Gaming Ninja Gaiden

[Charles]

Anyone with an Xbox should have had a passing interest in this oft-hyped game for some time now. Now that this much delayed bugger is nearing its long awaited release, the gaming community is abuzz. The anticipation has reached a high pitched fervor, of sorts. For once, Gamespot and IGN both seem to agree; they've each scored Ninja Gaiden an impressive 9.4. Furthermore, they've lavished it with praise, not only confirming a length of twenty hours, but by comparing the adventuring fundamentals to those found in Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. In fact, most of these reviews were spent gushing over almost every facet of the gameplay.

I've already reserved the game because my expectations lead me to label it as the game Devil May Cry 2 should have been. Impressions have noted the outstanding variety in the level designs, a satisfyingly high difficulty level, and a competent camera. What more could you ask for in this genre? If the media is correct, we have a game that's consistently good and nails all the essentials.

Expanding Ryu's repertoire of abilities and weaponry sounds notably polished too. The accumulation of skills done in the same vein as Devil May Cry and Viewtiful Joe; you purchase them. I simply love action games whose characters not only have a robust array of abilities, but introduce a learning curve as well, by making you unlock them as you progress. It's a way to keep things fresh and balanced.

I seriously hope I'm not the only one here digging Ninja Gaiden. Navigating huge, seamless environments with such a versatile gameplay engine should be quite the treat. I've heard that it's a truly fun experience. Plus, emulated versions of the original Ninja Gaiden trilogy are unlockable (although the method of obtaining them sounds tricky).

So, what does everyone else think? With this and Twin Snakes releasing within the same month, gamers are definitely enjoying a better first quarter than they're used to. That's for sure.

[Semjaza]

Screw Twin Snakes, Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life comes out mid-March. I'm not worried about some of the average scores as many magazines never give the series good ones. I still can't figure out why, but I love the games heh.

IGN and Gamespot apparently love NG as well. Gamespot in particular gushed all over it. I'm surprised by how long it's supposedly going to last (20+ hours), so I might actually bother renting it. Much better than my indifference before, I suppose lol.

[Charles]

[QUOTE=Semjaza Azazel]Screw Twin Snakes, Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life comes out mid-March. I'm not worried about some of the average scores as many magazines never give the series good ones. I still can't figure out why, but I love the games heh.
[/QUOTE]Not to get off topic, but I may actually try this game; I forgot it came out in March. It's too bad there won't be an online function though. We could trade chickens or something.

But, yes, this is probably [i]the[/i] killer app until Halo 2 is released. It's the most excitement an Xbox game has generated for me since KOTOR. Speaking of which, apparently, you can unlock a light saber too.

[img]http://guidesmedia.ign.com/guides/bannerimages/ninjasecret1.jpg[/img]

[AzureWolf]

[font=Georgia][color=blue]I played the Ninja Gaiden demo just this Monday, and I must say, I couldn't stop playing that one stage over and over. Granted, I did keep freaking out at the boss, but I'll give my thoughts of the overall game first.[/color][/font]

[font=Georgia][color=#0000ff]The opening area is very similar to the DOA stage with the waterfall, except now you have full control and can navigate around. The controls are a little funny when you first start, but they are a dream after you get used to them. Ryu's a little too fluid with his environment, but when you get into closed quarters, you figure out why. He's [i]Prince of Persia[/i] with a [i]DMC[/i] feel.[/color][/font]

[font=Georgia][color=#0000ff]You have three weapons, all of which have a moves list, and all the moves have lvls (I haven't figured out what the levels do). Ryu's signature Dragon Sword is a intermediate weapon: you need to get used to it a little before you can kick major butt. The nunchakus are beginner level: just press buttons and be amazed at your awesome butt-kicking skills. Even when you are getting your butt kicked, you look seriously cool. What's great about the nunchakus is that they deflect shurikens[i] AND[/i] can hit opponents around you. The last weapon, a huge, heavy, treasure-like sword, is just raw power and requires the most experience: the ninja's are fast, so you have to time your crushing blows properly.[/color][/font]

