Ninja Gaiden 2 (Page 2 of 3)
- April 23, 2008 00:00 AM PST
Bleeding Beauty
It's easy to see that NG2 yields an excessive amount of blood from enemy wounds; just look at the screenshots. But to make NG2 the bloodiest game ever is not the goal for Team Ninja. "There are two ways that blood is expressed in the media: in a beautiful and stylistic way, or in a gruesome and superfluous way," Itagaki expressed. "Please remember that we always place the utmost importance on beauty in our games."
And beautiful NG2 is. The graphics are crisp and the colors vibrant, almost stylized. If you played Ninja Gaiden Sigma for the PS3, the graphics are even better than that. "The standard of quality I require from this game is in an entirely different league than the original," said Itagaki. "In order to achieve this standard we have spent the past two years creating a new action engine from scratch."
Ryu's blistering speed and agility have been turned up a notch from previous installments of the game.
The new engine allows Team Ninja to do a lot of really cool things that couldn't be achieved with the hardware of the original Xbox. Multi-dimensional battles, improved enemy A.I. routines, compartmental dismemberment and pulverization, and a realistic animation system that represents the real ninja arts.
Another part of that new engine is a completely revamped health system that enables Ryu to automatically heal himself when no enemies are present. A single enemy in the vicinity will disable Ryu from auto healing. "Don't forget here," Itagaki added, "that the enemies' ability to pursue has been greatly improved since the first game, so players won't be able to get away so easily."
Fans of the series know getting away easily is not the way of a true ninja. Ninja Gaiden games are well known for their unforgiving difficulty, almost too difficult. Team Ninja hopes to offset the frustrations of playing NG2 with four planned levels of difficulty. The easiest difficulty, Itagaki said, will be tailored to those who have never played a Ninja Gaiden game before, and will be even friendlier than the previous games' Ninja Dog mode.
Rival ninja clans aren't the only enemy Ryu must fight in NGII. Monsters ooze green blood...how typical.
Exclusivity
Naturally, you must be curious as to why the last Ninja Gaiden game that came out, Sigma, was on the PS3, but why Ninja Gaiden II is an Xbox 360 exclusive. Well, we asked Itagaki for some answers. "Ninja Gaiden was born on the first Xbox, so it's only natural to create a sequel for the Xbox 360. It's like a son wanting to attend the same college that his father graduated from." Also, Rachel, who was a playable character in Sigma, will not return for NG2. There will be, however, a new "and very attractive heroine in the game," Itagaki added.
With all the extravagant blood, sharp blades, and severed limbs, Ninja Gaiden II promises to be a huge title for the Xbox 360 in 2008. And with any luck, the world's premier action game.
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Comments [40]
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- Apr 23 2008 at 03:15:52:PM PST
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Does anyone else get hungry when they see chunks of meat flying off of enemies, or is it just me?
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this game looks great. Never played the xbox one but will definately have to give this one a try.
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That's like all the blood in that poor guys body coming out all at once. What do you think this will be rated? Is it cool to let my kid play?
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jose021292 Posted at: 04/23/08 at 3:39 PM PST nice can't wait gta will keep me busy till theni second that.ng2 will own once it comes out.it will own my soul too,along with alot of my free time.im burned out on gaming at the moment.but it will be back on in full force once gta4 drops all the way up uil im burned out on ng2.if its anything like ng black that will be along time.i can still pop it in and play it black by far one of the best games i have ever played.
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