Ninja Gaiden Black

"One of the best games ever made"

Ninja Gaiden Black (henceforth referred to as NGB) is THE BEST action game I have ever played. You have no doubt heard the hype surrounding this game and are wondering if the NGB is really all that good. Well, it is!

Another concern many potential buyers deal with, is the difficulty level in NGB. No doubt you have heard it is a ridiculously hard game, but rest assured, I consider myself a casual gamer, and I have even beaten the game on the highest difficulty setting. The beauty if NGB's gameplay is that it revolves mainly on strategy, so once you memorize enemy patterns, you only need a minimal amount of skill to succeed.

Story: 9/10

An action game, with a good story you ask? Blasphemy! Surprisingly, the story in NGB is far superior to any action game I have ever played, and must be commended.

You play as Ryu Hayabusa and go on a quest to kill some guys. Sounds generic and simple, right? But it's much more developed than how I just put it. The game actually gives reasons why you should sympathize with Ryu, and why you want those bad guys dead. There is also a lot of background detail into where the enemies you fight come from, why they are evil, the story of the weapons you wield and your enemies wield, etc. etc.

NGB does not have a Metal Gear Solid story, but what it does have is far more complex than any game of its genre, so it deserves a 9/10

Sound: 10/10

The English voice acting is terrible, but there is an option to change the voices to Japanese, and I would highly recommend you do that.

The music is, really good actually! I even wanted to get the soundtrack to listen too when I'm not playing the game!

Graphics: 9.5/10

For the most part, they look fantastic. My only complaint is that everything looks foggy for some reason. Every environment has some kind of grey haze, and I don't know if that was intentional, or if it means that the developers did not put a lot of color, or who knows. But, it's there and it's the only reason I cannot give this category more points.

Gameplay: 9/10

NGB has the most complex fighting system I've ever experienced. You have lots of weapons and lots of moves to perform with them. Better yet, there are a lot of enemy types the each have their own specific weaknesses to specific weapon moves.

Higher difficulties have new enemies and new bosses so you can try out your weapons on those challenges if you want to as well. But even on the easy mode, you will no doubt use every weapon and have a blast toying around with them.

In addition to weapons, you get a few magic attacks, and even they have their own pros and cons, so you will have to accurately judge which magic to use for a given occasion.

The only complaint with the gameplay is the camera. For the most part, it cooperates and works well, but every now and then, it doesn't give you a good angle and you might just get killed in the time it takes you to adjust it.

The camera also makes some annoying platforming sections even more frustrating, as the camera gives you a horrible angle when it decides to move itself and force you to misjudge a jump you thought would succeed. You will honestly die more times on the platforming sections than you will in all the combat parts combined!

Lots of fun and varied enemies, lots of weapons and useful moves, lots of fun and memorable boss fights, what's not to love? Aside from the camera, the gameplay is perfect.

Replay: 9.5/10

NGB really shines in this category. Few games give you this much replay value for your money.

There are multiply difficulty levels, but what gives incentive to play them is that they have new enemies and new bosses. If you enjoyed the combat on the lower difficulty levels and thirst for more, you will defiantly be satisfied by the new content in the harder modes, and as always you can go back and play around with different weapons on different enemies. There is so much variety that there is a lot of potential entertainment for anyone who seeks it.

On higher difficulties, you really are forced to explore ALL the moves for EVERY weapon in order to survive. The joy in the higher difficulties is that they encourage you to explore the deep combat system more so than the lower difficulties.

On top of the core game, NGB feature a Mission mode, which is a collection of dozens of various battles to play against. Some are boss battles with a twist, some are simply some enemies bundled together in a specific order, and some combine bosses forcing you to kill both in order to win. Boss battle Missions are noticeably more difficult than even the hardest Story Mode, and the combined bosses are something that is completely unique from the original game. Once you beat the missions, you can go over them on harder difficulty levels, but there is nothing new in the harder levels other than the increased challenge.

There are unlockable costumes and leaderboards, and once you finish the game you can view all the in game movies and music from the Title Menu, but that's about all there is for unlockable content. I would have liked to see more unlockable content, but all the hours of fun attributed to NGB more than make up for it.

Conclusion:

NGB has a few small issues and could improve on some areas, but overall it is a great package. I described myself as a casual gamer and thought I would be slaughtered by this game. Surprisingly I was able to manage, and if you are concerned about whether or not you can handle this game, you won't know till you try! There are many helpful videos and Walkthrough online to help you if you ever need help, so do not fear this game and get it right now!

Story: 9/10
Sound: 10/10
Graphics: 9.5/10
Gameplay: 9.5/10
Replay: 9.5/10
Overall: 9.5/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/14/08, Updated 12/15/08

Game Release: Ninja Gaiden Black (US, 09/20/05)