Syfy Animo

I got the Asia version of the game and I finally finish the game in the story mode and here is what I think about the game. There are no screen shots or videos in this review because I don’t have any video capture device to grab from, if you want to see the game screen shots click here. For the story wise I am not going to cover also because there aren’t much to talk about but just think of it like a good guy ninja clan with the charter to stop the evil fiend from hell. There are 17 chapters all together an average 30 minutes to complete 1 chapter but there some chapters are really long so I think about 9 hours to finish playing through the story mode. The extra contents are the 3 chapters dedicated for Momiji, Rachel and Ayane play using existing stages in the game with some modification. Team mission game play is basically survival game trying to fend off all the horde of enemies using the 4 characters in Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 without any time limit and chapters challenges basically play specific chapter to try to get as much karma points as possible to obtain certain ranking to unlock additional character costumes.

The story mode may disappointing to some of those who actually played part 1 of the game because in Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 you get a brand new stage every time you finish a chapter and you can’t visit back the old stages. You don’t get to explorer and reveals more area to expand the map like in part 1 of the game so there is no one huge area where you can travel of over previous stages. This also means you can’t farm for essences. There are 9 types of weapons to choose from and you will be able to grab them all as you progress through the chapters. The different types of weapons can be effective in taking out certain types of enemies example the Eclipse Scythe is very good at slashing limps off common flesh types of enemies and weaken their attack capability and as for mechanical types of enemies then the Eclipse Scythe will not be so effective because it is difficult to cut through them so using Emma Fang (big claymore) will easier to bash those mechanical enemies to the ground and give the opportunity to do more damage while they drop to the ground. Basically each type of weapon will have a different type of effect on the types of enemies. Regarding the Ninpo (magic attack) in the game, to me all the Ninpo function almost the same and your hero are invincible from damage while casting them so they are good at attacking lots of enemies. There will be the usual Muramasa statues all over the stages for you to shop for items and also to upgrade your weapons but in this time upgrading weapons are free but can only upgrade one weapon at a time and upgrade will be only available at certain later chapters. The additional chapters for Momiji, Rachel and Ayane; they can only able to buy items and cannot upgrade their weapons but they can grab the items at much lower price compare to Ryu. Projectile weapons are shuriken, bane bow and howling cannon but Rachel will have machine gun and Ayane will have exploding shuriken. 

Following the tradition of previous games the enemies will not be idling and will attack constantly with their combos and also boss fight is not always 1 boss so better save up the healing items because sometimes you to take on 2 bosses 1 after another without knowing. Overall I feel the game play of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 is easier but still very challenging because of the few changes they made like now there are more save points so you don’t have to start too far off to where you fail in the game and also now the save points will charge your health full as well. Another thing is also in this game your hero started off with more health compare to part 1 which will buffer for your mistake.

If you have played the 360 version of the game you will not be disappointed with the PS3 version because the additional content is worthwhile especially the network co-op game play and also the new character you get to try out. So it maybe the same game but it is much refine and will not feel bored but will feel something new instead. But as for me I was expecting more additional content than that since they have 1 year time since the launch on the 360 and also missing out the one huge area to map to expand and roam around like in part 1. I will also love to see the new characters in this game to have interaction with each other like cross chapters between chapters so it will be more meaningful to have them around rather than seeing them to have their own separate mission especially Rachel and Momiji. Overall it is still a very solid challenging game that can be nail biting at times but you will always get a sense or chance that you can beat it. One last thing to note if you use or have Momiji, Rachel or Ayane in the game, you can jiggle your Dual Shock 3 to make their big assets jiggles as well  

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5

Note: If you are playing on the single player story mode and remain sign in to PSN it is a good out idea to sign out from PSN before playing on single player story mode because you will be automatically exit from the game immediately if your network suddenly loss network communication like in my case where my wireless router was accidentally turn off.

Posted in: Video Games by Animo / Tags: Ninja