Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2

5 Responses to “Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2”

1. buru buru piggu
   02/04/2010 at 3:27 pm

   By now, you are familiar with the infamous Ninja Gaiden double-dip. Released a little over a year ago on the XBOX360, Ninja Gaiden II comes to the PS3 as Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2.

   After a lengthy 8 minute install, you begin the game. The wait is made a little better (or worse, depending on your perspective) by a series of comic book stills with cheesy voices and sound effects while it’s copying. The improvements are vast and numerous, starting with the graphics. As good as the 360 version was, Sigma 2 is better. Enemies are lavishly detailed, moves are flashy and spectacular with terrific lighting effects, and bosses are absolutely HUGE. Some levels, gameplay mechanics and enemies received small tweaks, and some are completely revamped. I beat the 360 version and now having completed Sigma 2, I can say that playing the PS3 version is almost like a new experience, especially because of the introduction of several new bosses, online play, mission mode, and 3 new playable characters: Momiji, Rachael, and Ayane. There are a total of 17 levels, 2 or 3 of which are totally new (1 level each for the playable characters). There is none of the slowdown that plagued the 360 version, although I noticed that some bodies now vaporize in order to save processing power. Story is pretty much nonsense and a lot less focused than Ninja Gaiden/Sigma, having you jump around the world, so just ignore it.

   First of the changes is the oft-mentioned easier difficulty. I played on “Path of the Warrior” (“Path of the Acolyte” is the other starting difficulty) and found it very easy to defeat many of the bosses. You can just brute-force attack many of them and spam with the same moves over and over. This is how I defeated most of the bosses, even the later ones in the game. The last 3 bosses are especially easy. Arrows and projectiles are on auto-aim. Often you can just jump up and shoot blindly while facing in the direction of opponents. Pushing L1 also snaps to targets, making it very easy to kill attackers from a distance, especially those annoying archers or rocket launcher soldiers. Arrows (and all projectile weapons, including Ayane’s exploding shuriken and Rachel’s sub-machine gun) are now unlimited, removing a lot of the tactical decision-making and conserving you need to do. You can also move now while aiming, which is a plus. Gone are Ryu’s windmill shuriken and incendiary shuriken. I miss the windmill shuriken.

   Powering up your Ultimate Technique now is a lot faster it seems. The controls are very forgiving and don’t require precise timing as they did in the past. Many of the combos also seem easier to execute and often times, I wonder if I’ve been triggering combo fatalities by accident. Items and save points are much more numerous. This is the first game in the series where I’ve actually had a problem with too many items. You can only carry a max of 3 of each of the restore items (small health restore, big health restore, magic restore). Items don’t increase in price each time you buy them from Muramasa like they did before. Also, a big change is that he now upgrades your weapons for free. There is usually one or two upgrade statue per level. You can upgrade one weapon once per shop. Previous versions allowed you to upgrade whenever you wanted, as long as you had the money (very expensive), forcing you to save up and strive for more ultimate technique kills because they rewarded you with more essence. The abundance of items and the free upgrades makes collecting essence now rather pointless, because you’ll have all this money but nothing to buy. Lastly, load times after dying have been greatly reduced to a few seconds, removing a lot of frustration experienced by players in previous NG games. The downside is that menu load times are inordinately long. If you find a magic scroll or technique scroll, it can take several seconds for the demo video to load, and several seconds after pushing X to close the screen.

   Next is the toned-down violence. The menu system is now painted blue instead of red blood splatters. Arms, legs and heads can get chopped off, but they disappear in a wisp of blue ether instead of rolling onto the floor. In the 360 version, heads rolled everywhere and buckets of blood sprayed out from severed limbs. It’s all gone here.

   New bosses include a giant Buddhist statue at the end of the first level, a pair of tengu, and even the Statue of Fricking Liberty! Some of the bosses have their special attacks removed and made a lot less aggressive about attacking and blocking. You no longer have to time attacks perfectly. Just button mash.

   Thankfully, a lot of the “cheap” moments players complained about from Sigma are gone. The piranha ghost fish are still here though, but those extremely annoying exploding jellyfish are gone. Gone also is the ridiculous ability to swim in lava. “Invisible walls” are also a lot less apparent. In the previous game, areas that looked like you could walk around are unreachable, destroying the illusion of depth. In Sigma 2, it’s not as noticeable.

   Weapons are fun to use, with some being very flashy and cool to see in action, like the tonfa, which turns Ryu into a lethal whirlwind of skull and limb cracking goodness. I don’t ever get tired of powering up Ryu and seeing him go berserk on a group of bad guys. Locales include a futuristic Tokyo, NYC, Venice, South America, Mt. Fuji, some non-descript sewers and tunnels of hell or some other demonic dimensional warp. Sky City Tokyo is beautiful and lovingly rendered. NYC is less so. Times Square, Brooklyn, and Liberty Island look bland and inauthentic (because I live here). Some of the levels feel recycled directlty from Sigma (Airship Daedalus = airship stage from previous, Draga Dai = Vigoor city, sewers, lava levels).

