Ninja Gaiden 2

Ok - I am a very big fan of the original Ninja Gaiden for Xbox (well, Ninja Gaiden Black anyway. I'm told it's the same game only harder). So when I found out Team Ninja was making a new Ninja Gaiden, I was ecstatic. But after putting the game into my 360, my excitement slowly but surely trickled away and was replaced with disappointment.

Ninja Gaiden Black was an amazing game. It had everything: a hot ninja, fighting, puzzles, a well-developed story line, interesting characters. Everything seemed to flow together nicely, nothing seemed tedious, and everything seemed to have a reason behind it. It had so many twists and turns that you never saw what was coming next. And did I mention the hot ninja?

Ninja Gaiden 2 was not so amazing. Yes, the hot ninja is still there. And the fighting. So much fighting. But that was about it. It drags you all over the world (at one point you're dumped off in South America with no real warning or reason. They also call the level "Heart of Darkness," which is kind of lame - it should have been set in the Congo) with nothing to really tie all the levels together. There was only one puzzle in the entire game that had me stumped for a few minutes (and then it ended up quite easy to solve in the end); otherwise it was an incredibly linear path throughout the game. They also had a chance to give 2 an awesome ending (similar to Black) but they blew that, too! Oh, I was also really mad at the invisible walls everywhere - the game doesn't let you explore at all! You have to stay on the path!

The one thing I will give to Ninja Gaiden 2 were the graphics. Some of the bosses looked amazing! It's just too bad that most of their characters seemed really stupid. The game would have been so much more enhanced if the characters had had a bit more background to them. Also, their design often didn't seem to match their elements. (The first Greater Fiend was hurling lightning at you, and then the second one claims to be the Lord of Storms? How does that work? And why is the first fiend creating a lightning waste land, while the Ruler of Storms is sitting around in what looks like Venice?)

I was also impressed with the weapon selection. Ninja Gaiden 2 kept some of my favourite weapons from the first game (Vigoorian Flail anyone?) while adding some exciting new ones (Eclipse Scythe). While I was sad that not all of my favourites made it into the new game (I miss you, Dabilahro!), the new ones more than compensated (Eclipse Scythe). I was a bit torn on the new upgrading system for the weapons though; in Black, every weapon had a different number of levels, while in 2, everything had 3 levels (except the Dragon Sword, which ends up with 4).

Overall, I was really disappointed with Ninja Gaiden 2. I was expecting a game that would be as amazing as the first one. Sadly, I felt that Ninja Gaiden 2 fell far short of Black. The weapons and enemies were entertaining for awhile, but the whole game wasn't put together nearly as well as Black. With Black, I was playing the game to know what happened next. With 2, I was playing the game just for the sake of beating it (and for some gamerpoints, cause hey, why not?)

The Ninja Gaiden series is, in my opinion, reflecting the Halo series. Hopefully if there is a third one, Team Ninja will do more than just work on the combat.