 Review By: Jared Black |
Developer: | Tecmo |
| Publisher: | Tecmo | |
| Genre: | Action | |
| ESRB: | Everyone | |
| # Of Players: | 1 | |
| Online Play: | No | |
| Accessories: | Wii Remote, Classic Controller, GameCube controller | |
| Buy Now: |   |
Enemy hits drain Ryu’s health bar, as well as knocking Ryu backwards. With several enemies on the screen, they can occasionally bat Ryu back and forth almost like a beach ball, with little the player can do to prevent it short of running away and regrouping. Even running away must be done with care though, as vanquished enemies magically reappear if you backtrack to their original spawn points. This is also one way the game feels cheap, as enemies are frequently placed so they’ll knock you off into a hole if they hit you, which means instant death.
Bosses are interspersed throughout the game, and like the different Acts themselves they become more difficult as you progress. The first few screen-filling bosses are relative pushovers, but later in the game you’ll be lucky to escape with one bar of your life remaining. They’re placed at the end of some levels, which means you must return all the way to the beginning of that level and play through it again should you fail to defeat them.
What makes Ninja Gaiden so great however is that, while there are some deaths that feel cheap, in general you’ll rarely feel like you couldn’t have made it through an area with more practice. Tecmo gives you everything you need to succeed despite the insane difficulty, beginning with very precise controls. Ryu feels like a ninja – he’s quick, he’s agile, he can cling to the sides of walls (which is done automatically, and can be an annoyance if it happens when you don’t want it to), he’s an excellent jumper, and he has a full compliment of ninja weaponry in addition to his sword. Much like Castlevania, secondary weapons in Ninja Gaiden are collected by slashing various floating things (which are different depending on each level), with some power-ups merely adding to the arsenal, while others change the type of weapon Ryu is holding. These secondary weapons include the ability to spin in the air, temporary invincibility, shuriken, boomeranging shuriken, etc.
While the Ninja Gaiden series has always made its mark as a true test for the hardcore, the first installment also helped revolutionize the ways a video game tells its story. In an era where most console developers were content to give you a few lines of text and a tiny animated sprite, Tecmo was one of the first to use full-screen cutscenes in-between and during the middle of levels. While it’s only a series of static screens and an occasional animated sprite, it has a movie feel to it and was still mind-blowing at the time. The technique really makes Ryu’s quest come to life. Obviously it’s not as impressive today as it was then, but the technique still holds up well and you’ll appreciate that it’s in what was originally a NES game.
Bottom Line:
While Ninja Gaiden rewards gamers that are aggressive, it also forces them to play wisely by punishing those that are too aggressive. Much like a ninja, you must move with care, move with precision, and move with a sense of urgency not found in most modern games. It’s old school gaming in its finest, and most frustratingly satisfying, form.
If you’re not up to the challenge or don't have the patience necessary, then you’ll probably be better served by investing your Wii Points in some lighter fare. If you can handle it though, you’ll find Ninja Gaiden to be one of the most rewarding platformers in history.
| Pros: | Cons: | Final Score: |
|---|---|---|
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| 8.8 |
Posted: 2007-05-29 19:14:45 PST