me. Now I only have the infamous third game ahead of me...
3 Comments
if you get the chance you HAVE to play Ninja Gaiden II sometime, it will make you understand the design philosophy behind NG2 and why Sigma 2 was such a profound failure.
Yeah, I trust in Itagaki's vision. I'm mostly aware that the amount of onscreen enemies was near-impossible for PS3 hardware, and that was a big part of its identity on the 360. There were plenty of points in the game where I could tell there were supposed to be a gazillion enemies onscreen.
Hooblashooga
1 year ago
Also, fuck you Koei Tecmo for gutting the online functionality in the "Master Collection" versions of NGS2 and NG3:RE.