   Verdict:

   Are all the gameplay changes good? No. Is Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 fun? Yes, without a doubt. I enjoyed playing the new sexy female characters and the mission mode. It’s a shame you can’t play the entire game as one of the girls and you lose all your weapons when you begin a new game. One of the weirdest, most juvenile and sexist things you can do is jiggle the girls’ goodies with the SIXAXIS.

   Replaying on Path of the Mentor (unlocked by beating the game), I found it a lot harder and I got killed several times on level 1 by even minor enemies. They are a lot more lethal and harder to kill. Too bad this difficulty wasn’t available at the very beginning to choose from. Chapter Mode also opens up, which lets you choose any chapter to replay.

   All in all, a fun game with good replay value, and I’m glad I bought it. It’s a stunning display of the PS3’s capabilities and a blast to play as everyone’s favorite ninja.

   My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars.
   Rating: 4 / 5
2. H. Alsabah
   02/04/2010 at 5:39 pm

   i was waiting for this game since i heard that they will make it,as i am a big fan of the nanja gaiden series and i have played and finished all ninja gaiden games on all consoles and my top one was ninja gaiden II on the xbox 360 it has a superb graphics,but i thought that the new one on the ps3 will be better because this one would be the latest version of ninja gaiden series,but i have bin shocked!!!! cause they have copied the xbox 360 version but forgot to give it the same graphics and the same action that the xbox 360 has,on the xbox 360 when you slash the enemies with the dragon sword you can cut them to pieces and the blood will be splashed all over on the ground and all walls and you can see that your enemies have bin cut into pieces which totally different than the ps3 version i waited for this as i was playing telling my self that it will become different when i complete half the game,but i have bin shocked cause nothing happened it still like the xbox 360 game but with a bad graphics,when i finished the game,i turned off my ps3 and hooked on my xbox 360 with ninja gaiden II in it and the fun started,waaaaw the xbox 360 version is the best.
   Rating: 4 / 5
3. Va- Bank
   02/04/2010 at 5:43 pm

   I almost bought an Xbox 360 just to play Ninja Gaiden 2.

   Luckily, if you only have a PS3 you can have this not-so-new, but improved game. I’m a huge fan of the series and this one bears the Ninja Gaiden name proudly. You can get an overview of the game in better places then my review, so I’ll just get to the point:

   - Game looks and plays fantastic. No slowdown, which 360 owners were reporting, but just a minor occurence of screen-tearing, barely noticeable and does not affect the experience.

   - Difficulty. This is no easy game, but it’s by far the easiest Ninja Gaiden I ever played. Veterans will find their challenge in difficulty settings that will get unlocked after you play through the game the first time. Newcomers to the series will enjoy the action without smashing their controllers when playing on Alcolyte and Warrior modes offered from the beginning. I think it was a smart decision on part of developers.

   - Blood and Gore. Many people have complained about the removal of over-the-top blood and gore that Ninja Gaiden 2 on Xbox was famous for. I’d say the level of depiction of violence in Sigma 2 is on par with Sigma 1 – some blood, but nothing like the Xbox version. What I don’t understand is why this game is still rated M.

   - New Characters. These are actually fun to play with, not just thrown in for the sake of putting them on the game cover.

   In short, I recommend this to anyone who likes action games. Previous Ninja Gaiden games were not for everyone due to their crushing difficulty. The only exception to my recommendation: if you already played Ninja Gaiden 2 on Xbox, you may not find that this game is worth the full price. If not – get it, it’s one of the best games this year.
   Rating: 5 / 5
4. GameFAN HCGamer
   02/04/2010 at 8:08 pm

   Anyone familiar with the discussions about whether or not video games are art need look no further than Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2. As a fantastically hyper charged action game and a ramped up version of the original, complete with new characters, tweaks, modes and polish, this game makes a definitive and compelling argument.

   There is no sense in trying to persuade a NG hater to the camp. Those who know and love Ryu Hayabusa, and those who know why NG is head and shoulders above the rest in comparison to other action games need not hesitate in partaking in the bliss that is NGS 2.

   If you are on the fence (and I can’t think of any reasons besides difficulty, which IS addressed here) about NGS 2, then I’m here to tell you- DON’T BE. It simply does not get any better than this. From an artistic point of view, this is a well rounded and well thought out collector’s dream!

   I also would remind you there is a Collector’s Edition of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 available, although I do not recommend the retailer in question because of their business practices. BUT, as an only resort for the aforementioned product, you really have no choice.

   Polished professional presentation that is light years ahead of the competition.

   Absolutely superb. Do not hesitate to partake!

   Ayane, Rachel, Momiji, Ryu….. what more could you ask for? It’s already in the game! Go for it.

   My absolute highest recommendation goes to Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2.
   Rating: 5 / 5
5. Raul G.
   02/04/2010 at 10:38 pm

   I’ve been a fan of Ninja Gaiden games for about as long as I’ve been playing video games. Even back on my NES, Ninja Gaiden was known for it’s quality as much as it’s difficulty. When Ninja Gaiden made the jump to the Xbox with Ninja Gaiden and then Ninja Gaiden Black I was only even more impressed with Tecmo’s work with the series. Ninja Gaiden Sigma on the PS3 presented a remake of the Xbox original that improved not only the graphical quality but also the framerate and the introduction of side-missions to further the story.

