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Platform: Xbox
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Ninja Gaiden BlackScore: 9.4 / 10 |
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Pros: - Tons of gameplay hours to be had adventuring in an amazingly detailed and varied world - One of the most beautiful video games to appear on not only the Xbox, but all current-generation consoles - Spectacular array of ninja weaponry and moves
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Cons: - Presents one of the most difficult challenges you’ll ever face in trying to complete a video game - Camera can get misaligned and out-of-place in regards to the gameplay at times |
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"... the ultimate ninja game..." |
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Your
tools of the trade are razor-sharp swords, skull-crushing nunchakus and
flesh-piercing shurikens. After mastering millenniums-old ancient
fighting techniques, you become a deadly and stealthy killing machine.
And, you get to wear a nifty black wardrobe. Yes, being a ninja has got
to be one cool profession. There’s been a fair share of ninja games
highlighting the life of the mercenary assassins, including Shinobi and
Tenchu. But the ultimate ninja game has to be Ninja Gaiden Black
for the Xbox, which has tons of ninja weapons, fighting game-style moves
to master, a hugely varied and expansive gaming world to explore, an
extremely difficult challenge level, and just happens to be one of the
best-looking games to come out on any current-generation console to
date.
Ninja Gaiden Black isn’t an entirely new game, because it really is just the original Ninja Gaiden Xbox title packed with the two Hurricane Packs that could be purchased online via Xbox Live. If you’ve bought both Ninja Gaiden and each of the Hurricane Packs already, there’s not much new here. But for gamers such as me who didn’t play Ninja Gaiden when it first came into the gaming realm, Ninja Gaiden Black is the perfect collection of the entire Ninja Gaiden experience. You’ll
take the cause of Ryu Hayabusa, the master ninja of the Hayabusa Ninja
Clan with the slicing and dicing Dragon Sword, on his expedition to
protect the evil Dark Dragon Blade, which transforms its possessor into
the Devil Incarnate. Ryu is charged with the tasks of the Dragon
Lineage, protectors of the Dragon Blade since ancient Japanese times. It
is Ryu’s responsibility to ensure that the Dragon Blade stays out of
the wrong hands, and fight to the death to reclaim it if someone does
somehow threaten to pilfer it. As you would expect, the sword’s
protection does get comprised by a malevolent force, so it’s up to you
as Ryu to defeat the denizens of evil and return it to its rightful
place, away from those who would use its immeasurable power for
malicious purposes. The story honestly doesn’t always make much sense, but you won’t really care, because you’re not playing Ninja Gaiden Black for the story. It’s the long and winding road filled with an army of enemies that you’ll inflict devastating, buckets-of-blood-spewing ninja attacks on. |
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On
your journey, you’ll traverse plenty of different places,
meeting people (and creatures) both willing to help you and willing to
destroy you. Ninja Gaiden Black has a diverse range of environments,
inside and outside: there are caves and caverns, mountain retreats,
cities, small towns, even a flying dirigible ( indoor and outside). The
sheer amount of places you’ll visit on your fantastic adventure is one
reason that Ninja Gaiden Black has so many gameplay hours packed inside.
Expect it to take in the 20-30 hour neighborhood to complete your Ninja
Gaiden Black lengthy venture, but the trip will definitely be a
memorable one.
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What probably is Ninja Gaiden’s most rewarding and at the same time frustrating feature is the unbelievably hard challenge level. You can “pick” your own difficulty level, and each contains its own nuanced set of features, but no matter what the challenge level (even the lowest difficulty level will be outrageously taxing), if you complete Ninja Gaiden Black, you’ll know you deserved it, because as the game progresses, tougher and tougher enemies must be vanquished not to mention the bosses that will require you to engage in some of the biggest, most epic boss battles ever. One
aspect of the gameplay is on item collecting, including health, power,
monetary, and weaponry items that will be needed to keep alive and
fighting at your most peak performance. But it’s the fighting aspect
of Ninja Gaiden Black that reflects the best that the game has to offer. Since
Ninja Gaiden Black has been developed by the same minds that brought us
the excellent Dead or Alive fighting game franchise, it’s no surprise
that Ninja Gaiden Black uses a fighting game-style multi-button-pushing
move, attack and defense scheme to control Ryu during gameplay. By
pushing the right combo of controller buttons, Ryu will pull off
different moves that are determined not only by what buttons you press,
but which one of the array of ninja weapons Ryu is currently holding. No
matter what, many
In
addition to the attacks, you will also control blocking defensive moves
and general ninja movement, including climbing, running along walls,
hanging, swimming, and wall clinging. Ninja Gaiden Black has left no
ninja move behind. As
good as the gameplay is, what will absolutely impress is the drop-dead
gorgeous graphical presentation of Ninja Gaiden Black. This is without a
doubt one of the most beautiful games ever created fore the current
generation of consoles. The in-game visuals are rendered with
sharp-as-a-Hattori-Hanzo-sword magnificence. The Particle effects that
are displayed during battles from Ryu’s powerful attacks are some of
the best around, and short of Final Fantasy or World of WarCraft, the
stunning cinematics are without peer. Your eyes will thank you for
bombarding them with the artistic beauty of Ninja Gaiden Black’s
graphical masterpiece. The only negative that will affect your visual
delight during gameplay is the sometimes misplaced camera. It doesn’t
happen enough to consider it a flaw, but you will encounter camera
schizophrenia at inopportune times on occasion while playing. Unfortunately,
Ninja Gaiden Black doesn’t have any sort of online play, although you
can upload your stats to a leaderboard and see how well you’ve done
against others based on your level scores. There’s sadly nary an
appearance of a co-op mode either, but considering the ninja’s more
the solitary type, it’s somehow understandable Ninja Gaiden Black’s
a single-player-only game. Prepare
to be challenged like you’ve never been challenged before to complete
an action-adventure game. If you make it through Ninja Gaiden Black, be
proud, because it definitely is one of the hardest games to complete
that you’ll ever play. Fortunately, the 20-30 hours gameplay journey
is worth the blood, sweat and tears you’ll shed, because Ninja Gaiden
Black is truly one of the best games to ever grace the Xbox. Expect an -
Lee Cieniawa (November 21, 2005)
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