[font=Georgia][color=#0000ff]As I said before, this game has [i]PoP[/i] written all over it, except the emphasis on puzzle/exploration and fighting have switched. The fighting is so much fun in this game. I had one of those Rouroni Kenshin-style showdowns with one of the white ninja's, which was all-too cool. Oh, and now, Ryu's magic attacks are more along the lines of Shonibi from Genesis. You only have one at the beginning, and it's a mass-kill attack (i.e., kills everyone in the room). Additionally, there are some surprise throws from DOA cameo's.[/color][/font]

[font=Georgia][color=#0000ff]Haha, the boss is really cool. I thought I'd be fair by making it Nunchukus vs. Nunchukus, but little did I know that the boss didn't need that handicap. He deflects shurikens and is better than you with the nunchukus. O_o I freaked out so many times at this guy, and finally figured out that there's a trick to him (I won't say what, because I don't want ot spoil this game).[/color][/font]

[font=Georgia][color=#0000ff]The difficulty in this game is not half bad, so it's not a boring walk in the park. I'm very pleased with the difficulty. You can't just mash and get through: you have to fight with some concentration and attention.[/color][/font]

[font=Georgia][color=#0000ff]I love the controls. The game is tight, and there's more ninjas than you can shake a stick at. Variety of fighting styles for your character, and... well, this game has everything you'll want. Trust me. ;)[/color][/font]

[font=Georgia][color=#0000ff]Oh, one last thing: the only time you fight in a open-spaced area is against the boss. I wonder how fighting would be like in open fields. Granted, you do use the walls a lot for motion, so it could be worse. I don't know, haha.[/color][/font]

[Magnum Apex]

[color=darkblue][font=trebuchet ms]All the delaying made me worry that the product wouldn't live up to the hype. It has happened before. However, I can't lie and say I wasn't quickly caught up in the hype after reading the GameSpot review. Out of all gaming publications out there, I agree with them more often. I played all three NES games when I was little, and I have nothing but fond and frustrating memories of them. Reading about the challenge of not only unlocking these, but just plain beating the game just makes the wait more painful.

Ninja Gaiden, Twin Snakes, ESPN MLB and Snake Eater are my most wanted games this year. So far, the media likes the first two. I can't wait to try them out.[/color][/font]

[Guest ScirosDarkblade]

Has anyone played Ninja Gaiden for Xbox yet?

I bought the game a few days ago, and man does it ever rock. It's really hard, though, and I die all the time, but it's so fun I keep on playing even though I'll be stuck on some boss for forty-five minutes.

Anyway I'm just gonna say that it's one of the most enjoyable games I've played in a long time, and I'm going to play it non-stop until Doom 3 comes out.

[size=1][color=blue]Merged this thread with the other Ninja Gaiden thread. - Shinmaru[/size][/color]

[AzureWolf]

[QUOTE=ScirosDarkblade]Has anyone played Ninja Gaiden for Xbox yet?

I bought the game a few days ago, and man does it ever rock. It's really hard, though, and I die all the time, but it's so fun I keep on playing even though I'll be stuck on some boss for forty-five minutes.

Anyway I'm just gonna say that it's one of the most enjoyable games I've played in a long time, and I'm going to play it non-stop until Doom 3 comes out.[/QUOTE][font=Georgia][color=#0000ff]Yeah, I've played Ninja Gaiden for the XBox (and all the previous ones :p). It's basically the Devil May Cry of XBox (which is a great thing). You have to get used to the fighting in the game, especially because your many skills are suited to different situations and responses (and the oh-so varied enemies). Really cool stuff.[/color][/font]

