Ninja Gaiden 2

RAIN

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/876/876569p1.html

Review. The score isent perfect but its definetly a good review,its like the reviewer wanted to give it more but couldnt because of the small but annoying issues.

johnny_ultimate

There's nothing as unforgiving as Alma was the first time you met that witch in Ninja Gaiden. Even on the harder of the two starting difficulties, most bosses can simply be overpowered by an onslaught of attacks.

Uh oh. Hope they haven't toned it down too much. The difficulty is what made the last game, so lets hope its still a bastard.

Never really like IGN reviews though, so will wait for some more to trickle in. But by the sounds of it seems like a fairly standard sequel.

kaimera

Still gonna get it.

play thru NG then NG2. Excellent

Vyse

Eurogamers isn't as kind. The fact that they've stated that the game is even more difficult than the original (and in most cases unfairly so) has put me right off. There was one boss in the original that took me about six straight hours to beat. Never so frustrated.

If it is region free I'll pick it up off play-asia.

Mr E

Eurogamer have there review up too. (link)

kaimera

Just read "review build" on the IGN review where it mentioned framerate issues.

I assume review build isn't the final build is it? NG2 is not due out for another bit?

Vyse

kaimera wrote: »

Just read "review build" on the IGN review where it mentioned framerate issues.

I assume review build isn't the final build is it? NG2 is not due out for another bit?

Due out on the 6th of June (less than two weeks). The game has gone gold.

kaimera

Vyse wrote: »

Due out on the 6th of June (less than two weeks). The game has gone gold.

Just copped that from the eurogamer review with their boxed copy.

I think I might just hold off and see what the boardsies say.

grimm2005

damn, was really lookin forward to this until i saw this thread!

i havn't read through the reviews yet but in fairness theyre hardly bad scores

Vyse

grimm2005 wrote: »

damn, was really lookin forward to this until i saw this thread!

i havn't read through the reviews yet but in fairness theyre hardly bad scores

I never let reviews put me off a game I've been looking forwrd to. And you're right, they're hardly bad. Metacritic have it at 8.2.

K.O.Kiki

A friend of a friend of a friend tested this.

There are bosses that will frustrate beyond belief, and frame rate can go south at 480p.
Oh, and he says that "the little ankle-biting fvckers are the worst".

Bottom line: for NG1 fans only.

ShaneU

Vyse wrote: »

If it is region free I'll pick it up off play-asia.

It's published by microsoft and all their games have been region-free.

Retr0gamer

Hmm, not to sure about this now although reviewers are complaining about the difficulty which they did as well for DMC4 and that was a walk in the park for the series. However I'm also worried when I hear it will be easier than the first game. The first game was more than manageable once you understood the basics. As for the balance being off it was the same for the first game, the first boss was one of the hardest in the game and the last one one of the easiest.

ShaneU

There should be a demo on live this week

TheWitch06

ShaneU wrote: »

There should be a demo on live this week

I should think not. The game get's released next Friday. Maybe after the release of the game.

ShaneU

TheWitch06 wrote: »

I should think not. The game get's released next Friday. Maybe after the release of the game.

AHA! I was right! (sort of ) http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2008/05/29/japanese-xblm-to-get-ng2-demo-on-5-30/

johnny_ultimate

http://www.teletext.co.uk/GameCentral/Features-Reviews/default.aspx

Things ain't looking too positive with this one. Trust GC the most as they tend to be fair and reasonable, but they seem to be saying its very uneven and the difficulty curve is just difficult for the sake of it.

May hold off this one for the moment...

TheWitch06

ShaneU wrote: »

AHA! I was right! (sort of ) http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2008/05/29/japanese-xblm-to-get-ng2-demo-on-5-30/

Haha! You need a Jap gold account to get the demo plus I heard it's region protected so you still can't get it even if you have a Jap account.
Who cares anyway! It's out on Friday!

Necronomicon

Haven't read any reviews but I can't wait. I remember the summer I got NG and it consumed me

Roll on next friday!

ShaneU

Demo out at 10am tuesday WOOP http://majornelson.com/archive/2008/06/02/ninja-gaiden-ii-demo-update.aspx

tman

Not sure if this is news or not, but the asian version is listed as region free on play-asia...
The demo is up now too as ShaneU promised:)

McDermotX

Had a run through of the demo this morning..
On the whole, I think a lot of the reviews were bang on..
If your a fan, you'll like it......more of the same with vastly increased levels of violence, so I don't think anyone who lived by the original and Sigma will have any issues handing over money for it..
Fast, intuitive fighting engine mechanics are all here and fans will very quickly fall back into the swing of things..

However, its not all good and great..
Graphics while good on the whole with decent modelling and design are let down by some slowdown and tearing (scaled to 1080p).. There are some points in the demo where it is noticable and leaves you to wonder as to what is in store with the later parts of the game (especially the parts were people have commented on almost slow motion sections)..
The demo never gets to that level so we'll have to wait and see, but there are some areas with multiple enemies where the tearing and frame hitches are a little distracting (especially when using the staff)..
Mainly though its fast and smooth, and while it certainly shows its scaled-frame buffer nature and very slight aliasing, it more than does a good job of conveying the action..

