Ninja Gaiden Sigma
by Tecmo
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Video Game Reviews of Ninja Gaiden Sigma
Customer Review: Quality product, Quality service, Quality price
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the best games to jump aboard the PS3 train. Swift and through service from the roota to the toota. Can't beat it at all. Customer Review: dont waste your many
Summary: 1 Stars
On the back of the box to Sigma it reads "The real reason you bought a PS3"
I think not...
Let's start off with the beginning scene, where a ninja jumps out and comes at another ninja, both of them look basically the same; and your ninja needs to defend himself and kill the other ninja. How you ask? Who the hell knows the game starts off without telling you much.
The game play is pathetic; controls are iffy, 'combos' are weird to execute.
Graphics wise, the game isn't half bad, but if you look at the biceps of the first boss, you think you're playing on the PSX or something.
Enemy AI ....what's that? Cause I don't think it was incorporated at all. The enemies just mindlessly swing at you really, all of which are easily dispatched.
Overall in my opinion this game stinks....if you're an old fan, then I guess you'll like it, I'll stick to old school Ninja Gaiden myself..
Customer Review: Ninja Gaiden
Summary: 5 Stars
This was a gift for my boyfriend, and he loved it. The price was a bit steep, but most video games are. I was proud to buy it from Amazon because they always take such good care of my account and purchases. Customer Review: Do you remember when games were hard?
Summary: 4 Stars
Whatever happened to Nintendo thumb? Sure relatively new games like Gears of War come with some visual teeth, if no real challenge. Resident Evil 4 had some scenes of panic at first. Even Men of Valor on the old Xbox had its frustrating moments of cheap kills out of nowhere. But these games are all pussy cats. Now days, 8-12 hour and sometimes less, play for the main campaign is considered normal. We really aren't getting our money's worth. Instead, the developers try to focus us on multiplayer elements that really don't take the same imagination to design around, leaving the single player story thin and short. Well I like multiplayer, but my friends aren't always around. Single player is the breadwinner for me on most games.
As a kid back in the 80s, it took years, YEARS i say, to beat some games, if I even braved the time to beat them. These were games you had to take real time off from to avoid throwing the NES out the door. Megaman 1 was one of those break the controller or break your thumb games. I never did see the end of Battletoads. Of course, there was the original Ninja Gaiden. It too was a study of time and patience to memorize jump timing in every moment on almost every level to succeed. The designers really WANTED to beat you down. Even the movie "King of Kong" proved this point in a way with Donkey Kong. That is a really hard game, even after all these years. So why have games become so easy? Who knows. But those days came back thanks to Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden.
I did my first tour of the new Ninja Gaiden back on Xbox and here we get the same old goodness. Ninja Gaiden Sigma is a great throwback in many ways not only to the old NES classics in theme, but also in its brutal challenge. Team Ninja are absolute masochists. Ninja Gaiden Sigma is only slightly softer than its Xbox cousin, slightly as in almost invisibly. This game is hard. The multi hit combos take time to pull off right, save points aren't helpful and bosses can be punishing. This is not a bad thing. Multiplayer or not, I for one am sick and tired of running through most of these $70 games in a few hours or a day and then what? And for the most part, multiplayer dynamics have changed very little since Goldeneye. Its minutiae we're looking at here folks.
Ninja Gaiden, here in its second update, basically a re-release of NG Black, still plays great and offers real challenge in the face of easy shallow gaming of today. Part 2 on 360 was bloody fun and difficult also, but to me, clearly felt unfinished. Sigma on the PS3 is a good update. You get a new character in the name of Rachel to play as, which is fun for a few minutes at least. The updated visuals are clean and shiny, if a bit too shiny and plasticky. Environments are nice but textures are a bit simple. Lighting effects though, have improved greatly. In short, they get the job done for PS3. The camera is still evil, even if you can move it, there is rarely an optimum spot to see and because of it, bad guys come from nowhere frequently. So its not perfect for sure. Sigma is budget priced, but you'd think after so many years, Sony and Tecmo could knock at least another $10 off the price by now.
Nevertheless, the satisfying visuals, fast paced action and infuriating challenge assure if you can deal with the awful camera and you're game to advance your skills over some time, this one won't feel like a waste of money like most games out there. Sigma, like its two Xbox predecessors and at least two NES ancestors is a guaranteed good buy. Ninja Gaiden is classic, entertaining and absolutely unforgiving. It even comes with complimentary Nintendo thumb.
