Ninja Gaiden is a name that is well known for difficulty, it has been labeled as one of the most challenging games in the history of gaming. I still remember dying over and over constantly in the original for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Now with the loss of Tomonobu Itagaki as the overseer of the Ninja Gaiden project. It looks like it’s up to Team Ninja to make Ninja Gaiden relevant again. Can they stir up a slick assassination attempt, or will they be caught in a bloody mess?
Our heroic assassin Ryu Hayabusa returns in this new installment. He’s called upon by the government when a shadowy figure requests his presence by destroying a city. He answers the call and drops down into the vicious combat zone to unveil this mystery man. Ryu has changed since Ninja Gaiden 1 and 2, and he has less respect for the lives of his enemies. He leaves no man alive even if they are begging for mercy.
This is eventually ends up being a curse for, Ryu. As a mysterious magician casts a spell which embeds the soul draining power of the Dragon sword into his arm. The anguish of everyone that he has ever killed inflicts his body and spreads like a disease. If Ryu doesn’t find the man behind his curse, both he and the world could be destroyed. The story is given a sense of urgency, with Ryu constantly on the verge of death.
Players will frequently see Hayabusa being tortured by the disease inside of his body. There will be moments during game-play where he will be nearly debilitated by it. This is quite possibly the most interesting part of the story, as the rest of it is victim to generic villain syndrome. The storyline follows a large conglomerate with incredibly ridiculous ambitions. It’s all pretty much non-sense, but I can’t say that I’ve ever paid too much attention to a Ninja Gaiden story anyway.
We come to see the incredible fluid action sequences and partake in the skill based combat. I’m going to start by saying that Ninja Gaiden 3 is pretty difficult. It isn’t difficult like Ninja Gaiden: Black or 2, where everything seemed to be the players fault if they failed. No, this one likes to make the player feel as if the computer is using cheese mode combat to win. If the A.I. isn’t using horrible camera angles to hit you from unknown locations, the game becomes much too easy via the new Steel on Bone mechanic. Once the player starts a chain of these instant kill quick-time events, even tough enemies will fall over like a sack of potatoes.
If the player isn’t slicing enemies to bits with ease, they’ll encounter some ruthless opponents that like to auto-target and grab constantly. So there is never a point where there is a good middle-ground for skill, it’s either too easy… or face off with uncanny cheating foes. The bosses are also the worst part of this, as they are never truly fun battles like in previous games. Players are instead faced with gigantic bosses that just end up being simple pattern based jaunts.
The game also likes to throw in uninteresting action sequences from time to time. They usually have the player gliding off of a building, climbing up a wall, or moving across a chasm via a rope. The flying through the air sequences are accomplished by quick time events. The climbing and rope areas are conquered by switching back and forth between the top buttons. If this is supposed to add tension to the game, it fails miserably and comes off as an extremely boring and worthless addition to the series.
The worst omission from the game would have to be the weapon leveling system. Players are no longer able to purchase upgrades for their weapons or buy new items. In fact, weapons that are not swords are only able to be purchased via downloadable content. I don’t see how Team Ninja could remove something that was in almost every other iteration of the title. This turns the game into an average action romp that couldn’t dare stand up to its predecessors in similarity.
Multiplayer is pretty bland and probably didn’t need to be added. Players are given ninja trials for the co-operative mode that are actually fun. It’s cool to jump around slashing enemies to bits with a friend; too bad the downside is that you kill about 30 guys and the trial ends. The eight-player versus mode on the other hand, is an absolute mess. Players just jump around randomly trying to hit anything that the auto-target decides on. Players who aren’t obnoxiously leveled are beaten down by magical powers and bow and arrow moves. No skill is involved in this at all, and it isn’t even worth the tiniest bit of effort.
It’s a shame that even the graphics can’t shine brightly amongst the mediocre. It’s unclear if this game was intentionally made for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. It boasts some bad textures and unimpressive character models. A good majority of the landscapes look bland and claustrophobic, and don’t have the shimmer and pop of the older games in the series. The lip syncing for cut-scenes is far off from the character on the screen. The voice-over is absolutely abysmal as well; not a single voice actor seems to have given a damn when recording.
Ninja Gaiden 3 isn’t the worst game I have ever played. It’s just the worst version of a Ninja Gaiden I have ever played. It oddly shares the same number as the worst Ninja Gaiden on the NES as well. If this game didn’t have the Ninja Gaiden stamp, it could have passed as an incredibly mediocre action game. Unfortunately, if you’re going to change something in a franchise… you should probably make it interesting. Ninja Gaiden 3 receives a D+ from Half-Ass Gaming, and Team Ninja just may have to go back to the drawing board on this franchise.