While the little graphic defencies can be lived with, the now-infamous camera can not..
It is awful, pure and simple, and makes you wonder how they released it happy with it that way.. It reminds me of the early days of full 3D enviroments and the struggle developers had with giving the gamer a proper view of the game..:(
There are times when you fall back into button mashing mode because the camera fails you, and the only way you can get around it is to almost keep your finger ready on the center camera button.. No doubt it will lead to some frustration, but most fans will learn to live with it and adapt ..

Not wanting to sound all bad, as it still has the Ninja Gaiden feel, and as always theres a lot to be said for a game which allows you to remove heads at the push of a button ....loving the limb removal as well..
Glad to have the demo as it may be worth the pickup now rather than when the price may drop in the future.......doesn't do anything new, but it does it well..

ShaneU

Yeah the camera is terrible.

mancduff

Yeah camera is a bit wonky alright. Loved the demo though, loving that staff and the talons makes me feel like that killer rabbit from holy grail, darting around the place slicing jugulars, liking the scythe as well. Difficulty concerns me though if from what i've read from other places is true and it takes cheap shots to make it seem more difficult than it actually is, example someone on neogaf said they were hit by a rocket launcher and that as soon as he got back up he was hit again and again till he died without the ability to dodge. F*ck that, things like that annoy me especially as NG was rewarding when you finally attained the skill to get past the bit you were stuck on. Hope xtravision are renting this i'd like to try it for a few days before i decide whether i'll get it or not. Demo was fun though.

johnny_ultimate

Well from the demo its clear that the game hasn't been upgraded that much - don't know whether thats a good or a bad thing! Its still Ninja Gaiden - fast combat, bloody dismemberings (limbs flying all over the place), floating orbs (what a weird gaming trait when you think about it!) etc... Graphics aren't amazing - they are good, but the city background looks a little cheap and the whole thing has that strange clean and sleek sheen the first one had, which always seemed a little fake to me. No boss in the demo sadly, so its left to fight some fairly idiotic minions who don't put up much hassle.

Since it seems like more of the same, will probably be renting this for week rather than a full on buy. Also seems unforunate that Itakagi hyped it up so much with promises he couldn't keep - read one interview where he criticised DMC for taking control from the player at the coolest bits. Here, the sleekest moment (Ryu sliding down the roof at the end) is in cutscene form.

But yeah its still the visceral, thrilling Ninja Gaiden, but doesn't seem too revolutionary from the admittedly short demo.

Screaming Monkey

Played the demo last night, should be ninja gaiden 1.5, the camera sucks, but its a lot of fun, them golden talons are savage.

Its up on playasia for around 32 euro which seems about right..

Lex_Diamonds

Whacked on the demo last night (huge Ninja Gaiden Black fan).
My concerns with the demo and possibly the full game:

Seems very easy! I'm hoping warrior is more of a challenge. The "oh ****, oh **** i'm about to diiiiie" feeling as you fight for your life against a group of Ninjas/cat ladies is not present in this game. Engage enemy, keep hitting y (or whatever button you feel like), and they die. That feeling of hanging on for dear life through almost every encounter is missing (at least on Acolyte.).

Ultimate Technique charge time has been reduced to the point where it can be used effortlessly to destroy all enemies; no feeling of joy when you manage to pull it off though as any move in your arsenal can destroy the enemies with ease so why bother even using it (goes back to the first point).

Ultimate Technique cannot be broken once you enter charge mode. Now maybe this isnt the case for rockets or larger foes but once i began charging, Ryu would shrug off all attacks, the possible exception could be throws/holds (not sure on that one).

Infinite health cheat active as standard. OK, not really, but i dont think my energy bar was ever less than 90% after a fight with ten ninjas. And if it was, 5 seconds later it would back to the top.

Save points recharge health; further insult to players who want a challenge. Hopefully removed from higher difficulties.

Dodgy bow. Once you pull back on the string there doesnt seem to be a way to ease off on it and not fire. Could be wrong on this but I couldnt find a way to do it.



Overall I still want the game because I hold out hope that the higher difficulty levels will address my concerns. Does anyone know if the harder levels use new sets of enemies? I'm thinking 800 point DLC for any Black type additions...

DirkVoodoo

Was the dodgy bow not in the first one too? I haven't played it in a while, but I seem to remember that you had to loose an arrow once it was knocked. I used to just (awkwardly) keep the arrow primed and switch weapons, as I recall it worked.

Cant get stupid demo because I switched my hotmail account settings to put me in sunny fort lauderdale, Florida to make use of some expanded storage gimmick from years gone by. Now I cant change my Live ID settings to Ireland, thank you MS!

Vyse

Was actually impressed enough with the demo for it to warrant a buy. I'm sure the achievement points on this one are rock hard though:mad:

silvine

Downloaded it last night but I've yet to play. Nico is a tough master

chrislad

Enjoyed it the short time I played it. Had vouchers left over for GameStop so I'll be getting this and Lego Indy.