In an industry that continues to blindly chase accessibility, I can't help but appreciate a game that unabashedly tells you to play "its way." Funny to imagine a game as acclaimed as this coming out today and being regarded as "dated" for being like it is. We no longer accept games that simply want us to play "their way," because "some people can't play that way!" Even funnier seeing the medium doggedly pursuing the status of "real art" even though they keep compromising it for the sake of appealing to all audiences. You know, even when the game is a violent action title. Ninja Gaiden Black hasn't endured in the same way that other action games have for a reason. Maybe "the game's way" is too hard, maybe the checkpoints are too far apart, maybe it doesn't have a manual lock-on feature. But it wants you to play "its way" for a reason. Too many checkpoints may trivialize certain encounters or make them blend together. Some encounters are intense battles which would be made far less threatening and engaging if they had the same stakes as a casual brawl while exploring an exciting new area.

This is just one example of Ninja Gaiden Black teaching you to play "its way." Once you've begun playing "its way," you become one with the systems. Every attack is punishing so dodging them is always satisfying. There aren't rigid attack windows, you must dynamically react to every enemy to begin your ultra-crunchy violent massacres. You need to be committed to your decisions, every move has weight and can determine whether you live or die, but everything is so quick that the amount of possible decisions is never compromised. The game becomes a simple matter of reacting and attacking, pushed forward by a perfectly paced campaign through an intriguing world with the best visuals of the entire generation. It becomes almost hypnotic...