[font=Georgia][color=#0000ff]I'm currently on chapter 11, with full (blue) upgrades for the Dragon Sword, Vigoorian Flail, and Diahala (that Vigoorian Sword); and I have the true (yellow) version of the wooden sword, which is called [spoiler]Unlabored Flawlessness[/spoiler]. I've mastered using the Dragon Sword; I'm moderate with the Diahala and the wooden sword; but I have trouble using the flail properly. :-/[/color][/font]

[font=Georgia][color=#0000ff]The story's not half bad - I just wish it was related to the previous games. My friend speculates that the big bad boss dude (forgot his name) is actually [spoiler]Ryu's dad[/spoiler].[/color][/font]

[QuincyArcher]

i just picked Ninja Gaiden up a few days ago and i have to say that i love it. the combat system it probably one of the best and yet most challenging that i've played in a long time. if you have an xbox this is definately a must-buy.

[Bio]

[size=2][color=sienna]This is one of the best games I've ever played. The graphics are amazing, and could pass for cinima scenes in some lower budget games.[/color][/size]

[size=2][color=#a0522d]I'm on chapter 9 I think. I can't get past that part with the tanks. Anyway, the game is so good that it's actually exciting to play. After [spoiler]fighting Alma,[/spoiler] I had a quickened pulse almost as strong as if I'd been running.[/color][/size]

[size=2][color=#a0522d]I absolutely love the weapons. I have the fully upgraded Vigoorian Flal, (which is awesome) and fully upgraded Dragon sword. There are really cool skills to. Once you really get into the game and learn how to fight, it begins to look like battle sequences from a movie, with the running on walls and whatnot.[/color][/size]

[size=2][color=#a0522d]Everyone should buy this game. If they don't, they shall be condemned to the lower depths of Gamer's Hell. [/color][color=#a0522d]Yea, I need friends.[/color][/size]

[Charles]

My opinion of this game is higher than I originally expected it to be. If I had to classify it, I would place it among the greatest games I've played in this generation of consoles. It was easy enough to assume that a Team Ninja game would capitulate refinement in most every area outside of visuals but that's just not the case at all with Ninja Gaiden. It looks like they put their gracious development cycle to good use and their vision was realized, uncompromised.

Like Viewtiful Joe, Ninja Gaiden sort of pays homage to the 16-bit days of yore by offering a satisfying difficulty level that makes the gamer feel rewarded just for progressing to the next area. At the same time, it offers an exciting sense of exploration that should be familiar to fans of the original Tomb Raider (or Metroid Prime). Every environment is so rife with detail and elaborate that I feel compelled to see what lies ahead. I'm still surprised that they've been seamlessly interconnected. The illusion of one, huge, epic landscape is pulled off rather effortlessly. It's primarily cool to revisit old areas that have been altered due to waves of destruction that took place during a cut scene. One landed area, for example, was completely submerged in water when I returned to it.

At the outset of the game, the control scheme and camera can be disorienting, even overwhelming, because of Ryu's lightning fast, fluid movement. Once I adjusted though, the sense of satisfaction the gameplay yielded was more than enough to justify the maelstrom of hype and praise surrounding this one. The battles are the best I've experienced in any action game. Their complexity and sheer depth give them a feel akin to a full fledged fighting game. Especially considering the large number of weapons and your disposal and the robust move lists attached to each. I'm also fond of the game's emphasis on mastering the block and dodge techniques. Too many titles allow gamers to ride one button from beginning to finish. Not here though. The exuberant sense of grandeur during the boss battles is the exclamation point on it all.

I definitely believe Ninja Gaiden is a more complete overall package than Devil May Cry. Whereas Capcom's placed most of its emphasis on combat, and everything else suffered to an extent, it's difficult to pigeonhole Ninja Gaiden as an action title or a beat 'em up, because it pulls off so many different styles of gameplay extremely well.

I'm happy with it.

