I came to this series from the carefully considered gameplay-loops of Devil May Cry 1 and God Hand. It made the combat impossible to consider in a vacuum because Ninja Gaiden doesn't really have the singleplayer-AI equivalent of a neutral game. That opinion did evolve over time. I do like games where enemy-interaction is simple, but the goal is just to survive and get from point A to B. This is how the NES games worked, and those are great. However, these Ninja Gaidens, from what I'd observed, don't mix the combat and platforming in a meaningful way and the way to deal with enemies is cut and dry. Izuna-drop spam and Ultimate Technique spam are the way to go. Not to say it's easy, but I like more variety and strategy than this. The games are somewhere between good and bland for me currently, but I'd like see what I can find on my own and not just go solely off of what I've discussed and what I've seen. It's always possible that players are simply doing what they can and that it's not ideal. My biggest fear is that the games are liked because the sandbox-elements of its combat aren't safe to attempt, when I don't care about creativity in a vacuum in the first place. I want to mix it up because I have no choice, not to pad out the fun. 2.5/5 for now.

Reviewed on Feb 16, 2023


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