Customer Review: Unleash your inner ninja the hard way
Summary: 4 Stars
Ninja Gaiden Sigma, a re-worked version of a re-worked version of Ninja Gaiden for the original Xbox, initially frustrated me to no end and made me glad I only rented it since the maddening difficulty and god-awful platforming and camera made it more frustrating than fun. But then I played Ninja Gaiden II which in a strange way is even worse and yet I somehow improved on my skills. Sure I'm a long way off from Master Ninja but that's kind of the addicting factor and where the fun comes with Ninja Gaiden: the long trek to finally be good is worth it when you're slicing enemies left and right.
Story: You play (mainly) as Ryu, a ninja in the Hayabusa clan. But when the village's sword is stolen, the maiden slain and you knocked out by the evil Doku, it's up to Ryu to get revenge and get the Dark Dragon Sword back. Occasionally you'll meet up with/play as Rachel, a well-endowed female with a big axe who's searching for her twin sister, Alma. The story at times is convoluted and a bit too familiar and I can just imagine the MIDI music playing during a text-cutscene whenever I read this story like in the old days but it works well enough though I wish there was more diverse environments.
Graphics: The game is a remake of a remake since the original Ninja Gaiden was released on the Xbox and then an enhanced version was released a year later (!) called Ninja Gaiden Black. This is basically the same but it's been "HD'd". The character and enemy animations are smoother and crisper and the fluidity is constant. During cutscenes, everything's quite stylish though the more advanced looking cutscenes suffer from that frequent Team Ninja problem of having shiny, plastic-y looking characters.
Only main problem is the backgrounds which, except for the first few chapters which look awesome (the first chapter, with falling leaves and colorful scenery is quite nice), are bland and there's the occasional screen tearing and "Now Loading" screens during exploration, combat and even opening up a chest despite the optional install. It feels like more time could've been used to make it seamless but having the game load just so you can open a chest just seems strange.
Sound/Music: The music's rather inconsistent at times since some works like the more ambient stuff such as a Phendrana Drifts-esque piece from Metroid Prime during an ice level but then occasionally it hits us with turgid rock or bass-and-drums music with some electronica flourishes and it's like "ugh". Also, the voice acting at times is rather flat and 1996-ish in its delivery since it's either melodramatic to the point of distracting or it's so wooden, it's like they just said their lines and be done with it. That's why I love when developers add the option to switch to Japanese w/ English subtitles, makes it that much cooler. Odd how Ayane went from a young-sounding girl to a woman though.
Gameplay: One issue I had with Ninja Gaiden II was that there was frequently parts that were almost put into the game because they sounded like fun but they didn't bother testing if it'll work. The original however is nearly flawless and aside from occasional platforming woes where Ryu misses his jump, doesn't climb up a ledge or camera goes out of control, the game never feels like "okay, seriously, what the hell's with this part?" Sure they'll add rocket launching baddies at you but they're more easier to evade than the 10-rocket firing punks from NG2. Sigma ultimately strikes that perfect balance between a difficult game by bad design and difficult that requires skill.
Oh and you need to be skilled and fast because enemies right in the first level show no hesitation to cut you down. In fact I was surprised how much they kept running after me in this one whereas the sequel sometimes they'd stand still for a moment. While combos are built on combinations of button presses with the occasional direction input, the fluidity and just sheer fun of the combat is why these games are so highly regarded and why I consider it a funner combat system than the overrated God of War games and the so-so Devil May Cry ones. Blocking, evade and counterattacks are must and knowing the best moves are essential if you're going to get the most out of this. Speaking of which, best to learn the technique known as an "on-landing charge", it's incredibly effective.
The big addition to the game is Rachel, a HEAVY-ily buxomed babe with a giant hammer who you play as in a couple of chapters. While I got used to her and could actually hold my own, she's more of a tank character, dishing big damage in small bursts but she's more slower and her combos don't really have the satisfying punch that Ryu's does. Other weird design choice is that you can find different hairstyles for her to wear. Not a bad game design idea mind you just...odd.
If there is any woes with the game is that the camera is as usual, a little annoyance but not to the point NG2's camera was, the bane of all cameras right up there with Dino Crisis 3. Many times I had to re-adjust it in battle and in the heat of things, last thing you want to do is figure out where everybody is by just rotating the thing. Another issue is the platforming sections since they're a bit uneven and more than once did Ryu plummet to the bottom and have to repeat an entire section because he wallrunned up a wall rather than across it.
While the difficulty can be initially off-putting and the platforming sections are nightmares, the fighting and flying across the screen to lop heads off is oh-so-satisfying and makes for one of the funnest and beautiful action titles on the Playstation 3...just watch your yelling and controller-throwing tendencies on this one.