Ninja Gaiden 3 Review
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The Good
The Bad
Loved it - graphics and storyline are great! Fans of the series will not be disappointed.
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All flash and no substance: Ninja Gaiden 3 is a shallow action game with little of the series' challenge and depth.
The Good
- Flashy, brutal swordplay is always a pleasure to watch
- Online play instills a sense of progression
- A few memorable encounters.
The Bad
- Shallow action lacks the depth and challenge of previous Ninja Gaiden games
- Intrusive story elements bog down the pace
- Recycled boss fights require too little skill
- Terrible PlayStation Move support.
Previous Ninja Gaiden games assumed you were a master swordsman. They gave you the tools to succeed and expected you to use them, having you bounding from walls before plunging a sharp blade into your enemies' bowels in a series of dizzying attacks. The challenge was steep but surmountable, and the thrilling acrobatics you witnessed onscreen were a direct result of your skill and finesse.
Ninja Gaiden 3, on the other hand, has little faith in you. On medium difficulty, you don't need to do much but hammer on a few buttons and occasionally block or dodge, yet every last kill is a cinematic event. Where previous games rewarded you for how adeptly you manipulated the controller, this one rewards you for pressing X. Forgot how to climb a wall? Ninja Gaiden 3 reminds you every time. (Do yourself a favor and turn off tutorial prompts after the first few levels.) Was your mind boggled by having multiple weapons and ninpo attacks before? Never fear: Ninja Gaiden 3 gives hero Ryu Hayabusa only a single weapon and a single ninpo. If you came to this series for deep, challenging combat, be prepared: this is no longer your Ninja Gaiden.
If you're more interested in visual spectacle than combat depth, however, you'll find plenty of it here. You don't lop off any heads or arms, but you certainly get your fill of dramatic brutality. With each assassination comes a cinematic animation in which the camera swoops in close as Ryu eviscerates and emasculates. Quick-time events intrude at every turn, giving you heaps of time to react and dramatizing spittle-flecked boss confrontations and graceful dives onto enemy aircraft. Every so often, you can hold a single button, and Ryu races from one fiend to the next, slicing and dicing without your having to lift an additional finger. If you prize form over function, Ninja Gaiden 3 might be enough to tide you over until the next mindless action game comes along.
Even if you aren't familiar with Ninja Gaiden, however, it's hard not to notice the obvious: this sequel is more fun to watch than it is to play. Rather than look to previous games in the series, developer Team Ninja seems to be relying on God of War for inspiration, but misses the mark more often than not. Ryu can now scale ropes, for example, and you can fling shuriken at any baddies that try to knock you down. But where God of War could turn rope-scaling into a thrilling combat scenario, Ninja Gaiden 3 has you tossing one or two throwing stars and calling it a day. Ditto for wall-climbing, which requires pressing each trigger in turn, and maybe--maybe--hitting a button to throw a shuriken, or dodging out of the way of oncoming debris.
The core combat has its moments though, at least when the game requires you to do a bit more than hammer buttons and watch awesome things happen. A few boss fights are quite fun, such as one in which you take on a gunship that eventually falls to the ground and grinds its way around the battle arena. An encounter with a hulking dinosaur has you dodging about before closing in for a few energetic swipes. Such enjoyable battles are the exception rather than the rule, however. You face a particular nemesis multiple times, and each time, the same basic tricks suffice. The fact that Ninja Gaiden 3 is much less challenging than its predecessors isn't necessarily a bad thing; what is bad is the stunning lack of depth and creativity, best exemplified by these tame boss battles.
By
Kevin VanOrd, Senior Editor
Kevin VanOrd is a lifelong RPG lover and violin player. When he isn't busy building PCs and composing symphonies, he watches American Dad reruns with his fat cat, Ollie.
47 comments
Get over yourselves. Ninja Gaiden 3 is hands down the best of the series. Just because it isn't littered with cheapness that only the biggest losers can endure, it doesn't make it a bad game.
1 Like So, no more good Ninja Gaiden games, and any sequel after this will just be an attempt to milk the franchise.
Reason why this game sucks balls is because the main person behind it left the company and some n00bs took over.
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i'm so disappointed in tecmo & this game. its shit, shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit !!!! any word from team ninja lately, telling us how sorry they are and how they're going to make it up to us with a remake? team ninja, more like team fuck up.
1 Like I wonder why people aren't playing on hard difficulty if they think the game is easy. I think people are just cowards and then they blame the game. The game provides the difficulty you just need the guts to accept it.
Hmmm... hack and slash seemed to be the name of the game here. And there didn't seem to be much in the way of doing much else. You couldn't stop killing either, even when you were begged to either, which was quite annoying. The demo was enough to tell me that this probably should've had a lot more done to it to make it a better contender as a game. But it was okay... just not up to the standards that the other two set so highly... it was disappointing,
I played the demo of this, I wasn't impressed. Very similar to no.2 which was fun when it came out but seems a bit dated now.
