The Writing’s on the Wall; and the Rest of Him

While Ninja Gaiden lets you trod through a fictional empire within the DOA universe the second game takes you far beyond the borders of the Far East. While initially taking place in Tokyo (what ninja game doesn’t?) and in the remains of the Hayabusa Village, Ryu’s quest takes him around the world, from the rain slick streets of New York, to the beautiful canals of Venice. Players even get to visit Moscow and the jungles of South America.

But despite visiting all these locales you won’t find yourself really impressed with anything you come across save for a few heavily-forested areas later in the game. The game, while built on a very strong engine back in 2004, is beginning to show its age and is not as impressive as it used to be. Many of the textures, while updated for the native resolution of 720p, are not as up-to-snuff as they should be for a now-gen title. All the cinemas are in-engine which is a nice touch.

There are still some issues that abound in the production department that far outweigh a few unsightly graphical issues though. While there can be a significant reduction in the frame rate should more than a dozen characters be on screen the most demeaning thing a player will have to experience is the unacceptable number of bugs present in the game.

Put quite simply, the game has more twitches and glitches than any game I have seen on the Xbox 360. It’s not uncommon to find yourself falling outside the geometry to your death or even being able to circumvent entire sections of a level thanks to a design flaw. The AI in the game, while otherwise very smart, can get stuck in performance loops that result in nothing more than it twitching in the corner and thus being an easy kill. The game could absolutely benefit from several more months of polish and refinement.

The only part of Ninja Gaiden II that you cannot find fault with is the audio work put into it. The sound effects are evenly distributed and many things are easily identifiable from sound alone. The music is a very motivating blend of slow drum arrangements to fast-paced orchestral scores that very appropriately arranged according to the situation at hand. While it’s not something that’s going to end up on your play list for your mp3 player it is undeniably perfect for use with custom soundtracks.

Cutting Through the Crap

Ninja Gaiden II, while filled with bugs and balance issues, is probably the most entertaining frustration-fest available to date for the Xbox 360. While it is still a single player series and has absolutely no multiplayer functionality save for the ability to share and compare leader board scores the game definitely has some life in it beyond a play through for masochists and achievement whores alike. This game is perfect for players wanting to play something different from Devil May Cry or for those looking for something to play during the summer gaming lull that occurs from June to the end of August. Just don’t expect this one to stay on your shelf for very long though.