After seeing many screenshots and CG cut scenes for the last 6-8 months, I was wondering if we would ever see Ninja Gaiden running in real time by the end of the year, let alone in our homes. Team Ninja has been as stealthy as their name when showing bits of this game to the press, which made some folks worried as rule to thumb, if you don’t release parts you are hyped about, and then the game usually becomes a dud. Thankfully I got my greedy little hands on a early of the game and what I was able to play was, well...unfortunately very little as my time was short with it. What I did see was very impressive indeed.
Bear in mind that I got maybe 10 min total time with Ninja Gaiden, so this is a very rough hands on…but hey…I got to touch it. Visually what can I say other than stunning, simply stunning. Tecmo really knows how to use the Xbox kit and put it to amazing use. Ryu looks very cool, and hits attention to detail is quite amazing. Think DOA alternate outfit if you will. The animations for his character are very fluid and have a range of different attacks, jumps, and moves that are remarkable. Wall scaling is back, as well as throwing shurikens and of course ninja magic. One very cool move was the ability to throw shurikens in mid air onto your opponents, and 3 shurikens were thrown at once doing great damage. The only magic ability I was able to encounter in my short time was the fire wheel magic. This effect was ripped straight out of the 8bit version, but improved with next generation visuals. The enemies I saw were a bunch of average ninja thugs, but many appeared on screen at once and no hint of slowdown was found. The backdrop detail was nice and bump mapping was noticeable on every scene, as well as some great lighting effects to create atmosphere. My only real beef with the game’s visuals is the camera can get in your way at times, but honestly that’s only slight nit picking.
The game had some very responsive controls, and utilized all the buttons on the pad effectively. Performing special moves is a breeze, and acrobatic skills are just a painless to perform. While the game does take on the traditional hack and slash element of days gone by, there is a lot of exploration to be found here, with hidden entrances and puzzles on every level. You have also the ability to choose from various weapons and gadgets to make your journey better, and you can do it on the fly. Board with that sword, strap on the chucks, stuck with the chucks, move onto the war hammer, you get the point. The publisher mentioned that the game would boast over 50 hours of game play in the final version, which made me grin ear to ear.
All I can say with my short and brief time with this game was I wanted oh so much more. Once thing was for sure, this game IS Ninja Gaiden, and it is marvelous. Let’s hope Team Ninja and Tecmo can get this out by Xmas.
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