Ninja Gaiden Preview

During this year's Tokyo Game Show, we had the opportunity to visit Tecmo developer Team Ninja's studio to talk with its president Tomonobu Itagaki. A ten year veteran of the industry, Itagaki is hard at work managing the development of two of Tecmo's highest profile franchises, Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive Online. At the moment, the bulk of his time is focused on Ninja Gaiden, the Xbox update of the arcade and NES classic that started many gamers' love affairs with ninjas. The latest entry in the Ninja Gaiden franchise was announced at E3 two years ago and has been shown sporadically since. Itagaki showed off the most current version of the game to give us an idea of what to expect from the slick game.

The last time we saw a preliminary version of Ninja Gaiden, the game looked promising but was still rough around the edges due to a quirky camera and control scheme issues. The version of the game Itagaki demonstrated had come quite a way since our previous viewing and reflected the definitive results of the team's fine-tuning. The visuals were polished, and the gameplay showed signs of the clever mix of style and substance that Team Ninja is known for.

The gameplay revolves around the cool elements that you'd expect from a Ninja Gaiden game (like, for instance, killing things). However the carnage is broken up by a mix of platforming, exploration, and puzzle-solving. So, while your fingers will most certainly get a work out, your brain won't be bored either. Itagaki showed us one puzzle that involved examining different items in a room that held information you'll need to use to suss out the combination for a safe. Other puzzles won't be quite as mind-boggling, from the looks of it. Some will just require you to figure out which of the items in your weapon inventory will be handy for accessing new areas. For example, nothing says "Why, yes I will go through here!" like explosive shuriken thrown at a cracked wall.

Another key element of gameplay is an awesome bit of retro gaming that should please fans of the series. While you'll notice some nods to gameplay elements from the original games, like Ryu's wall jumps, there's a full-on dose of old-school goodness tucked away in the game as well. If you're a recent ninja enthusiast who missed out on the original games due to certain acts of god or because of time spent in the womb, you'll be able to catch up on all the NES Ninja Gaidens, thanks to the inclusion of all three games on the Xbox version. You'll find the classic games, in their entireties, on your adventure and can play them for a change of pace.

However, while the graphics in the original games appear to be spot-on re-creations of the classic games--in all their 2D glory--the new 3D game isn't exactly a dog. The graphics in the new game are looking good and include an eye-catching assortment of high polygon models and intricate textures. The clean detail and crisp textures of the characters and areas we saw make subtle, but impressive, use of the Xbox hardware. Main character Ryu Hayabusa's model looks good and animates well. Subtle details, like the dull sheen on his outfit and the movement of some elements on it, look good. The enemies we saw were nearly as detailed--at least the human ones, anyway. (There's only so much you can do with a bat, high poly or not.)

The environments followed the same aesthetic and featured solid construction and detail, though they weren't very showy. We saw a mix of man-made and natural elements in the different locals Itagaki demoed, which all looked quite good. The most striking aspects of the areas are the impressive lighting effects on display, in addition to the slick sense of scale that's presented. Whether roaming through a ninja fortress, traipsing through a cathedral, or just leaping onto a building's rooftop, Ninja Gaiden's graphics engine uses a host of different lighting effects to bring the world to life.

For an exclusive look at the game with Itagaki, click here. While Ninja Gaiden is still currently slated to ship this year for the Xbox, Tecmo has stated it will be releasing specific information on the game's ship date Monday. Look for more on the game in the coming weeks.