One of the hardest games I've ever played.

Ninja Gaiden Black is a remaster of the previous version with more content added which is a remake of the NES version and man is this game difficult. It’s a game I love and hate because its fun and bad ass, but it was the first extremely hard game I had ever played at the time and man did this game break me.

Gameplay: NG Black is a fixed camera angle hack and slash game, think of Devil May Cry 1 but with the difficulty of the original release of DMC 3 and that's basically what this game is. It's absolutely one of the hardest video games out there. Up there in hardness like the dark soul’s franchise or cup head. You are a Ninja with a decent arsenal of deadly and gory weapons that dismember enemies. Just like dmc you do combos and have to dodge other enemies’ attacks. You have a sort of devil trigger ability that does crazy damage and projectile weapons like a bow and arrow. The game is hard because of the camera angles, controls, and enemy ai and honestly no matter how strong you get throughout the story you can pretty much get destroyed by a basic enemy if you screw up. It's satisfying to get though levels but it's excruciating sometimes, especially towards the end. Each area seems to have some platforming which you can run up and along walls, but it feels like I’m playing ps1 tomb raider with how clunky it can be. Most of the levels have some sort of puzzle solving to do and I remember certain levels I had to ask a friend who had beaten it to help me understand where I needed to go because of how complicated the puzzles got and I couldn't figure out where to bring stuff and at that point I was a seasoned resident evil puzzle solver and I still couldn't figure out the map too well. The check points in this game are basically the level starts and ends more or less and man a lot of them are in crazy spots I remember at the end of the game you have to platform up a volcano like structure level that's timed and you have to also kill a boss all in the same checkpoint and just getting past the platforming was almost impossible for me, maybe I just suck but God damn. I think I cried tears of joy when I beat the final boss and I remember I was genuinely one step away from straight up quitting and just looking up the ending.

Graphics, voice acting & music: honestly the graphics are okay for what they are at the time which wasn’t too amazing but not terrible either. It's what you'd expect from an early Xbox game. The voice acting also isn't amazing but again for its time not the worst either and pretty much the same can be said about the sound design. It has that old nostalgic feeling to it and for the most part I liked it and found a lot of it spooky but also some moments where it felt out of place.

Story/ No spoilers: The story for this game is weird and the full lore to Ninja Gaiden is a bit all over the place with the story starting and ending on the original arcade games that came before this one. There is also Gameboy games and other spin off franchises that are canon like Dead Or Alive if you really wanna follow Ryus full story. Basically, he's like Dante but instead of being half human and half demon he's a human with a sword that has demon powers and a lot of the enemies you fight are demon monsters known as fiends but there is human military too. So basically, Ryu lives in a Ninja clan somewhere in Japan and is one of the best. His clan gets attacked by an Emperor and his forces. There are a lot of wacky characters in this game like Rachel (who is basically a stereotypical American over sexualized S&M semi-stripper that also can fight demons... lol yeah not really but you'll know what I mean when you see her) and the whole game revolves around trying to stop the bad guys and get back this powerful demon sword that was taken by the main villains. There is a fun twist at the end I didn't see coming and you don't have to play the previous games to understand this one. Overall, this game is pretty great, but the story isn't the most compelling and is like the typical Japanese ninja story from the Era of the early 2000s, if that makes sense but I still really enjoyed this game. I guess the reason I haven't gone back to it is because I no longer own it and it's such a difficult game in general but I want to reply these games sometime again and refresh my memory of them. If you like Japanese games, DMC, hack and slash games or just old or really hard games, you'll love this game but if you don't like any of those things you might not find this game enjoyable. I have been holding out hope these games would get modern remasters or another remake but at this point I think we'd be lucky to see a Ninja Gaiden 4 so who knows. If you are looking to pick up this franchise this is definitely a good spot to start in just be warned about the controls and difficulty.

8.5/10

This was a journey. I think it's possibly my new favorite action game. The combat relies more on reflexes than memorizing combos. Playing it was invigorating, but I was also reminded that games like this were a dying breed.by 2005. Having a simple story of revenge was quickly becoming passe'. Contemporary to Ninja Gaiden Black were games like Devil May Cry 3 and Shadow of the Colossus, both of which released in 2005, as well Half-Life 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3, which released a year prior to Black (The base game Ninja Gaiden released the same year as Half-Life 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3). All of them were doing more interesting things with how stories could be told in games. Ninja Gaiden's story isn't bad, mind. It's just simple, with plenty of worldbuilding, llore, ambient music, and atmosphere to soak in if one is so inclined.

And the game gives you plenty of time to take in the sights. The map is sprawling, with lots of collectibles to find, secrets to uncover, and puzzles to solve. It reminds me of a Resident Evil game or a Zelda game from the Nintendo 64 era in terms of level design, while also having a foot firmly planted in the glories of the NES. You have a Ninja that travels to an evil empire by airship, fights, using primarily a sword, bad guys with guns, other ninjas, zombies, demons, and dinosaurs, with the help of a beautiful woman. It's all stuff you would have seen in the 8-bit days. The aesthetics, plot, and gameplay would fit right in with that era, especially given how hard the game is to finish.

i won't try to sugarcoat it, folks: this game is hard. To the point where it might seem unfair. It has mobs, enemies that respawn, and even classic NES knockback into lava pits. This version of the game does have an easy mode, and it makes fun of you for using it. So naturally, I played on Normal, learned the moveset, got better, and had the time of my life doing so. Every weapon in the game has a use (except for the nunchuks, which are basically a worse version of the flail). In addition, the game is very generous with healing items, so make sure to stock up if you get stuck, and don't be afraid to use your magic. This game does have a ranking system, but the rankings don't seem to do much. Which is a good thing, as that means all the bonuses, costumes, and extra missions can be unlocked and earned simply by playing the game at your own pace.

In summary, this is a perfect reboot of an old franchise. Fun story, immaculate level design, a combat system that will really put a player's reflexes to the test, an interesting world to explore, and lots of bonuses to unlock make this an amazing game that could potentially keep a player busy for months. Probably the best Xbox exclusive not published by Microsoft themselves. Don't miss it. But ignore the remake of this game, Ninja Gaiden Sigma. Sigma eliminates a lot of the puzzle elements that made this game so interesting to explore, in my opinion. Sigma is a fine game on its own, but it is not a substitute for Black. There is no other game like Ninja Gaiden Black. And given the nature of video games now, there never will be.