Ryu returns and brings the pain with him
If chopping up a good variety of enemies with an equally impressive variety of weapons while all the while blood drenches the scenery sounds good to you then it's likely that this game fits the bill.
Unfortunately someone at the development team decided that difficult wasn't difficult enough and made some unfortunate design choices. Imagine beating an extremely difficult boss only to be killed immediately after by an invisible bomb and reverted back to a save prior to said boss battle. What about a boss that explodes on death killing you along with it – having fun yet?
If you have the patience for the cheap deaths (something its predecessor was not guilty of) then you'll find an excellent combat system, great graphics and sound. As is often the case in this genre the story is wafer thin and uninteresting; it neither helps nor ruins the game.
The controls are tight and the frame rate is high (60fps); sadly not all is well. When things get really busy the frame rate can get a little choppy, thankfully these occasions are few and far between and don't ruin the overall experience.
Ninja Gaiden 2 falls short of its predecessor; it adds little in the way of innovation and carries over the originals negative issues. The camera truly kills the game. It can be controlled manually and even snapped behind you with the 'RT' but in a game this difficult that moves this fast and has enemies who frequently attack with projectiles off screen; camera control needs to be perfect.
Pad the walls before commencing play. You have been warned.