Ninja Gaiden Sigma

"A must own action/adventure game for PS3 owners"

This review is written from the perspective of somebody who never played Ninja Gaiden on the XBox. If you're looking for a comparison of the two games and an analysis of whether the new features are sufficient enough to compensate owning both, you're reading the wrong review. If you never played Ninja Gaiden on the XBox, read on, to learn why Sigma is an essential, yet far from perfect action/adventure title.

The beauty of NGS is that it's hugely challenging, but at the same time, great fun to play. It avoids common hack-and-slash pitfalls, such as button mashing being favoured or the player's over-reliance on a particular move or weapon. For the majority of the game, the player controls Ryu - a ninja of the Hayabusa clan, tracking the evil Doku. Throughout the journey, Ryu picks up a range of weapons, each suited to specific forms of battle.

Very few of the weapons, if any, can be rendered useless. There are about ten melee weapons to collect, ranging from a regular blade, to a nunchuck, to a war hammer. The square and triangle buttons are designated to attacks using the melee weapon and together, make up deadly combos, which can be learnt and developed throughout the game. The combat system works extremely well, allowing the player great freedom in how they choose to fight, but at the same time, preventing things from becoming over-complicated. It's nice to be able to pull off stunning moves, without having to conquer complex button commands.

In addition, Ryu has access to a range of projectile weapons (which can be thrown or fired at enemies from distance) and "ninpo" attacks, which are more magic-based, offering a special ability to help him out of a sticky situation. Luckily, penetrating the realms of fantasy fails to mar the spirit of the game, for whilst it maintains the ninja image at heart, many of the enemies themselves push the boundaries of reality. As you go on, you learn that this is not just about slaying "bad guys", but also slaying demons. Statues are scattered throughout the game and act as vendors, from which the players can spend the orbs gained from killing foes to buy items. These can be weapon upgrades, health packs, Ninpo boosts, accessories to produce particular skills, projectile weapons...the list goes on. The game does well to offer a wide range of items, without providing anything useless or making things too complicated for the player.

The gameplay works fantastically well, for the most part. As expected, the game comes with various difficulty settings, but even on normal mode, NGS is far from being a walk in the park. Whilst the challenging element may be enough to put some off, those willing to persevere will grow to love game. While it can be extremely punishing at times, the satisfaction of finally clearing a room of enemies makes it all worthwhile. NGS is set apart from generic hack-and-slash titles by the fact that the player must learn the uses of each weapon, along with their combos. Running into a room of enemies with the wrong choice of weaponry, thrashing the square button, will see Ryu dead in a matter of seconds and herein lies the challenge. NGS requires brainpower, in addition to the ability to manage items, retain commands and attack/defend accordingly.

Players willing to dedicate time will garner the most from the experience, because the game is a lot longer than one originally might think. The first two chapters introduce the player to the game. The third chapter gives the gamer their first real sense of challenge and stands at some length in itself. The game has a total of eighteen chapters to play through, which will warrant many hours of play. Two of the chapters see the player take control of a different character - Rachael, the blond bombshell, as it were. She has only the war hammer in her arsenal, before it becomes available to Ryu later in the game. Since it's the most sluggish choice of weapon, these two chapters don't lead to such enjoyable battles and can therefore feel like a chore compared to Ryu's missions. Furthermore, Ryu's abilities to run and jump along walls, using the environment to his advantage, are absent from Rachael's moveset, further depleting the player's freedom in these chapters. Luckily, the use of Rachael is kept to a minimum.

Graphically, NGS is far from the most impressive game to come out of this generation of consoles so far. However, it still looks smooth and very well-polished. The occasional glitch, like weapons or body parts passing through immobile objects, acts as a key drawback, but doesn't ruin the overall look of the game. Whilst it's not gorgeous, it's highly playable. Also, the aesthetic qualities of the city of Tairon (the setting for much of the game) are not replicated when it comes to the design of darker, more enclosed levels. The soundtrack excels though; the music helps to create the desired atmosphere throughout the game, putting the player on edge in a battle situation, or leaving them guessing as to what might be around the corner.

Sadly, the graphical errors aren't the only problems with NGS. The camera, for example, is hugely annoying. The player has manual control over it, but this is sometimes very limited, especially during a battle where the player is surrounded by enemies. The first boss battle in the game is a great indication of just how annoying the camera can be; it's quite often impossible to see where your foe is going to attack from, because the angle is far too rigid. It's not enough to spoil the game entirely, but you can't help but feel the game could have impressed so much more with tweaked camera options.

In addition, the game uses an arguably out-of-date system, where save points act as continue points and in some cases, they are few and far between. The player must sometimes traverse a large part of the level, only to be killed at the last hurdle and go all the way back. Also, the game suffers in the same way Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time did (although, to a lesser extent), in that saving with low health or lack of items can ultimately lead to an inevitable demise. With save points acting as continue points, the player may be forced into having to complete this section of the game with what they have, meaning each save can run the risk of having to start the game over. It's rare, but if one isn't careful, it can happen.

Other annoyances include the fact that there is no way to change weapon without pressing the start button and this causes the pace of some battles to really slow down, as well as reducing preparation abilities for defence against particular enemy attacks. It also should be noted that at some points, the game can be almost too challenging, in that in order to complete a particular section, the player is practically forced to buy a ton of health potions, for use during a tough boss battle or against a swarm of enemies. The problem is that whilst it relies heavily on buying such items, the game also offers a lot of weapon upgrades, so the player may become frustrated at having to spend so many orbs on basic survival and less on the development of their arsenal.

All in all though, a fantastic purchase. Action/adventure fans should play the game to death. Even if you've always been put off sword-fighting or ninja games in the past, NGS is well worth a play. It's just a shame to see it fall short of being labelled a masterpiece, due to fairly basic yet fundamental flaws in the design.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/14/07