[Guest ScirosDarkblade]

[QUOTE=Bio][size=2][color=sienna]
I'm on chapter 9 I think. I can't get past that part with the tanks.[/color][/size][/QUOTE]

To crush the tanks under your heel, do this: [spoiler]Get right up to the side of the tank, then jump and windmill shuriken the soldier manning the machine gun. Then whip out your anti-tank arrows and fire them point-blank at the tank for a few seconds. Once another soldier pops up to man the machine gun, repeat. You'll take out both tanks and use at most a couple of minor elixirs. The helicopter is a bit meaner. That one you just avoid for a while until you can hit it with arrows. [/spoiler]

I'm in the swimming level right now, and it's actually not that bad. I guess Ninja Gaiden even did a decent job with water controls (although not awesome; Ryu occasionally wants to come up for air when I don't want him to). Anyway, it's so addictive I'm having trouble studying for finals.

[Guest fool Cool This]

I kill Doku but how the hell do i get to the upper level. I know you have to use the platforms to get up their but i can't get it right. So can you tell me how to erage the platforms to get up their. Can you help me. :help:

[size=1][color=blue]Merged this with the Ninja Gaiden thread. - Shinmaru[/size][/color]

[AzureWolf]

[quote name='fool Cool This']I kill Doku but how the hell do i get to the upper level. I know you have to use the platforms to get up their but i can't get it right. So can you tell me how to erage the platforms to get up their. Can you help me. :help:[/quote] [font=Georgia][color=blue]Ah yes, I remember this part vividly. The way I figured it out was rather scientific: I made assumptions, and based on those assumptions, saw what options were left.[/color][/font]

[font=Georgia][color=#0000ff]If you assume that the golden scarabs are only in places where you [i]go out of your way[/i] to get them, then it's clear that mounting that area is useless. Second assumption: hitting the last switch in the series is important because it is the last switch, but that doesn't mean the others are.[/color][/font]

[font=Georgia][color=#0000ff]Anyway, to get to the point of it all, follow the series of switches till you get to the last one you can reach. Then restore all of the previous ones while going back down (you might have had to keep one of them on - I don't remember). Now, go to the platform that was activated by the very last switch. Don't jump up to where the golden scarab is - instead, wall ride - jump - wall ride - jump - wall ride - jump. That should bring you onto one of the other platforms.[/color][/font]

[font=Georgia][color=#0000ff]From there, it's pretty straightforward. If you can't seem to go on, fiddle with some of the switches.[/color][/font]

[font=Georgia][color=#0000ff]Hope that helps.[/color][/font]
[font=Georgia][color=#0000ff][/color][/font]
[font=Georgia][color=#0000ff]Oh, and you didn't kill Doku - you removed him from his physical manifestation. ;)[/color][/font]

[Guest ScirosDarkblade]

I beat Ninja Gaiden on "normal" about a week ago and haven't yet done much of anything to follow up, but you get to do either a "successive play" or you can start a brand new file on another difficulty level. Both have their own bonuses, and I don't know what all successive play gets you, but so all I know is pretty much nothing (except maybe scarabs) carried over from my last game. Though I haven't done anything past the first boss yet.

If you start a new game, you can give yourself the "ninja of the future" outfit, which looks like Ryu in football pads, i.e. really lame. But you get a "plasma saber" to go along with the crappy costume (which doesn't change to the normal one once you pass chapter 2, by the way). So I guess it's a tradeoff--cooler sword, worse outfit.

Oh, and hard mode is [i]hard[/i].

