• Xbox 360 ››
• Action ››
• Ninja Gaiden II

Ninja Gaiden 2

• By Travis Moses
• April 23, 2008 14:50 PM PST
• Print
• Email this!
• Share
  • Digg
  • Yahoo Buzz!
  • FaceBook
  • StumbleUpon
  • del.icio.us

The development team behind the Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden 2K series are prepped to release the "world's premier action game" exclusively for the Xbox 360 in 2008.

Tomonobu Itagaki, executive producer at Team Ninja, wants you to feel the emotional tear of a true Japanese sword slicing through human flesh in Ninja Gaiden II. Once you have that dynamic, he says, then it's at that point you can begin to add more weapons and new moves. This is Ninja Gaiden II, the highly anticipated follow-up to the critically acclaimed 2004 Ninja Gaiden for the original Xbox. It is by far the most visceral, visually striking, game in the series, and Team Ninja is primed to release the premier action game the world has ever seen.

Dismembered enemies will still desperately try to attack Ryu.

Deep Wounds

But how does one go about creating the "world's premier action game," Itagaki said of Ninja Gaiden II at Tokyo Game Show in 2007? "I want to achieve a high degree of fusion between the visual pleasures of the game and its mental stimulation. This is the main reason the representation of violence in our game is not just superficial. It forms an integral part of the gameplay experience."

At its core, Ninja Gaiden II is an extremely gory game with lots of blood and dismembered appendages. Players will use many different traditional Japanese blades to fight through hordes of ninja enemies and monsters. Ryu Hayabusa, for example, can wield dual Samurai swords, a scythe, shuriken, and much more. The most striking weapon we've seen is a brutal pair of Wolverine claws that makes quick work and minced meat out of enemies. Itagaki told GamePro that he felt the appealing weapons in the first game tended to be pretty similar, so a huge goal for Ninja Gaiden II was to make each weapon feel individually unique. "The weapons are so attractive that people will want to beat the game multiple times using different ones," said Itagaki.

Appendages litter the battlefield after each fight.

The fun doesn't stop with tangible blades of steal either; Ryu also has his magical ninja arts, aka Ninpo. For example, Ryu can focus his energy to summon fireballs or a deadly tornado of wind blades to cut through his opponents. These special moves are especially effective in a tight bind with lots of enemies onscreen surrounding Ryu.

The combat in NG2 is relentless. Dismembered enemies "will attack Hayabusa relentlessly, even after they have lost a part of their body," said Itagaki. "In fact, when they have lost all hope and are resigned to their fate, their A.I. and attack patterns become unrelentingly vicious." Although the dismemberment factor of the game is vastly over the top, beheaded enemies will not continue to attack Ryu. This isn't a Resident Evil game.

• Previous Page Prev
• Next Page Next
• 1
• 2
• 3

• Print
• Email this!
• Share
  • Digg
  • Yahoo Buzz!
  • FaceBook
  • StumbleUpon
  • del.icio.us