@Gliave I'm sorry did you play ng 1 and 2?if so,you would easily understand that THIS abomination isnt evan a ngs game..its just a random hack and slash game.....THIS game has NONE of the fun stuff the previous ngs games had.FORGET paying 60 dollars for this crap...this game doesnt even deserve to be downloaded for piracy!!!!
@FighterforJC bow that cannot be aimed?lol...well it would not take a genius to figure out but any body would agree that the gameplay combat and ninpo were way more awesome than ngs3...and the hell do u mean by ps1 era health system?
I did play 1, and am playing Sigma on the Vita, damn awesome.
After trying the NG3 demo, I'm inclined to agree.....Sure looks good, the combat's way too tuned to auto-pilot, to the extent u can't even enjoy it being so easy O.o :p
No need for Ninja g$# 3 better because its a waste of money, i`d rather to buy ST X TK better.
Is there a once great game off the ps3 capable of putting out a sequel on the same system a few years later that could possibly be less interesting? Intterest in NG3 is something apparently even the creators couldn't muster. Surprise there.
2 Like Why do so many developers seem hellbent on making games that hold our hands as if we are children who haven't learned how to cross the street without dying? Remember the days when you could get lost in a game for an hour because a screen didn't pop up asking "Are you lost? Try going this way."
ima big fan of the entire series of ninja gaiden,I was a skeptical seeing how tomonobu itagaki is no longer involved,i should of figured the game wouldnt be met to full potential,this makes me worry a bit about DoA5,well ..still willing to give it a try due to my love for all ninga gaiden
2 Like Great review Kevin, completely agree with it. I hate how little credit this game gives the player as this supposed "master ninja". I love the first two Ninja Gaidens, but I just can't stand this game.
@xXsNiPeRtHeFoX "thats right nowadays if the game isnt Call of Duty,Battlefield,Assassins Creed every other game is inferior" *Sigh* You couldn't be further from the truth dude. Your first post actually made an oxymoron of what's in the quotes: who cares you have your opinions on the game and I have mine. If that's the case, why are you complaining about people who like Call of Duty, Battlefield, or Assassin's Creed?
thats right nowadays if the game isnt Call of Duty,Battlefield,Assassins Creed every other game is inferior
I enjoy Ninja Gaiden 3 its different and its not Assassins Creed,Battlefield or Call of Duty Thank God for that im tired of those three games i mean for christ sakes how many installments do we really need?dont like Ninja Gaiden 3 who cares you have your opinions on the game and I have mine
I tottaly disagree, it's a great game. A different way to see Ryu Hayabusa. The game has great combos and scenarios, great bosses and everythinge else. I really like it.
The story by all means was good, the let down for me was yes the difficulty was pretty much a breeze on normal but if your gonna introduce a multi-player to the franchise why not be able to choose a variety of weapons like in the previous games. The variety of weaponry is just not there though I did enjoy the cinematics of slicing through bone
Well to be honest I've always found all of the games EXTREMELY repetitive so I'm not all that fussed.. It looks beautiful, but the gameplay looks tripe :?
@warhawk-geeby ONE sword,ONE ninpo.This game had an excellent arsenal of weapons,where each of the weapons were handled uniqely ,and many variations in magic...and lets not forget the upgradingThose weapons and insane combo's were enough to make any ngs fan play the game hours upon hours.
1 Like How the **** do you come back from something like this? Seriously, did I just witness the end to one of gamings greatest games? When people talk about the hardest game they've played, guess what usually comes up? Ninja Gaiden does. How did this happen? It really looked like it was going well with the demo's and displays, but watching the gameplay in the review, it doesn't even look the same.
I dunno if I agree with this one. This one is waaay better than Gaiden 2 and as far as challenging, I still can't get past evil Ryu. I've got a stack of new games that I haven't played due to time constraints, but the eye candy on this one pulled me in and I wasted about 6 hours blown away by the cinematics today. Call me shallow, but this game rocks!
1 Like If they do the same thing in the next Dark Souls game I will quit video games for good. The reason we play games like Ninja Gaiden and Dark Souls is that they are NOT for casual gamers. They are games meant for those with the skill and persistence to overcome the obstacles and reach the ending. That is what makes them rewarding and fun to play. Please dont screw up the next DOA like this Team Ninja.
1 Like @666Rich666 developers of dark souls and ninja gaiden are different.And yes there is more than 95 percent chance that they will screw up doa
2 Like Graphics violence blood and.... interactive button action for the masses!... this is the end of this game gen... lets play the 8bits ninja gaiden 2!... if I want to watch a movie I go to the theaters!
1 Like i always likened ninja gaiden to a game called Otogi myth of demons tht was the hardest game i ever played in the hack and slash genre and it was one of the reasons i liked ninja gaiden. its a shame it went mainstream in its direction
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Ninja Gaiden 3
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- Publisher(s): Tecmo Koei America Corp.
- Developer(s): Team Ninja
- Genre: Action
- Release:
- ESRB: M
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