   It’s with some disappointment then that I write this review of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2. It’s not that Sigma 2 is a bad game. But it’s certainly not great either. The truth lies somewhere in the middle.

   So I’ll start with what I like first. Tecmo has done a fine job getting the framerate stable. This was an issue that plagued certain parts of the X360 version. I’m happy to say that I didn’t once notice any slowdown in the framerate. The controls on the DS3/SIXAXIS feel like they are mapped perfectly and intuitively. At no point did I miss my X360 controller while playing Sigma 2.

   The inclusion of side-missions is somewhat neat if only for the fact that you’re able to glean tidbits of the behind the scenes storyline that weren’t present in the X360 version. During the side-missions you’ll assume control of either Ayane, Momiji or Rachel and battle through a shortened level fighting a boss at the end. The levels fit in the overall storyline and don’t feel tacked-on. However, because the levels are spread out throughout the game it can break the flow. Each female character controls slightly differently and has a different move set than Ryu which can cause some problems if you’re relatively new to the game. One particularly nasty boss fight takes place at the end of Momiji’s level and has you squaring off against 2 bosses at the same time. It can be brutal if you’re a newcomer to the series.

   On the topic of difficulty, Sigma 2 has definitely been toned down from previous Ninja Gaiden games and even from Ninja Gaiden 2 on the X360. The ‘Normal’ difficulty setting known as “Path of the Warrior” in Sigma 2 is comparable to the ‘Easy’ difficulty “Path of the Acolyte” on the X360 version of the game. That’s not to say that there isn’t challenge in Sigma 2. Path of the Mentor and the even more difficult Path of the Master Ninja will test the limits of anyone’s gaming prowess. One big difference that makes Sigma 2 immediately more accessible to newcomers is the regenerating health bar. When you take damage in Sigma 2 it comes in 2 forms – immediate damage which drains your blue health bar but regenerates once nearby enemies are dispatched. The more permanent red damage shortens your energy bar and thus how much blue energy you can recover. Red damage can only be recovered either through using restorative items or via a save point. Either way, the regeneration helps to alleviate the brutal difficulty the series is known for. Items are also easily obtained by shopping at Muramasa’s, an item vendor located throughout the game.

   Sigma 2 does have limited online multiplayer in the form of challenge rooms that you and a friend can tackle together. These are similar to the challenges found in Ninja Gaiden Black, only with a friend. The challenges range from pretty mild stuff all the way to the uber-impossible that likely very few players will best. Either way it’s a very fun and welcome addition to the Ninja Gaiden series.

   Now to the issues that I have with the game. I suppose my first disappointment would be the most apparent – the graphics. To call them ugly would be inaccurate, however, the graphics are by no means great. Sigma 2 is definitely showing it’s age. The environments are can be described as barren and lacking detail. One entire segment of the game takes place in New York and a section in Times Square. Tecmo definitely dropped the ball in this drab, barren level. Times Square consists of a few poorly designed neon signs and some broken down cars. Very disappointing. Toward the end of the game the graphics do improve at least when it comes to details. But Sigma 2 won’t go down in the history books as a graphical powerhouse. With the latest slew of PS3 exclusives pushing the graphics on consoles to new highs it’s difficult to look past Sigma 2’s average graphics.

   Another disappointment is the in-game camera. Though a faulty camera is nothing new to the series, somehow the camera in Sigma 2 manages to be even more cumbersome than previous Ninja Gaiden games. I found myself frequently finding the camera out of place or slow to adjust. It’s frustrating enough when it’s just you fighting with the camera for a better view of the environment. But it’s much worse when you’re in the middle of a major fight and the camera doesn’t pick up on enemies. The game does at least feature a button to recenter the camera on Ryu – expect to use it constantly.

   The story has never been a focus of the series and it’s no surprise to find a rather flaky and sometimes cheesy storyline present here. Personally I find the story in Sigma 2 significantly less compelling than that present in the original Ninja Gaiden Black/Sigma. The story in Sigma 2 basically revolves around the Black Spider Ninja clan teaming with Greater Fiends to try and revive the Archfiend – a sort of king of fiends. Like I said, the story isn’t the focus but it’s still disappointing that such little emphasis is placed on developing the plot.

   Also the first time you load Sigma 2 you’ll be treated to a rather lengthy install as the game installs about 3gb of game data on your PS3s HDD. While I normally don’t have an issue with game installs I do take issue with Sigma 2’s install. The main issue is that the game frequently stops to load or is very slow when transitioning from one game element to another. Particularly when you come across fallen ninja and read the in-game journals that these departed ninja have left. I suppose it wouldn’t be so annoying but for the fact that the game installs 3gb of data and still has frequent pauses whilst data is loaded.

   Ninja Gaiden Sigma remains in my eyes the ultimate ninja game on the PS3. Sigma 2 is a decent game itself that is showing it’s age and shortcomings but still worth playing. Hopefully Tecmo will see fit to design a new Ninja Gaiden game with the PS3’s strengths specifically in mind.
   Rating: 3 / 5