I've been a big fan of character action games since the original Devil May Cry and it's been a genre that I've exhaustively explored. I came into this game wondering if the reputation of it would sour my opinion, but I was surprised at how much I really enjoyed this. Ever since Devil May Cry 3, it feels like all character action games have followed the Platinum Games paradigm. I was surprised at how different that this game felt. It felt much faster than Devil May Cry, maybe even faster than DMC 5. Ninja Gaiden may not have as many crazy combos as DMC, but I love how you will use almost every technique that the game gives you. This isn't for the sake of scoring style points, you need these advanced techniques in order to survive. The game controls a little weird since you may be so used to how Dante (and by extension just about every other character action game you've played) moves and attacks, but once you adjust it flows extremely well. The encounter design of the game is quite good and expertly mixes it up between throwing you against overwhelming odds or against just a few, but tricky-to-fight enemies. The level design is also interesting with a good mix of exploration and platforming. The camera can occasionally cause problems - especially with some of the more difficult platforming sections. There are definitely some boss fights that are 15% more difficult than they need to be due to the weird camera perspective, but if the game was 100% fair then it wouldn't be a Ninja Gaiden game. If you're like me and feel like you've exhausted everything out of this genre play this because it feels incredibly fresh and it's a shame that more games don't try to copy it.