Ninja Gaiden 2 for Xbox 360 Reviews by Gamers

Don't get me wrong...this game looks amazing and is insanely fun to play. The graphics are awesome...the fighting is crazy and bloody. The downfall to this game is that it's too frustrating for it to be fun. The "normal" and "easy" modes are a breeze and not difficult to the point where you want to break your controller against something, but anything beyond that is just irritating. With the mix of bad camera angles in some places and just too many people shooting rockets and blowing you up before you even have a chance to attack the boss, it's just maddening.

It's not even so much that it takes a skillful player to beat it, it's just pure luck that you can pull it off. You can inch your way to beating it, but it drives you insane along the way. Good game, good graphics, but just too hard to beat. Play it on The Way of the Warrior and send it back...go any farther and I guarantee you'll experience the same frustrations.

I'm sure I'll be one of the few to say this game was slightly better than average and far short from earth shattering, but if you dont mind reading on, you'll see why.
There are a few categories where this game is good but just not good enough.

Graphics: Its great, but not much more then it was on the xbox. Team Ninja pushed the limits on that system but not on this one. Sure you get to see a lot of limbs flying, but it seems then spent more time on this then more important issues (like the camera and story) So for me, its good, not amazing.

Gameplay: solid controls, but horrible camera. Just about EVERYONE had complaints about the camera in the other 2 and appearently they went unheard. In fact at times it even seems to be worse! And as far as combos goes, I'm sorry but I dont feel that mashing XXX, XXY, YY to kill 90% of all enemies is my idea of a limitless combo system.

Story: Probably the worst part of the game. The ORIGINAL Ninja Gaiden made you play through just to see what happened. This one, just didnt have you care about the story, you just wanted to get to the next stage to kill more, not really care why. Its ninja gaiden so OF COURSE things are going to be stretching the limits of reality but after you've cut off 2 arms and a leg and then can STILL attack you? This is Ninja Gaiden, NOT Monty Python! Additional note to anyone really bothered by my assesment of the story... I'll just say one thing. 3rd stage, ninja dart throwing dogs... COME ON?!

Overall: There is no question that Team Ninja has created ALMOST the same feel and combination of gameplay that made the 1st one stand out, but that was years ago. If they had branched out with the same energy they did when they created the 1st one, this game could have been amazing. As it is, the hype is better than the game.

But lets face it, we're all on here renting the game and if you did like the 1st one, and are really just looking for ninja slicing carnage then this rental is for you.