Ninja Gaiden 3 Review: You Don't Know What You've Got 'Til It's Gone

As I said in my preview, I'm a huge fan of the series and have been since I was a kid. Ninja Gaiden on the original XBOX and Ninja Gaiden II for the 360 (and later PS3) are phenomenal action games with super-slick, third-person hack and slash gameplay. I had high hopes for this third entry in the series, which were shaken earlier this week after reading a few ho-hum reviews. I still had certain expectations of the game, and thought that it couldn't possibly be as terrible as some were making it out to be, but that hope was quickly shattered after I'd had the game to myself for about 5 minutes. I know we've done the plus/minus system for reviews on here, but (and it breaks my heart to say this)....I have nothing positive to say for this one. Here is my list of complaints:

- the difficulties are not balanced very well at all. I had read in other reviews that Team Ninja dumbed the game down for newer players, so I decided to start on "Hard" difficulty since I'm a series veteran and consider myself to be pretty decent. I tried 5 or 6 times, but could not even reach the first checkpoint in the game. Fair enough. Challenge is a good thing, but I had already decided that I didn't like the new combat (more on that coming up) enough to try to struggle my way through on "Hard" difficulty. I switched down to Normal and proceeded to plow through the game. I can't be sure, but I'd say I could count on one hand the number of times I died. So I went from not being able to reach the first checkpoint to dying MAYBE 5 times the entire game. Not very good balance.

-the combat has been completely "neutered" this time. Gone are the random, occasional decapitations from the first game. Gone is the visceral dismemberment gameplay mechanic from NG2 where standard attacks would cut limbs off of enemies, who would then change to a more aggressive attack style, often doing major damage to the player with an explosive suicide move. What we're left with is still bloody, yes, but completely and utterly unsatisfying. Removing the dismemberment was such a huge mistake. I couldn't even believe just how BORING the combat was without it. It really honestly surprised me more than I could have thought. Enemies just seem to be damage sponges now. I found myself pretty much just mashing X to wear guys down instead of strategically dodging and countering like the previous games. Even the standard grunts take far too many hits to kill. Contrast that to NG2 (which I just popped in and played for a few minutes before sitting down to write this) where I had 2 guys charge at me and I countered, removing limbs from both of them. Press Y 2 more times to execute both of them, fight over in less than 5 seconds. Way more satisfying because I had the TIMING perfected to perform a counter move. My SKILL was rewarded with a powerful strike, versus NG3 where I'm just mashing buttons.

- the now-famous (and awesome) Izuna Drop is silly, since the victim's head doesn't even explode anymore (LAME!). Also the Flying Swallow (jump towards an enemy and hit Y) dive attack completely sucks now because instead of slicing limbs off it enters you into an auto-move that sticks you to the ground instead of being able to "swoop" 3 times.

- this game's version of an execution move is called "Steel on bone." Essentially it's just a standard attack, but when done on a weakened enemy, the camera will zoom in and you'll have to hit X or Y to finish the attack, essentially pulling out the sword since it's hitting bone. This does kill the enemy, BUT the weird part of it is that they'll still be crawling around the battlefield and you can hit them again...which makes no sense. I tested this out when I just let one of these guys crawl around the battlefield for a while. They just crawl around and eventually stop moving. Very irritating because you'll often hit them again unintentionally, performing the same canned "execution" animation

- this game is extremely linear. There is NOTHING to find, nowhere to explore, nothing interesting to look at. Contrast that with the original game where you had a large open world where bits were periodically opened up to you. You could find secrets (windmill shuriken, anyone?), collect scarabs, etc. NG2 was more linear than the first, but you could still explore the stages for collectibles, yellow essence (currency), etc. which leads me to my next point....

- there is no currency in the game. No shops, no upgrades, not even secondary weapons, which again leads me to a MUCH more important point....

- this game gives you, the player, ZERO sense of progression or getting stronger. That is a crime for any game, but especially a game in this series. I can't remember how many weapons there were in the first game. I'm thinking maybe 5? Plus secondary weapons. In NG2 there were EIGHT primary weapons. 6 of those had 3 levels of progression. 2 of them had 4 levels of progression, opening up new moves and combos with each level up. On top of that, you had, what, 5 secondary weapons to choose from? This game gives you 1 primary weapon (not even the Dragon Sword!) and regular shurikens, which are just as useless as always. Also, Ninpo as we know it has also been cut down to 1 choice (a dragon that swallows everyone on screen) and you slowly build up the ability to use it by fighting well, instead of having a set number of times you can use it.

