OMGWTFBBQ!??!. (Also a kinda Ninja Gaiden 2 review)

So I just broke a 360 controller, so I figured I would calm down a little, and make a blog post.

The cause of the broken controller? Well, the proximate cause is me chucking it down the hall and kicking it with my steel toe boots.

The ultimate cause is Ninja Gaiden 2. In specific, the bad parts of Ninja Gaiden 2.

Alright, so, backtrack a second.

I loved the original Ninja Gaiden for Xbox. It was hard. Frustrating. Insane. When I finally beat it, I honestly felt proud, like I had accomplished something.

Since then I've played the extensions Team Ninja released (Ninja Gaiden Black. I even had Sigma when I had a PS3).

So, when I got a chance to get NG2, I was all about it.

First, the good, non controller rage parts.
- The combat is silky smooth and fun as ever. Every weapon is fully fleshed out and fun to use.
- The new obliteration moves are very fun. Basically your normal attacks can remove a limb from your enemy. Once that happens, you can get in a wonderfully gory quick finisher. They are gory fun. After a battle the landscape is covered in blood and severed limbs. Fun stuff
- The weapons. Yes I already mentioned them, but they are awesome. The claws are incredibly fast and fun, the new scythe will decimate groups, the new tonfas are great fun (who wants to cut heads off when you can beat them into a bloody pulp with nightsticks!?!)

Now, the bad, rage parts.
-There is ranged combat. It doesnt work very well. Which is fine, unless the game FORCES the shitty system on you all the time.
-Some enemies are just terribly designed and unbalanced. Claw ninjas with exploding shuriken? Sure, I can deal with those, its not easy, but hey, I got it. Guys who fire barrages of unblockable rockets with no reload time who don't take damage from their own rockets, and are accurate across the span of Australia? That's a little shitty.
-Boss fights. Some are so easy you beat it and its like "What? Thats it?". Others are so cheap and unfun it ruins all the fun you might of had getting to them.
Best example: Big armidollo boss. Not too hard to get down, some annoying tricks. However, once he's dead, he explodes. No warning. Just a massive sceen filling explosion that kills you. WTF?



And that's the rub of NG2. Some moments are absolute bliss. When you get a room full of ninjas and get in the groove of the combat, its amazing, fast, fluid, and fun. But then you play the rest of the game, and you break a controller because you died for reasons that are totally out of your control.


So, rent it. Its worth it for the bliss parts. But remember to breathe and count to 10 for the rest of it.

-G