The platforming is further deterred by the control scheme. Like seemingly every game released after Prince Of Persia: Sands of Time, Ninja Gaiden has its fair share of running along walls and swinging on branches. I’m not sure if Team Ninja actually played Prince of Persia however, because they seem to have forgotten how to do it right. In PoP, the prince only takes to the wall when you tell him to, and there are clear visual indications of when he’s about to fall. In NG, wall running is completely automatic; just jump towards the wall and the game does the rest. In addition, there’s no way to know when you are going to stop save for getting a general “feel” for the move after a lot of trial and error. Perform the wrong maneuver or time a jump incorrectly, Ryu will leap, flip and run around all the wrong walls and ledges as you helplessly watch him either fall to his doom or cause you to run a particular gauntlet of platforms all over again. Personally, I do not see the need for any sort of platforming in this kind of game, but so long as there is a virtual checklist of features that every 3d game must have, all we can do is hope the developers do it well. Or, in the case of NG, we can curse the platforming for wasting time that could instead be spent killing things.

Being a Team Ninja game, Ninja Gaiden of course has a powerful graphics engine under the hood, and it is absolutely wasted thanks to terrible level design. The actual layouts of the maps are sound enough. It’s the way things look that bugs me. The first two levels show promise of rich, exotic locales, a promise which is broken once you reach the main city in which the game takes place. From there on it is nothing but stone buildings, metal grating and caves. Lots of caves. It almost becomes painful to explore when everything looks the same and there is absolutely nothing interesting to compel you to move on. I’ve seen what they have done in Dead or Alive, so I know that Team Ninja can do better. How we got stuck with so many generic stone structures is beyond me, but it is yet another issue that impedes my ability to enjoy killing things.

“They replaced my spine with a steel rod. Kung Fu is a little more challenging but the added support is worth it.”

Finally we have the story. When is the last time you actually paid attention to the story in an action game? I know I try to, but I have no qualms with tuning it out if it gets too cheesy. After all, I’m certainly not playing the game to hear a riveting narrative. That is, unless I’m playing Ninja Gaiden, in which case I’m forced to watch every cut scene the first time I see it. How bad can it be? The introduction to the game tells the tale of a Dark Dragon Blade, made from the Dark Dragon, and of the Dragon Sword, carved out of the fang of a Dragon, and of evil and ninjas and ancient gods and…dragons (just in case you didn’t get it the first time). It sounds like it was written by an eighth grader, yet is recited with the utmost seriousness. The rest of the tale involves revenge, a Holy Empire, a woman with breasts bigger than her head, and a demon wearing all black and a strange mask who talks in a deep, filtered voice (and totally isn’t a ripoff of Darth Vader. Oh who am I kidding?). It’s cheesy, ridiculous, and the player is forced to sit through it. Seems as if someone over at Tecmo is taking their job a little too seriously…

For a gamer like me who constantly professes that gameplay is more important than anything, Ninja Gaiden makes my job rather difficult. I do not believe I have seen a game with such excellent combat be marred by so many other problems. And problems they are; the camera, story and design issues are not just “minor quibbles” that are soon forgotten about. They are indeed real problems that can both annoy and hinder progress. The question then is if these issues are severe enough so as to make the game unworthy of play. Ultimately, I have to say no. Laying down heaps of powerful and deadly combos and flying around the room lopping heads off is consistently fun and challenging, and while other games may give a more accurate portrayal of ninjas, nothing beats Ninja Gaiden in making you feel like the badass, “killing machine on two legs” type of ninja that, deep down inside, we all really prefer. The game’s problems simply keep the experience in the realm of “good” rather than “must play.” This is easily the best Team Ninja game I have played, but alas, they still haven’t proven to me that they are truly worthy of their name. Perhaps with the inevitable sequel we will finally be able to play with Real Ultimate Power.