[AzureWolf]

[font=Georgia][color=blue]I wish the successive play was like DMC, where you kept all your upgrades. You can't even change the difficulty. Yeah, the only thing that comes over are the scarabs you had. I had a total of 45, so I'm assuming that there's 50. I wonder what that blacksmith gives you when you get fifty... Haha, I don't think I'll ever find them all.[/color][/font]
[font=Georgia][color=#0000ff][/color][/font]
[font=Georgia][color=#0000ff]The change of costume was also a disappointment. The plasma sword itself is just a costume change for the Dragon Sword - there's absolutely no difference. I have to disagree with[color=blue] ScirosDarkblade about the costume, though: i[/color]t is a really cool outfit, and matches the "plasma sword" nicely. Also, you glow yellow/gold instead of blue when you do swift attacks.[/color][/font]
[font=Georgia][color=#0000ff][/color][/font]
[font=Georgia][color=#0000ff]Oh, right, the specs: I beat the game on Hard last week on Tuesday. I tend not to bother with the sissy levels, so I just go to the hardest one available. I didn't get anything besides the movie thing, so I'm hoping that the newly-released Very Hard mode will be more rewarding.[/color][/font]
[font=Georgia][color=#0000ff][/color][/font]
[font=Georgia][color=#0000ff]To my disappointment, the level of difficulty doesn't seem to have changed from Hard to Very Hard. In fact, after playing through Hard, NG on Very Hard is surprisingly easy. Don't expect DMC's Normal-Hard-DMD curve of accomodation: NG does not adjust to your increasing skill.[/color][/font]

[Charles]

[QUOTE=AzureWolf][font=Georgia][color=blue]I wish the successive play was like DMC, where you kept all your upgrades. You can't even change the difficulty. Yeah, the only thing that comes over are the scarabs you had. I had a total of 45, so I'm assuming that there's 50. I wonder what that blacksmith gives you when you get fifty... Haha, I don't think I'll ever find them all.[/color][/font]

[/QUOTE]He gives you the first Ninja Gaiden. Which, of course, you need to unlock the other two. If I completel "successive play" as opposed to experimenting with a harder difficulty level, it will only be for the scarabs. I was intensely disappointed to find that weapon upgrades don't carry over. What a waste. Especially if you bothered to fully upgrade the wooden sword.

[Guest ScirosDarkblade]

[QUOTE=AnujSuper9]Bah...I have this feeling that this post will get erased if I don't append some more into this. I'll do this to stray off topic for a bit, and then I'll come back to the main topic.
First of all, Sciros, what you said is the exact opposite of the truth. Sure, we can look at the Ninja Gaiden camera as being good enough, yeah, it gets the job done. But that doesn't change the fact that it is annoying as all hell, and that's what makes it a problem. Sure, you might not have a problem with it, but if everyone else does, then it's still a problem. It's not like the thousands of people out there complaining were LOOKING for problems with the game. Most people have started using both thumbs for both analog sticks in almost all games. Using the secong analog stick for full 360 camera is intuitive. It wouldn't have even been a problem, if it didn't go into first person when one did this. Like, there are tons of the games that have the same thing with the camera not having a full 360 camera control when you think it should. But usually the second analog doesn't do anything in that case...it doesn't go into first person, or do something drastically different like that. Although I think Hurricane pack fixed that...although I still don't like having to click the button every time to go into 360 control and you go int a new area...I'd rather it just be on all of the time.
Anyways, It WAS a problem (isn't really anymore) with the game, whether you admit it or not....when you say it wasn't a problem, you're just making up for the shortcoming the game had, albeit a little one, because the camera the game gave you was indeed good enough.
You don't have to LOOK for it to see that the problem. Seriously, who goes looking for problems? All of us bastard critics get crap for saying we're looking for problems in movies, games, tv shows, or whatever, when we complain about the things that seem insignificant to other people, but we're never LOOKING for them, they leap out at us waving their hands frantically and yelling obscene things and making distracting gestures. That's how we see the problems...I mean, in a sense we're always looking for problems in things...that's called being a critic. I go into any form of media I watch/hear/read critiquing it from start to finish, as do most of us. When people say to us, why can't you just enjoy it without thinking about it too much...what the hell does that even mean? So we're not supposed to dislike things anymore? Anyways, that IS how we enjoy the things that we dislike, by bashing how crappy they are and exploiting the stupid stuff. Anyways, the whole, wimp who is looking for problems thing was a hypocritical and wrong thing to say, and that's why it was stupid.[/QUOTE]
You know I don't think controlling the camera was ever a problem. I never got into the bizarre "habit" of wiggling the right thumbstick whenever I wanted the camera adjusted in any random game, so your difficulty with it was never an issue for me. You had this mindset that the right thumbstick in Ninja Gaiden would control the camera, and I didn't understand it, because nowhere was this implied. You don't wiggle the thumbstick to adjust camera in DOA, what rule is there that you should do this in NG? It's not even a question of following convention, because NG has no predecessors to set "action game control" precedent for it.
And you also know that I never had actual, legitimate issues with the camera. And I don't think I'm a particularly "good" NG player or anything. But the camera was just fine for the gameplay; a 360-degree camera is worthless for NG. That much is clear from the fact that there's literally no reason to use the new 360-degree camera that Hurricane Pack I added. You can't use it during combat because you'd need a third thumb, and, well, that's the only time the camera was ever an issue for anybody.
You, Anuj, were unique in that your problem wasn't that the camera wouldn't keep up with your or do something else that supposedly caused some players grief. No, your problem was that you couldn't keep your thumb off the right joystick while fighting, and Ryu would go into first-person mode and you'd get hacked up. The player pressing the wrong button is hardly something you could blame Team Ninja for, heh.
Anyway, I hold by my statement that the NG camera was always great for the game. The only reasons to complain about it were: being a wuss and blaming the game for your own inability to control it (which is not that hard to do, and that's the point), simply having magically set higher standards for camera AI in such games, even though NG's camera blows every other camera out of the water in terms of how quickly it can adjust to the proper angle for the best view, or wanting to bash NG for something, just something, because otherwise it's just too good. Take your pick.

