Ninja Gaiden 2 Sigma Review (PS3)
Posted by Jeffrey Harris on 11.06.2009
Babes, blades, and blood. What more can you want in a game? Ryu Hayabusa returns to kick butt and hack up demons on the PS3.
Title: Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Publisher: Tecmo Developer: Team Ninja Genre: Hack and Slash Players: 1-2 Rated: M For Mature
Mark Salmela and I previewed Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 back in June during E3. So how does the final, full PS3 version of the game stand up? Is it worth your money? Is Sigma 2 better than NG2 on Xbox 360? Well, to answer the first question, it's awesome. And the answer to the rest in my humble opinion is a resounding yes.
The Gameplay
Sigma 2 is a very straight forward, very simple action/adventure platform game you can just pick up and play. Controls and fighting are incredibly smooth and easy to learn. The levels are fairly linear with some diversions and secret pathways for items here and there. The bosses in the boss battles are gigantic and a ton of fun. The challenge you can find in the gameplay is mastering the different weapons, each which have their own strengths and weaknesses, and pulling off some massive combos and juggles.
Ryu's attacks generally come from the multiple weapons he can pick up and master throughout the game. As you advance in the storyline you can upgrade Ryu's weapons to open up new combos and moves to use on your enemies. All weapons can also be charged up to unleash an obliteration technique which however requires you to stay in one place and leaves you open to attack. You can speed this up however in a group battle by killing a bad guy and holding down the triangle button so you can absorb your enemies' chi orbs and power-up for an obliteration technique quicker and release maximum carnage.
My personal favorite weapons in the game are Volf's scythe and the Victorian Flail. The scythe is a weapon you earn after beating one of the bosses, the werewolf fiend, Volf. Volf's Scythe has a lot of power, great defense, and also tremendous aerial combos. The flail is really good on lesser, easier to beat enemies. Once you get going with the flail you can pull of 100+ hit combos easily. The Flail as your hits increase gets longer and spreads across the area even more nailing everything in its wake.
Besides the blades and swords, you can also use a bow and arrow and a badass cannon you can pick up later for long range attacks. Ryu also has his trademark ninjutsu magic techniques which can also be upgraded as you progress through the game. The wind blade technique will knock the limbs of enemies right off. The main key to mastering the gameplay is learning good defense and blocks as well as mastering the counter techniques to kill your enemies in quicker succession. This can also be used on the boss baddies as well.
The bosses and boss battles in the game are massive and ridiculously fun. Very much like Devil May Cry 3 which this game seems to resemble the most. Besides loving this series as a whole, I just totally dig this style of fighting especially when you start dealing with the larger size baddies like the fiends and the mecha fiends. The enemies are generally relentless and will not stop if they lose an arm or even both of their legs, they will still come after you which adds another layer of difficulty. The boss fights can be frustrating if you are bad at blocking like me.
Since this is Sigma, Team Ninja once again packs in the hottie Ninja Gaiden bunny bombshells. Rachel once again returns in her own side adventure as well as Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword's Momiji and of course Ayane. Each character gets their own original level with new cut scenes for this version of the game in between Ryu's main storyline. Getting to play as Momiji and Ayane was a lot of fun. Rachel's stage was great especially mixing in her machine gun with the aerial combos. I simply wish there were more levels where you could play as the female characters besides the team missions. For elements removed from the Ninja Gaiden 2 Xbox 360 version are some of the enemies, tests of valor, and puzzle solving. So this is a bit of an easier, more streamlined version of Ninja Gaiden 2, but that's fine with me.
Of course the awesome game mode for this is Team Missions. This mode is online optional and also 2 player co-op where you can play online or with a friend at home in a level challenge where you have to fight off multiple enemies onscreen along with a boss. Team Missions has to be two players, so basically you get a CPU partner if you play by yourself. If either character about to die, you can rush over and revive your partner, but if your partner dies you are on your own. Once you beat the game and unlock everything you can pick and choose who you want to play as and what weapons they can use in team missions.
Besides Team Missions there's also Chapter Challenge, where you can try and test yourself and beat a previous level and boss and try to get a high score on the leaderboards.
