Team Ninja's latest installment in their flagship series leaves fans dazed and confused...
This time around Team Ninja's "primary focus" was supposed to be storytelling as said by Hayashi in an interview before the game's pernicious launch. That being said, the story is pretty pointless and makes no sense at all.
Ryu is supposed to be seen as a super-ninja bad-ass for his mugen-tenshin clan in Japan. Now he's working for secretary military defense with lame characters that don't blend in with the Team Ninja world. Even worse, he takes off his mask -- something ninjas are forbidden to do for the public eye. They try to make him more human, but everyone knows that's not why we like Ryu.
Even if the story is lame and doesn't make sense, the gameplay certainly doesn't suffice. Throughout the game's duration you get one weapon -- the dragon sword with several variants throughout the NG3's eight chapters. While this doesn't sound like a long game, you'll be excited for the credit roll far before the last boss. With only one weapon, that's broken and clunky compared to NG1 and 2, you are bound to be bored and saddened by the time the game ends.
As a slap to the face Team Ninja is offering free weapons next month that have already been developed and are locked on the game's disc. So we could have at least three weapons right now, and because of DLC we have to wait a whole month before we can even think of slaying abysmal creations and terrorists with our beloved Scythes.
The graphics in Ninja Gaiden were amazing for their time: fluid, crisp and vibrant. Ninja Gaiden 2 had beautiful artistry with dismemberment and flowing; spraying blood. Ninja Gaiden 3 has the spraying blood and bone crunching down, but never do you see the body parts fly which totally kills the game's presentation. The game doesn't animate nearly as good as its predecessors. Sometimes I feel as if my combos are not fluid or working with buttons I input. I can also plainly see that enemies frames and code are not matching up to my body when they attempt to attack.
A lot of critics are currently bashing the game's difficulty, and I find that hilarious. They clearly only played on normal and didn't check out the trials. This is probably the hardest Ninja Gaiden to date. As a skilled Ninja Gaiden player, I can hardly beat the first boss on hard because of the lack of weaponry. The Acolyte trials are even hard because of the vast amount of enemies that come at you at a time. It's unfair, and I'm not losing because of my own stupidity, it's because this game was not properly tested by pros.
Hayashi has taken a big massive dump on his fans, and not just his fans, but his master Mr. Itagaki -- one of the greatest video game developers for the hardcore. Itagaki was a firm believer in no QTE, and this game is plagued by it. The QTE gives you at least 4-5 seconds to respond, and you don't even have to input the correct buttons in all cases! Was this game even tested at all?
If there is anything good about the game, it's the sound. The sound of blood spraying and the sound of bones crunching is visceral and satisfying. The soundtrack isn't bad either, but certainly not Team Ninja's best.
Also -- for the hardcore only; the multiplayer is worth checking out if you disliked the game's story. It's fun, addicting and also has a slew of content to keep Master Ninjas busy for weeks, if not months. If you're not into team battles, the trials online or offline will test you and a friends skill with over 30 ball-busting trials that could take months to master.
Overall, Ninja Gaiden 3 hits the ball out of the park with its multiplayer offering, but strikes out with an awful campaign that fans will want to have erased from their minds.
If you're fortunate to find a collector's edition, this is the route I would go for all fans because of the DOA5 demo, the beautiful state, a great art book and a cool soundtrack. All of this together is sadly better than the actual game itself, and to all the hardcore out there that expected better, sorry. I feel for you too.