Ninja Gaiden II: A Play Journal: First Impressions
Ninja Gaiden II (NGII) hit stores this week, and to subdued fanfare in my estimation. Especially so considering the original Ninja Gaiden on Xbox was considered an action masterpiece - I would agree with that summation. But having played through the first few levels of NGII, the rather lukewarm reception is starting to make sense. This game does not make a very good first impression.
There’s something decidely old-school about NGII from the moment it begins. It’s hard to place why. It is very likely that in the relatively short time since the original released several years ago that videogames have actually advanced to a degree that makes games from that generation seem somewhat antiquated by comparison. And I reference the original Ninja Gaiden because NGII looks and feels very similar.
All the familiar trappings are immediately present: fast paced combat, multiple weapons, karma collection, item collection, and so forth. With respect to item purchase and weapon upgrades, you’re introduced to Muramasa’s shop right from the get go. There won’t be anyone who’s played the original who won’t settle-in very quickly.
And this, thus far, is partly why NGII does not immediately impress: there’s hardly a thing that’s new or breaks rank from the original.
Mind you, the game does some mildly clever things thus far. Take the inventory system, for example. Rather than having to enter another inventory management screen through the pause menu, NGII introduces a less intrusive way of selecting equipment, weapons, items, and ninpo (magic). By pressing on the d-pad, the game pauses and a small intuitive interface pops up in the lower left hand of the screen. It’s a nice way of not completely removing you from the action.
The game also has a new health regeneration system, and thank God for it: this game is tough, even tougher than the original in my recollection. You’re absolutely assaulted the very moment you take control. Seriously. For all the talk that this game would be a softer approach to the Ninja Gaiden formula, one would have expected something much more forgiving. They must have been speaking specifically about the lowest difficulty setting, not the higher of the two immediately available.
Regardless of the nice touches introduced here, one will quickly lose interest as they struggle to figure out what’s happening on screen due to an unwieldy camera. For starters, the camera is always slung very low - it practically scrapes the floor thus giving players an inadequate point of view most of the time. You’re immediate reaction is to adjust the camera via the right stick, but this rarely solves the issue as it tends to exhibit a mind of its own.
This alone would tend to drag on your experience, but Team Ninja made the unfathomably poor decision to place our protagonist in the tightest of confines. You will literally engage in combat in passageways all of a shoulder’s width wide, with only the sounds of weapons hitting flesh to indicate you’re connecting with the enemy.
The kicker of all of this camera bashing is that I don’t recall the camera being this intrusive in the original game. It’s hard to imagine, but the camera feels very much like a regression in many ways.
The camera also makes it difficult to appreciate the gory action on show, and plenty of gore there is. Ryu moves very quickly and so do his enemies, whom are plentiful. Ryu slices, dices, dismembers and obliterates them whilst guts, appendages and blood soak the otherwise pristine arenas. But the camera often situates itself in a position the obscures Ryu’s aptitude in the deadly arts, leaving him lost behind a gaggle of Spider Ninjas.
Obliteration techniques are also buried in annoying camera flourishes and quick cuts that betray the impact of these devastating fatalities. Once an enemy has lost a limb, they’ll continue to fight in most cases. These poor souls are subject to Ryu’s finishing obliteration with a simple press of the Y button. Most result in a zoomed-in view of Ryu making a spectacularly brutal kill. But, as I had mentioned, the camera attempts to invigorate the action by jerking about and blurring during the critical strikes, which actually results in a softening of the violence. Maybe that was the point…
If you haven’t gathered by now, the camera, in short, frustrates.
Despite my bitching over the camera and my lackluster first impressions overall, I still find myself growing fond of the combat. While at a decidedly simple level at this point, it is still very viscerally satisfying. The learning curve is becoming less steep, and things are beginning to click once again. It remains to be seen whether the combat will hold up over the long run.
peachey @ June 5, 2008