Also, side note to high testosterone males . . . Team Ninja worked in a feature where if you shake your controller while playing as any of the female characters, their boobs bounce.
Graphics
The characters and level designs look fantastic and marvelously detailed. Rachel remains among my hottest and top most favorite video game babes of all time. The smoothness and lighting effects with the graphics in things like rain or the reflection of certain metals look great. The designs of the female characters of the game might be considered a drawback or flaw to certain people or gamers, but I totally dig it. That said, I don't agree with Ryu's whole "ninja's got no time for love" attitude. Ryu should be saying, "Stoke me a clipper, and I'll be back for breakfast," Ace Rimmer style.
The PS3 version of NGS2 supposedly has less blood and guts than the Xbox 360 version. Not having played that version I can't say for certain, but this edition had plenty to make me happy. As you hack and slash more enemies the blood stains accumulated on your weapons grows, nice little added detail there. Also once you improve you can do more than just cut off limbs but slice your enemies in half vertically and horizontally.
Sound
A lot of people are quite critical of the English VA script for this game, but personally, I think it works fine. I played the primary story mode in English, but I did also try out some in Japanese as well. Neil Caplan makes an awesome Genshin. This is not Metal Gear Solid, so the dialogue and script aren't horribly complex or philosophical. However, the voice actors make it work effectively without making it sound horribly cheesy and ridiculous (there are a couple weird lines with Alexei but the dude is a ham drama queen anyway so its fine). Josh Keaton (Peter Parker and Spider-man of the excellent Spectacular Spider-man series) does a good job as the new Ryu and does especially well with the gem in, "I see the CIA is broadening its horizons," when meeting Sonia for the first time. Keaton knows Ryu is awesome.
Besides the voice acting, the BGM and soundtrack are good, and there are some kicking tunes that don't distract too much from the gameplay. The new music for the Sigma version of the game by Makoto Hosoi and Ryo Koike sounds great. The sound effects are nicely crisp and pristine.
Fun Factor
The original arcade classic has evolved and aged nicely into this latest form. I love basic hack and slash, action/adventure games like this with smooth controls and huge boss battles. This is the perfect gaming experience.
Lasting Appeal
I think Story Mode is a blast to play through, but it can go rather quickly depending your level of skill as a gamer. There are other difficulty modes you can unlock and play through to earn more unlockables and extras, like alternate costumes and new trophies.
Team Missions and Chapter Challenge are a great way to get more replay value out of the game and are also massively fun, except I wish you could do online single player for the mission modes much like the challenge maps for Batman: Arkham Asylum. Still, the game gives you 30 different Team Mission courses of varying difficulties to try out besides all the chapters you can play over again in Chapter Challenge.
There isn't much to the story mode, but there doesn't need to be. Ryu doesn't have a character arc to speak of. He's pretty much exactly the same person at the end of the game he is at the start. But that's also one reason I like Ryu in this game -- like when he's facing down the Greater Fiend, Zedonious, and Zedonious is railing against humanity and how he gave them fire, and Ryu simply says he doesn't care. Ryu isn't swayed by his enemies, and that's freaking cool. Also, depending on how much you want to believe Team Ninja, Sonia may or may not be Ryu's beloved from the older games, Irene Lew.
The 411
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 is an awesome and fun to play game for the PS3. The gameplay is a little more streamlined and simple than the Xbox 360 version with less blood and gore, but makes up for it with the playable female characters, more levels, cut scenes, and more. The #1 gaming hero of 2009 is Ryu Hayabusa. Remember it. Solid Snake, eat your heart out.
Graphics
9.5
Sleek graphics and great character designs for this game. There is less blood and gore, but still enough to whet the appetite of your casual gamer.
Gameplay
9.0
The boss battles are massive and fun. The controls are smooth and mastering and unlocking combos is awesome.
Sound
8.5
Not the most fantastic score or script, but a good English VA cast and nice, clear sound FX and BGM.
Lasting Appeal
8.5
Story mode can be fairly quick, but the challenge modes, 30 team missions, and alternate difficulties will are a great way to get more play out of the game.
Fun Factor
9.0
All these years later and Ryu still has the guillotine throw, how awesome is that?
