Ninja Gaiden Sigma

"The First GREAT PS3 Release"

PS3 has seen many good releases since it's launch, two of the better ones being Resistance: Fall of Man and the more graphically-dated F.E.A.R. released mid-spring. Ninja Gaiden Sigma marks the new generation Ninja Gaiden franchise's arrival to not only the PS3 but away from Microsoft in general.

In the early 1990s on the NES, Ninja Gaiden and its sequels changed the face of action gaming. Ninja Gaiden II was one of the first, if not VERY first game released on the NES to prominently feature red blood and occult symbols. For side-scrolling games they were insanely and constantly action heavy and equally challenging. Why do we see so many old-school landmark games like Ninja Gaiden getting rebooted in the next-gen world? Because they were the best of the era.

With the preamble over, let's get down to business. Having played around with the game's first few levels several times on friends' X-Boxes I was walking in with better expectations of what I was up against and the PS3 demo will give you an even better crash course to harder difficulties and let you play around with the new dual katanas. But don't let the demo fool you, the first level may make you think the game is easily manageable but it's all downhill from there.

The graphics are in a word: beautiful. Many visuals including the entrances of several bosses are absolutely stunning. Blue Ray only ups the visual ante of Ninja Gaiden and while the game looks stunning on standard televisions, poor folks, myself included, will need to go HD to really make the graphics sing. Personally the graphics could have been less advanced and satisfying game play would be enough to put this game over the top.

Sound and music are both great but after several play-throughs under my belt I opted out for my MP3 Player to start providing the soundtrack. The voice acting is great and villains come across as not just enemies but genuine menaces because of it.

Controls are tight and very responsive but this is also where the game hits the major flaws. The whole shaking the controller to increase ninpo power is a worthless and needless add-on that was different at first but now makes me feel ridiculous. The second big problem in the camera. While most of the time the self-control of the camera is great, effective, and some of the best out there, the boss battles are where it takes your morale down a peg. There are one maybe two boss battles at the most where the camera is really in your control. In the rest of the battles you'll find the camera fixed until you move no matter what you do. With so many large and fast-moving bosses, to say the camera creates more problems in boss battles than it solves is a severe understatement. You can persevere through the occasional camera issue during the levels, but in the boss battles the unresponsive and awkward camera is what you don't want when all the marbles are on the line.

And although the game is not entirely like any other major game along its own lines that you've played before, players of God of War, Devil May Cry, and the Onimusha Series will find themselves with a slight edge of experience from being well-versed in similar action titles. I may be one of the few who make this connection but I credit the ease I had with this game compared to my friends' problems with my experience in games like Onimusha which featured a formula similar to the one you encounter here: block and dodge as much as you can, upgrade as much as you can, use the weapons you prefer for your own style, and experience swarms of enemies with your style more suited to single combat...and face annoyingly tedious and frustrating bosses. Although the bosses you encounter in Ninja Gaiden are far different and are probably closer to Devil May Cry or Dirge of Cerberus than any other series.

The replay factor isn't great but it's getting there. Downloadable content (and plenty of it too, I bet) will likely add missions, costumes, and perhaps even more new weapons and other features to keep you playing. Beyond getting the second unlockable costume from hard mode, the difficulties will NOT inspire many to keep coming back. I don't see Master Ninja mode important to many people. This is the one instance Ninja Gaiden would benefit more from stress on the fun factor and replay VALUE than just uber-hardcore challenges. Mission mode will keep you busy in any case once the story mode has lost attraction....but still I think more content was necessary for accomplishments instead of the satisfaction of a job well done.

Over all the camera being dysfunctional is the one complaining point that keeps the game from being completely perfect. The lack of extras and bonus content is a small caveat until the download content becomes available. Until then there's always mission mode.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/18/07