[S9per]

x

Edited October 22, 2016 by S9per

[Guest ScirosDarkblade]

[QUOTE=AnujSuper9]So there's a confusion as to why since a game like DOA doesn't have a camera like that, why Ninja Gaiden should be expected to? Hm.
And also, the action game control games that were predecessors to Ninja Gaiden had the same or similar camera problems as well.[/QUOTE]So you accidentally going into first-person mode all the time was just wishful thinking, then? Since NG's predecessors had camera problems, why expect a 360 camera like in Wind Waker all of a sudden?

[QUOTE]I certainly can, and would use it. Probably not as much as L/R, but regardless, I like the fact that it's there.[/QUOTE]It won't do much for you, and it will do nothing for you in combat. It's not necessary in the least.
[QUOTE]You saying that you had the ability in controlling the camera to make up for its shortcomings, and that everyone who complained about the camera didn't have that ability, is like me saying that the 360 camera is useless to you just because you don't have the dexterity to control it while playing the game.[/QUOTE]That argument doesn't hold because to me the 360 camera is simply unnecessary. It's useless just like a BMW M5 is useless in a racing game where you've already unlocked a 575M Maranello. You know it's not an issue of having the dexterity to control it. Why even say something like that? Also, my "ability" wasn't to make up for its shortcomings; it was to utilize it well enough not to die, which wasn't that difficult. Some people maybe aren't used to it, or maybe just did really weird stuff to confuse the camera; I don't know. Like I said, it was never a problem for me.

