Not as bad everyone claims it to be, in fact there are some good elements in this title.
Ninja Gaiden is a series no one and I mean NO ONE should take lightly. My very first Ninja Gaiden was Black on the xbox, and holy crap I cannot believe how hard this game was, and how violent it was! I then played them all except for Ninja Gaiden 3 on the NES. So does Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor's Edge live up to the Ninja Gaiden name?
The Story:
You play as Ryu Hayabusa (duh) a super ninja, and I really do mean super ninja. You are working for the government trying to stop some kind of plot going around London (for some reason) and found out an alchemist is there who then proceed to curse Ryu's arm, fusing the Dragon Sword in it and tells him the more he kills the faster it kills him. Setting stone Ryu is a dead man walking. Ok now Ninja Gaiden isn't about the story but this one takes a turn from badass Ryu to pansy Ryu when he is talking to the little girl Canna or when he is struggling with his arm. Which isn't a bad thing but it's Ninja Gaiden. But the story does get interesting when you find out the alchemist is actually Canna's dead father or when Cliff your buddy and helper was actually working with the society and tends to kill Ryu. All in all when Canna becomes the goddess and rampages through tokyo I really did believe there was no way to save her but then again these are games so I was wonder how, and when Ryu cuts thru the goddess body (outer shell) and the last thing you see was his blade near Canna's body I thought he was actually going to kill her... but then saves her how? I don't know...
The Gameplay (w/ game mechanics):
Now the gameplay. Oh man this is where it is at. Ninja Gaiden (at least the 3D games) is all about the gameplay. The original version of Ninja Gaiden 3 made me depressed. When I heard you can only have one weapon and one ninpo skill (magic) I got turned off badly. Plus they removed the dismemberment and every kill you do ends with a cinematic scene. That made me sad. And now it is all back. This game is extremely gory more than I remember from 2, you can kill enemies again dismembering them in gruesome ways and now you have a verity of weapons again! From a dual wield sword to a massive scythe, to a staff (holy hell the kills in this one...) and more ninpo as well. You can also increase your skills or weapons using karma you gain in the game and in order to earn some more you'll need to find what they added in this version golden scarabs hidden across this game. Crystal skulls are also in this game but now they provide a challenge. When found you can proceed to a series of challenges, where you kill and kill, until you get to the last round which is a boss character from original Ninja Gaiden titles. Also now whenever Ryu's arm worsens you'll be in a dream like state where you must kill your way out before your life goes out, but don't worry you'll replenish your heath if you kill by dismemberment or ninpo. Of course Ryu isn't the only one in this game to play as. You can also play as Ayane (of course has her own set of moves, ninpo weapon), who helps Ryu in his journey (in her own way) in the story mode. But online or challenges you can also play as Momiji and Kasumi who also have their own skills, ninpos and weapons. But Ninja Gaiden is all about difficulty, every single Ninja Gaiden game is hard hell it has to be hard, that was another flaw about the original, but holy f*** this game is extremely hard, so hard it is going to make you cry.
The Sound (sound effects, voice acting, etc.)
Here is where the problem lies, I don't know if it was my TV or the HDMI (but I highly doubt it) but the game has some audio issues when playing from the TV, when a cut-scene is going and they are talking, I can hardly hear them even with the volume up or sometimes I can hear one but not another, it's random, but oddly it's fine on the gamepad... Voice acting is great, since this is Ninja Gaiden game, I can only play in Japanese since I am use to their voices in Japanese. Everyone sounds great, they have the same voice actors/actresses and sound grand. Sound effects sound about the same, when being grabbed, cutting through, explosions, opening doors etc. Music is pretty great, sounds right when killing someone, obliterate someone, or just hack n slash.
The Graphics (w/ concept):
Graphically looks good, when blood is splattered all over the screen or when body parts are flying everywhere. Problem is game sometimes lags when too much is happening in the screen like when killing too much, and that's it I guess. I love the gore in this game, killing has never been this much fun (sounding like a sociopath :P) but this game is still as much as fun as the previous Ninja Gaiden games. What I don't get is when people complained about this game being a button masher... has they not played a Ninja Gaiden game before? That's all it is, but in a good way. Ninja Gaiden is a button masher but makes it work. You don't have to button mash, find combos or use different weapons.
The Controls (w/ presentation):
I played this game using the gamepad and the pro controller. Using the gamepad on the TV is pretty useless when it displays the move list but very useful when switching weapons or increasing skills or weapons. Using the pro controller makes it feel great. Playing Ninja Gaiden on this feels like no other. I got use to the controller and it just feels good. I would recommend getting the controller to play this game, it cost about the same as the PS3 and 360 controllers. The boxart looks nice, Ryu cutting thru what I can tell is a body. Full on color booklet and insane replay value.
Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor's Edge is a huge improvement over the original title, when I heard this game is also being release on the PS3 and 360, I was going to wait it out for it to see it they added anything new, but it's the same so I went with this, and everyone should experience how amazing this game really is, but not everyone will like it so give it a shot and don't just listen to the reviewers try it for yourself and see, I'm glad I did.
Overall:
Story: 7.5
Gameplay: 10
Sound: 8.5
Graphics: 8.5
Controls: 10
Overall: 8.9