- the combo counter has been removed. When I say "combo counter" I mean the counter in the corner of the screen that tallies your successful hits. That only makes sense. Why would you need a combo counter to keep track of how well you're able to flow in combat when you don't get rewarded for it and you're just button-mashing instead?!

- bosses have no life bars. There were a few times when I wasn't even sure I was doing damage because there is no life bar and they give no indication they're getting hurt. I hate that.

- I swear, you do not even have to hit the correct button when a QTE comes up for a steel on bone finisher in combat. This just furthers the point that it's a button-masher game. Developer speaking here: "Have a fun time mashing the buttons, even when a QTE pops up...don't bother stopping to look at the specific button to push. Just keep on mashing."

- the camera moves around so rapidly, it doesn't even let you process half of the cool Ninjitsu stuff you're able to pull off.

- the game occasionally forces you into slow-motion where you're just walking around in slow-mo. You walk up to guys who just sorta start milling around aimlessly and hit X to kill them with a Steel on bone attack. I fail to see the point. These parts are terrible.

- Anybody remember the Ultimate Techniques from the previous games? You could hold the Y button to charge up an Uber powerful attack that would take down 3 or 4 guys easily or do major damage to a boss if you could manage it. Well, since there's no essence to collect in this game, you can do an Ultimate Tech after you kill a certain number of guys (I think). The awful thing about it though, is that you don't even have to AIM it this time. You can just hop away from everyone, hold Y for a second, let it go, and you just zip around the screen insta-killing 3-5 guys. Awful.

- towards the end of the game, I found myself wanting to skip fights because they got so monotonous. And the game actually does let you skip them sometimes. I don't EVER remember wanting to skip fights in the previous games, unless my health was really low and I was scared of death.

- this almost goes without saying, but since Japanese folk developed this game, that old trick of "repeating bosses" gets pulled out of the bag multiple times. I fought the guy in the Red Pajamas and Mask 3 times, fought about 9 helicopters and 6 Spider Tanks. Give me a break.

- The game kept popping up tutorials on how to slide and how to wall-climb right up until the end. In fairness, I think this can be turned off in the menu.

- this game had the BALLS to tease me by showing me "stuff" from the previous games. In a "Virtual Reality" sequence, I fought in a few locations from the first 2 games (including the top of a rainy zeppelin). Also, the "shop music" from the first game was playing on a jukebox. BIG no-no.

- and finally, a bit of a nitpick, but it bugged me nonetheless: the main menu is sideways. It needs to be rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise so I can READ it. What were they thinking?

Alright, I've picked the game apart and basically said it's a steaming pile of crap. I think it's true and I stand by it. I had all these negative thoughts about the game and it really got me thinking. How could the designers of this game test it out and then think, "Yeah, I think we've made something really excellent here."? They removed SO much and gave the player so few options of how to play the game. Many reviewers of the game say these design decisions reflect Team Ninja's desire to draw in more of a crowd. I don't know if I really agree. It seems more like laziness on my part. If they wanted to "cater to noobs" more, couldn't they have just made an easier mode where you take very little damage? How about fixing the camera to give a better view of the action? I just really don't see how anyone could defend the decision to remove so much of what made the first 2 games awesome. Limiting the player's options does not make the game more enticing to noobs, does it? If I was new to the series, I would wonder what got players so fired up about the series at all. I would look at the previous games and think, "Wow, I want to use bladed nunchuks, and explosive shurikens, and a giant scythe! Oh, and look at all those different magic powers!" Team Ninja had almost FOUR YEARS to get this game right. There is no excuse for them spitting out this game as it is. I don't care that your lead designer left, as influential as he may have been. If I, Lead Salad, can play this game in 2 days and pick it apart like I have, couldn't someone else in a more professional position have done it and told them it was terrible? R.I.P. Ryu Hayabusa.