The acceptable shape of "hard games" has grown small. They have lock on, they have generous I-frames in the form of a big dodge roll, they have little 6 pixel platforms surrounded by spikes, they have big flashing symbols telling me the dangerous attack is about to hit, they have little 30 second checkpoint loops so that I don't have to waste my time replaying a section i beat, they present all information with absolute clarity, they make sure I have enough resources so that I don't need to think about it. These things are not bad but they are so common it becomes limiting. If a game breaks the formula, it's fake difficulty, fake difficulty is when the game is difficult in ways I don't like, making it fake.
Ninja Gaiden has enemies who will grab you for blocking too much, the grab has almost no tell, you simply need to be aware it's a risk. Ninja Gaiden has enemies who will pelt you with exploding knives for daring to be in the same room as them, that's not their only attack it's just a thing they'll do. Ninja Gaiden gives you a dozen attacks that'll insta kill just about any goon in the game if you know where to apply them. Ninja Gaiden does not have a lock on, it would simply cause problems. Ninja Gaiden remains thrilling even as your expertise grows because it demands you remain mindful of enemies that you understand perfectly. I forgot to make a punchline for this one.
Ninja Gaiden has enemies who will grab you for blocking too much, the grab has almost no tell, you simply need to be aware it's a risk. Ninja Gaiden has enemies who will pelt you with exploding knives for daring to be in the same room as them, that's not their only attack it's just a thing they'll do. Ninja Gaiden gives you a dozen attacks that'll insta kill just about any goon in the game if you know where to apply them. Ninja Gaiden does not have a lock on, it would simply cause problems. Ninja Gaiden remains thrilling even as your expertise grows because it demands you remain mindful of enemies that you understand perfectly. I forgot to make a punchline for this one.
8 Comments
Will it be enjoyable if i find character-action games snoozefests other than God Hand? I didn't like Devil May Cry in the slightest but Ninja Gaiden looks interesting.
I'd say it's definitely worth trying at the very least; compared to Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, your toolkit in Ninja Gaiden tends to have significantly more specificity and purpose, with a few moves in particular- Flying Swallow, Izuna Drop, Ultimate Techniques to name a few being fundamental to getting through the game. On top of that enemies are extremely aggressive, so the game somewhat de-emphasizes the player expression and combo chasing elements you see in other Character Action Games in favor of wanting you to solve fights as quickly and efficiently as possible. Ninja Gaiden Black on a modern Xbox console is the best way to play it but the Sigma version is also fine, though it has some questionable changes. It might also be worth checking out Sekiro if you haven't, and the currently maligned but soon to be cult-classic Wanted Dead.
This sounds great, actually. Alright, I'll keep it in mind for later, I always thought the focus on combo chasing and expression was a bit dull given character-action combat has so much actual potential for prevalent utilization - this is exactly what sets Souls games apart to people I think, even though the combat there is more shallow. Also, I own Sekiro and I'll look into the other game, just finishing Demon's Souls before Sekiro.
ninja gaiden 3 razor's edge is a "Modern" hard game. like the kind with a bunch of checkpoints everywhere and stuff like that. Moment to moment it's a lot more slapdash but I guess that wasn't worth taking into account since you'll barely lose progress anyway. It's amazing since I barely ever felt any tension whatsoever. So many things sections have to be played in an extremely specific way. There's like a million gazillion combos for each weapon but that's useless since most of them either do functionally the same thing or are useless because the game funnels you into playing it on such a specific way. It sucks
Team Ninja really lost their footing for a while, and while I think Nioh and Nioh 2 are robust action games with a lot of good mechanics, they too are pretty gutless compared to the way NGB and NG2 want you to meet them halfway
i keep coming back to this review because you just hit the nail on the head so concisely why this game is amazing. i also love how on harder difficulties enemies get more moves to punish your izuna drop, like the dev team is just fucking with you at that point.
yeah! I love when you can really hear the game developer laughing at your expense in a videogame
Robin0007
1 year ago