Well, Team Ninja brought out the 3rd installment of Ninja Gaiden……
But they went with simplifying a few of the concepts and adding a lot of repetition. There is little to no thought in the game aside from figuring out the cheesy patterns of the bosses. Basically, you walk in the room, then slash and slash. Rinse and repeat.
Ninja Gaiden I and II had a bit of storyline and item collection which made it lengthy than this 3rd installment. Sure, the difficulty is still there (in Master Ninja and Ultimate Ninja [DLC anticipated]), but the repetition makes it a bit boring.
Storyline wise, it gets a bit interesting, but I believe that the curse Ryu deals with should come into play more effectively. If it is the Grip of Death, it should hinder Ryu in battle in a way to think and have less convenient means of winning. There could be a sense of timing, such as if Ryu takes too long, the curse kills him or begins to take his energy. A mere expansion behind the storyline if the hero is truly a hero or a murder would have been nice.
On a final note, Karma
This is what justifies me to basically grill this game. I’m a guy who did the ‘karma runs’ in Ninja Gaiden Black and NG2. The point where I would throw the controller, constant restarts to get higher scores, and the abuse of combos & ultimate attacks. I do not feel the same zeal behind it when I started Master Ninja. Honestly, with the repetition, I just feel like I do not need to get tired, much less put the scores down as I did in NGB and2.
Scale of 1-10, I’d give it a 6 on the difficulty scale, a 8 on my “I get bored” scale, a 10 on frustration (because of Master Ninja and Ultimate Ninja Trials), but a bonus goes to the Clan Battles. I dig em.
What are YOUR thoughts?
-L.E.