Blood and gore, nothing more!
The story in Ninja Gaiden 2 is pretty simple, youre a Dragon Clan ninja Ryu Hayabusa, and you have to fight with countless ninjas and monsters to save the world from hell(game called Great Fiends wants to rule thet want world), and its your job to stop them.Dont worry, for this one helluva journey Ryu is pretty prepared, that means your ninja equipment, weapons, ninpo(some ninja magic or something like fire), and projectile weapons.Im not going spoil about story, i will tell you about other important things.
Talking about weapons, at the begining, Ryu starts with just one-Dragon Sword, but this sword i believe, will be your main toy in the whole game.This weapon can be used almost in every situation, deals with a normal damage, and combos are pretty easy and useful(the best for me is izuna drop).Later, you will find more weapons, such as Lunar Staff, Falcon Claws, Dual Katanas, Eclipse Scythe and others.All most every weapon has its own strenghts and weaknesses.For example, the Falcon Claws are very fast and works fine on little ninja groups, but for bigger ones-its preety weak.When you will take your hands on Eclipse Scythe, i recommend to upgrade it, because it deals the greatest damage of all equipment.
Projectile weapons includes traditionl ninja shurikens,bow, and others ones, which may be helpful sometimes,because some enemies are pretty weak and can be killed with it, but most of the time your best friends will be primary ones.
Ninpo, i think, is one of the best things in this game, because when youre cornered, it helps you to be for a short time incvincible and can kill few enemies instantly.
The best think in this game is the high goryness level.In Ninja Gaiden 2, every can be cutted of, legs hands, heads torsos will be flying around much of the accompanied with blood shower.Its satisfying as hell.I think this is most bloodiest, goriest game ive ever played.And most difficult and chalenging...
Yeah, talking about chalenging, this game gives you one.Do yourself a favour, and play on acolyte difficulty(the easiest one), and still, the last levels is not going to be a cakewalk.And when you will start warrior difficulty, prepare for pain, and if youre going to be lucky to complete it, mentor dificulty is unlocked, and your ever imagined how hell looks like, that will be something near.
So, why is this game so freaking hard?Because of the enemies, of course.All the enemies attack you groups, and they not giving even a brief moment.And imagine that, even when they without a leg or hand, they still attack you, and can do a great damage, especially on harder difficulties.And the bosses...Thats the most hardest thing about this game, they are really from hell, even if you know attack patterns, still, its hard.Its the game of patience and skill.But this game is no cheap(well few times), if youre dead, youre dead because you need be more skillful.But dont worry, with the time and patience, you can do things!
The graphics in Ninja Gaiden 2 are pretty good, sometimes the frame drops, especially when there are loads of enemies at the screen, but most of the time game looks realy cool.And there are some gliches.
Sound/music is not bad, you know, standart hack and slash soundtrack.You wont be dissapointed, nord very impressed.
This game has a huge replay value, especially if youre aimed to complete harder difficulties.It uncloks some badass costumes and other stuff, and when you complete the game once, you can start a new game with all those weapons and upgrades you had, and believe me, its pretty fun to complete it again.
So, to sum things up:
Gameplay-9
Graphics-7
Sound-7
Replay Value-9
Overall-8.5
Ninja Gaiden 2 is the bloody, satisfying choping fest, with its few problems, and every hack and slash, ninjas loving fan should buy this one, because its one of the the best games of its genre, despite its notorious difficulty.