Ninja Gaiden 2 – Preview

by James Fleming on September 28, 2007 at 11:50 am

“The forecasted title for - Ninja Gaiden II: Electric Boogaloo”

When the original Ninja Gaiden was released in the U.S. in March of 1989 on the NES console it was an instant classic. The mix of side scrolling action, shuriken power-ups, insane difficulty and memorable boss battles left a lasting impression on young gamers across America. It also set the record straight concerning the misconceptions surrounding that most mysterious of ancient Japanese arts: Ninjutsu. The game’s developer, Tecmo, encouraged us to look past the rants of so called “historians” who claim that the Shinobi were assassins who incorporated the use of avoidance, non-detection, information gathering and stealth to achieve their goals.

According to the Tokyo based game company that was all a lot of baloney. Ninjas actually cared very little for subtleties – favoring the slaughter of everything from birds, leopards, dogs and spiders to fellow ninjas, grenade hurling hulks, axe lobbing hockey masked maniacs and even women…all in broad daylight. Yes, Ryu Hyabusa definitely utilized extermination over espionage and little has changed in the almost two decades since the series’ inception.

Now with the announcement of Ninja Gaiden II (the highly anticipated sequel to the platinum selling original XBOX title) fans are excited to know where young Ryu’s adventures will be whisking him off to next. All that we can say for sure is that whatever road Hyabusa heads down would benefit from a crew of diligent street sweepers, because getting all that dried blood off the pavement ain’t gonna be easy.

When Tobonobu Itagaki and Team Ninja brought the Ninja Gaiden series back to life on the XBOX console after roughly 10 years of hibernation, fans were understandably hyped. And it delivered. It stayed true to the spirit of the original NES trilogy by including all the fast paced action that those 3 games introduced. The game continued to grow in subsequent months with the release of the highly popular Hurricane Packs made available over XBOX live, and the re-release of the improved Ninja Gaiden: Black. XBOX 360 owners were dealt a tough blow, however, when news was released that Team Ninja had no intentions of releasing Ninja Gaiden: Sigma – the 2007 next gen port, and Playstation 3 exclusive, of Ninja Gaiden – to the Microsoft console. Hardcore XBOX gamers felt betrayed and alone. But the clouds were lifted on September 12th when Microsoft announced that an entirely new and original Hyabusa adventure would be released exclusively on the XBOX 360, rather than yet another remake of its 2004 counterpart. Hallelujah!

Ninja Gaiden II is slated for a 2008 release. Itagaki and the rest of Team Ninja will once again helm the game’s development. But this time around there’ll be a little twist. Unlike the 3 previous entries, Ninja Gaiden II will not be published by Tecmo but directly by Microsoft Game Studios (Halo, Gears of War, Mass Effect). While this move pleases a lot of 360 owners who’re anxious to steer young Ryu through another acrobatic slash fest, the PS3 faithful will never get that chance. Ninja Gaiden II will be a 360 exclusive.

Little is known about the sequel’s story at this time, but it is known that you will once again be fighting to prevent the annihilation of the human race, using an assortment of authentic (and not so authentic) ninja weaponry while avenging your clan in the process. Like Ninja Gaiden before it, this addition to the series will be taking place before the circumstances of the original NES games. That means that a guest appearance by Ruy’s father (Ken), or some of the other characters that graced the earlier story arcs, is still a possibility. Who knows?

The gameplay and difficulty level are things that have always shined in the Ninja Gaiden series. Gameplay mechanics are expected to remain faithful to the original XBOX game with some welcomed additions. One of these additions has been titled “Obliteration Techniques” which have been described as moves that can be engaged to stylishly end an opponent’s existence. It hasn’t been made clear if essence collecting will play into these new techniques (pretty likely), or if a blocking mechanic might be the catalyst.

Itagaki said during a presentation of Ninja Gaiden II that this game would be used to implement a lot of the features that had to be left out of the first game due to the original XBOX console’s restrictions power wise. That same presentation also left hints of a variety of environments for our hero to wreak havoc in, both urban and rural. You’ll travel from quiet Buddhist temples to the gritty streets of New York and Tokyo, while visiting the Netherworld in an attempt to learn its secrets. Real life locations also seem like a possibility, with footage showing places that seem to resemble Kiyomizudera in Japan and the obvious inclusion of The Statue of Liberty in the Big Apple.

In an effort to make the game a little more accessible to the average gamer there has been a new auto healing health system incorporated into the gameplay. Operating similar to Halo in the way that you will gradually heal yourself as long as you avoid taking hits, with semi permanent damage being healable at save points to revive your health bar’s full potential. Although the gaming industry seems to have made a lean towards the more casual gamer with the success of Nintendo’s Wii and Bungie’s decision to lower the default difficulty setting for Halo 3, Itagaki assures us that this next Ninja Gaiden won’t alienate any of its masochistic fans. And if the early videos circling the Internet are anything to go on, those who are gluttons for punishment can expect a good hearty spanking come next year.

All in all, Ninja Gaiden II looks like it will be a promising ride. Team Ninja seems to have taken a lot of steps over the past 3 years towards giving us the perfect numchuku swinging, wall scaling, head decapitating thrill ride that we’ve been longing for. With improvements in camera control, interface design, weapon variety and item selection over the course of the last 3 installments – this game will most likely expand an already amazing upcoming lineup of XBOX 360 must haves.

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