Ninja Gaiden II Review

[Burned Your]

NINJA GAIDEN II
Decapitation, dismemberment and ninja dogs: Ryu's Back...

Trust me when I say that Ninja Gaiden II will eb your biggest gaming challenge of 2008. The insane difficulty levels of the original and back, while the vicous combat has been refined further to give you even more control over its blisteringly famous gameplay.
After introducing Sonja (think Rachel from the original, with a haircut and an equally huge chest), the game's opening Tokyo level introduces combat one move at a time. Tapping X or Y just as you're being attacked makes Ryu counter enemies, giving him the upper hand to get in there and land a few mean blows. We say 'mean' because limbs flail around the enviroment like something out an early Peter Jackson movie. Arms, feet, heads and torsos literally litter the ground when you're finished. Nothing's safe from Ryu's razor sharp arsenal.
But rather than all this butchery being there just to make your stomach turn, it's there for a reson. Once you've hacked off an enemy's lower leg (the Wolverine-like Falcon's Talons are great for this) its Al pattern will change. It's as if the Black Spider Clan ninjas go into suicide mode. They'll crawl, grab and pull themselves along the floor until they get hold of you, before going up in a ball of flames after plunging an exploding knife into your chest.
Where the first Xbox game only threw a few enemies at you at any given time, the face-off count has been doubled for this sequal. The pace rarely lets up, making it hard to keep an eye out for the suicidal ninjas. Good job team Ninja has put in place a move that lets you quickly, and stylish, finish off any enemy who;s missing a few vital body parts. Wecome to the Obliteration Technique. Once you've lopped off a few limbs, move closer in and hit Y. This sends Ryu into a flurry of slashes (different for every weapon) that takes his foe apart piece by piece and usually ends in a fountain of blood gushing from a severed head. Nice.
During a play of the recently revealed New York level we came across one of the oddest enemies we've ever faced: ninja dogs. They wear armour, hold swords in their mouths and evem throw exploding shurikens at you. They were easily dealt with, but it got us wondering what else creator Tomonobu Itagaki has got in store for us...

-Burned