Ninja Gaiden Sigma - 9/10
Hack n' slash games, many gamers believe they are too boring & repetitive, many gamers think this hack n slash style formula needs something more other then samey gameplay & a samurai with a big stick, perhaps it needs a good story, amazing visuals, style & substance, & big ass boss battles. Well if you add what i just mentioned to a hack n' slash style game, then this once "repetitive" formula can be transformed into one of most amazing action games you could possibly play. In this case, it's Ninja Gaiden Sigma, a stylish, slaughter em up with gob smacking good looking visuals, ultra fast & stylish gameplay, deliciously brutal weaponry & big screen smothering boss battles that will make you say "what the f***".
First things first, as you may already know, Ninja Gaiden first appeared on the Xbox, and visually blew everything out of the water, Ninja Gaiden Black soon followed after, also on Xbox. My point here is that if you have played the Xbox versions of this game, then dont go expecting an entirely new Ninja Gaiden game here, because you wont get one, This is the same game we saw on Xbox, but with far better visuals, new enemies, new levels, & a new playerble character as well as some refined gameplay tweaks. If on the other hand, you have never seen or touched a Ninja Gaiden game before, then you will love everything this game has to offer & more, and that is absolutely assured. But even if you have played the Xbox versions, i still highly recommend this game, I played the previous versions to death & know everything pretty much inside out but was still pleasantly surprised with the amount of new content this offered, plus the stunning visuals and extra playerble character * Rachel* as well as the new levels and enemies. It's not a huge gigantic leap, but its big enough to warrant this game your dosh.
Graphics: Simply Dazzling, you will be picking up your jaw off the floor when you see this killer in motion, everything screams detail and beauty, The characters have lovely detail, whether its Ryu Hayabusa's shiny black leather ninja outfit, or the veins popping out of his arms, to Rachel's black shiny bondage leather, flowing hair & scarily over the top chesticle jiggle *you know what i mean & it's truely amazingly difficult not to notice them*. The environments you sweep through are also gorgeous to gawk at, from forests with falling autumn leaves, streaming waterfalls & mountain esque back drops, to ancient Egyptian tombs full of stunning ancient architecture, to the colour crazy neon lit city of Tairon. The environments demand you're time & exploration, just wait until you see the burnt Japanese temple at the end of Chapter 2, the blazing fire and heat haze is absolutely dazzling & is easily one of the most amazing things you will see in any game. period. As for FMV's? well they are in a class of their own, the imagery they show off is simply staggering & even leaves Genji Day of the Blade visuals in the dirt.
Sound: I suggest when playing this game, if you want to experience the true Japanese feel of it that it deserves then switch audio to Japanese and subtitles to english not unless you want to hear a Japanese looking ninja talking like his just come out of a bar in Texas.
Gameplay: When you first play Sigma you will be utterly amazed at just how slick everything moves, Hayabusa moves with amazing pace & fluidity, with a couple of button presses you will have Hayabusa running along walls, flipping about in the sky, walking on water and pulling off some insanely stylish moves, you will be saying to yourself countless times *how did i do that?* & reaching for the games manual to see just how you pulled off that crazy somersault. And just wait until you see the way Hayabusa stylishly wields some skull cracking nun chucks & duel kitanas. Its an absolute pleasure to watch let alone play as you watch Hayabusa mercily tear his steel into his enemies leaving a splattering of blood and a trail of dead bodies lying face down in a sorry mess. From the beginning chapters you will be thinking Hayabusa is simply unbeatable, and well he is in the first chapter, but beyond that, it almost feels as though the enemies in this game are unbeatable. Rachel on the other hand isnt as snazzy & stylish as Hayabusa, she is more of a heavier character and is much more powerful, you will never get tired of smashing dinosaurs to bits with that axe she wields.
The boss battles you come across are incredibly tough to beat, These guys come in all shapes, sizes & designs ranging from flabby metallic electric gun wielding monsters, mace wielding skeletons, fire spewing dragons, demonic aquatic fishes, futuristic heavily equipped soldiers to the serious bunch of story driven villians such as Doku, a black demonic samurai/knight, Gamov, the green clothed detective & Alma, the demonic female mistress of Doku.
These guys are smart & programmed to kick your ass & they will to such extents you will begin to think *will i ever beat this game* To beat these bosses you simply cannot lose concentration at all, because they will reacte on that & make sure that you *the player* will see that dreaded "Game Over" screen, and you will see it alot, trust me. Don't bother counting the amount of profanities you will yell at the screen because you will be counting forever. In fact Sigma gets so hard to play you will probably be searching for your reciept to take it back to the shops, my answer to that? DONT!, because you will beat it and the sense of achievement after beating that once impossible boss is simply overwhelming.
Lifespan: Well going by the extreme difficulty of this game, you wont be passing it any time soon, so the life span is indeed a long one, however if you do pass the game fairly quickly, its very worthwhile playing through again to search for weapons & secrets you may have missed.
Overall, you would be seriously doing yourself a favour if you picked this game up today, its a high quality action game from start to finish & for those who never played the Xbox version, it is a simple must have game. Even if you have played the Xbox versions i suggest you sell them and buy this *that is what i did* Because the difference between this version and previous ones is like day & night from a visual standpoint, plus, Rachel is a fantastic character to play as & you simply cant act her in previous versions. If you are a fan of this kind of genre, than this game is a dead set given, if not, then look elsewhere, but at this moment and time, you will not find a better action game than Ninja Gaiden Sigma. The best is obviously yet to come with Heavenly Sword due in september and Assassins Creed & Devil May Cry 4 soon to follow, but Ninja Gaiden Sigma will more than do, for now.
Submitted by callan5
18/07/2007
18
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