Video Games Suck - Ninja Gaiden [XBOX]

Hmm, so after all the hype and such, i finally got to play this game. And dear me, its hard.. But also fucking excellent!

Story: Minimal. You're some ninja called ryu, you kick ass, some demon fuck totally cut open your son and you're out for revenge. At first, i thought the game was set in 1500ad Japan, the first two levels certainly made me believe that. But after i finished them, some huge fucking zeppelin came along and (It wasnt explained exactly how) the ninja "hitched a ride"¹ to some city where most of the game takes place.

Graphics: Impressive! Truly showing off the graphical excellence that the xbox has over all the other consoles. Probably the nicest looking title i've seen on it. Oh, and there's bucketloads of blood in it, and blood's always excellent, just like decapitations.

Gameplay: Now this is where this bugger really shines. The fighting system is quite the masterpeice, fusing together the usual hack/slash action gameplay and mortal kombat-esque combo/trick hits, you'll never get bored with fighting. Also, you collect different weapons throughout the game such as nunchakus and a fucking huge broadsword. You can also upgrade your weapons to learn new combos.

It IS hard at times, surely i've had my fair share of getting my colon fisted by a certain boss (Which coincidentally, looks like a tentacle monster! :D). But after a few tries, and practice, i learned to beat his ass to the ground...... If tentacle monsters have asses..... hmm..

There's a minor nag i have with the camera system, sometimes it just cant decide if it wants to be a 2nd person (fixed) camera or a 3rd person (follow player) camera. Needless to say, sometimes during battle the camera sticks at odd angles and bars your view from the unlucky fucks that you're about to decapitate. You can force the camera to wake up and point at a decent direction though by tapping the right trigger. A minor annoyance.

Sound&Music: The sound's dead on, swishy swashy sword sounds, blood spraying sounds, ninja "HAI!" "CHA!" sounds. They're all good. The music is also decent, it never gets in the way. Enough about that.

Verdict Simple, this game rules. 9/10