[QUOTE]First of all, I doubt I was unique in that problem. But that problem is one that after a bit of adjustment doesn't remain a problem.[/QUOTE]It's not a legitimate qualm at all, was my point.[QUOTE]Second, I CAN blame Team Ninja because it was stupid to make it that you just move the analog and it goes into first person. Clicking to go into first person was fine.[/QUOTE]It wasn't stupid to do, because it was simply extra. You're not supposed to go wiggling the right thumbstick in combat, and that much was clear. The right thumbstick could've been a self-destruct trigger, for all that it mattered, really. I didn't wiggle it for no good reason, and neither should've you.
[QUOTE]One's own inability to control it? With that logic, there's no such thing as a bad camera as long as there is any control to it whatsoever, there's just one's own "inability to control it."[/QUOTE]In NG's case that is true. I don't speak for other games.
[QUOTE]And these supposed "magically set higher standards" you talk about, the game has to live up to the current standard in camera control before it can compare to some "magically set higher standard" of control.[/QUOTE]Which it does, and then some. No other camera system in any game has the balls to keep up with Ninja Gaiden's pace of combat. NG's camera adjusts incredibly quickly. Do you actually think that replacing NG's camera with the Wind Waker one would've made it better? The current standard in camera control is below NG's, in any case. NG is just a game that requires an extremely robust camera, much more robust than any other game requires. And I think it was easily robust enough. You cannot carry over another current game's camera system to NG and expect it to be as playable.
[QUOTE]And for your comment about finding "something, just something" to bash about the game, you can revert back to my little bit about LOOKING for problems in games that I made back in the Mario 64 DS thread.[/QUOTE]That was a good statement, and I agree with it in almost every case. But if you used that statement to defend your bashing of, say, Indiana Jones because you say the acting is sub-par (which you don't, but hypothetically speaking), then as good of a statement as that is it just wouldn't apply in your defense, heh. Not to mention that in your particular case, your issues with the NG camera weren't legitimate. You wanted a 360 camera because you couldn't break the Wind Waker camera habit (which I failed to understand), and because you wanted to just "look around" while running outside of combat. Those are hardly problems to address. But that's ok, I don't care. My comment about NG in the 64 DS thread was just a passing comment about how camera controls are rarely an issue. If you ask me, the reason they were mentioned in NG reviews is because people couldn't think of anything else to criticize the game for. They too, I think, ended up having to look for a problem so they could put something in their "-" or "the bad" sections.

[S9per]

x

Edited October 22, 2016 by S9per

[Semjaza]

I rented this game a couple of weeks ago, mostly because friends of mine were so positive about it.

Honestly, I really wasn't into it that much. What it does, it does well... I won't deny that. I just don't seem to be into this type of game lately and I don't know why. In the past I probably would have enjoyed it greatly, but I don't know.

I will say that I didn't find the camera to be all that problematic. At least not the to the degree that some people seem to. Apparently Team Ninja will be adjusting it with that downloadable add-on, though. I guess that'll please some people.

[Brasil]

I'm posting because I'm bored, primarily. Normally, I wouldn't even bother in a Ninja Gaiden thread, or a thread where the last reply was Mid-October, anyway, but...the Comp Lab is dull right now, so here we go, lol.

I played NG for a few hours when I rented it, and I was amused with it for a while. I may have posted in this thread already, I'm not sure, heh. But the game's okay. It's not anything terribly orgasmic, and honestly, I feel the NES originals to be far superior...not graphics-wise, but from a gameplay standpoint, 2D Ninja Gaiden feels much more natural.

Part of this is the camera. Even in the first few levels, I constantly wanted to be able to lock the camera in a side-view to handle the jumping, and the constant swerving got on my nerves, as well. It seemed that every ten feet or so in the rock basin, I'd be dealing with a new camera angle.

In-doors wasn't much better, if any better at all. Now, I'm not incompetent at games, and I know my way around 3D pretty well, and even then, I was finding that when I happen to check out a corner, and the camera closes in on Ryu's head, not even angled in the direction of the enemies during combat, there's definitely an issue there regarding Camera AI. Yes, all the player has to do is avoid the corners, and this is pretty simple battle strategy, but even then, the camera movement in the Pre-Patch shouldn't punish the gamer for drifting into the corner, and that's pretty much common sense in game design, if I do say so myself.

The gamer should avoid the corners to avoid getting pinned by enemies, not to avoid getting pinned by the camera.

So, even based on just that one instance, I think there were some significant problems with the Camera AI.