Customer Reviews

Ninja Gaiden Sigma

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I played this on the Xbox a while ago and thought this was an excellent game and there wasn't much room for improvement.

So far I've played this for a few hours and must say this game is DEFINATELY worth playing again. New levels, new bosses, new weapons, new scenery. But you probably knew all this already.

The biggest difference, at least to me, is the controls. They were excellent on Xbox, but this is WAY better. NG Black had a few frustrating jump sequences because camera would sometimes lose the perspective of the place you needed to see. This seems like it's been imporved a great deal. Because of tighter controls, action feels much faster, but at the same time easily manageable.

16:9 screen format is also a big improvement, since now it's not as easy for enemies to sneak up on you.

Wether you played this before or you are new to NG, or for that matter PS3 - this is the one to have. It's a difficult and lenghty game, but it's one of the best games I ever played (and I've played many since the original Atari)

I loved the first three Ninja Gaidens on Nintendo Entertainment System. They were challenging, frustrating, but the games were fantastic. It is not surprising then that Tecmo managed to transform their 2D franchise to 3D in an exceptional manner.

This game is a remake of Ninja Gaiden Black from Xbox (thus Sigma, meaning the sum). I never played the Xbox version, but after playing this game for the first few hours, I wondered why I waited so long. The game looks fantastic, running 1080p at 60 FPS (all the graphics have been overhauled). The control feels really tight, and making nimble moves feels natural. The learning curve may be steep for some, but the result is quite worth it. I was not a proficient ninja for the first few chapters of the game, but now that I have somewhat mastered Ryu's moves, I am able to quickly dispatch a group of enemies with grace and ease, with their heads rolling, literally.

The game contains additional playable character Rachel, as well as additional weapons over the Xbox version; dual sword wielding is awesome. You can unlock additional costumes, hair styles, and difficulties.

If you feel competitive, the game allows you to upload your scores to Playstation Network to compare with players around the world. You can see how many times they died, the time it took them to complete the game, and how many ninpos (special moves) were used.

If you love action, adventure, and challenge, this game is for you.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma was a baptism of fire, to say the least. It throws you into a flurry of shurikens and blades the instant you begin to play, and the difficulty level does not waver throughout the game at all. For someone like me who crunches through games like a fiend, I was hoping that Ninja Gaiden Sigma would put up a fight.

This game was fun, but tough. You will definitely get the snot kicked out of you many times but that makes the victory that much more rewarding. This game is not for causal gamers or people who get frustrated easily. You will repeat a lot of fights either because of respawns or deaths.

My number one qualm about this game is the camera. It is one of the worst cameras I have ever had the displeasure of maneuvering in a game. Camera failures will disable your ability to focus on the proper targets, see around corners, and be sneaky...like a ninja is supposed to be. Camera adjustments are possible, but the controls are unresponsive as the game tries to focus on things for you and fails miserably.

Your opponents are supposed to cause your death, not a camera. This is the type of game where every last drop of health counts, and when your camera doesn't enable you to target any of the four enemies that are pumping you full of lead, your death will come quickly.

I expected more out of Tecmo for this port. The crappy camera is what made the fun factor 4/5 rather than a perfect 5. The game's challenge actually adds to the fun. It takes effort to win. But again, this fundamental flaw puts a damper on what the game could and should have been.

Introduction:

Ninja Gaiden Sigma is a revamped and overhauled version of Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden Black with additional content. Its one of the pinnacles of the action genre totally rehauled for next generation presentation.

Gameplay: 9/10

The gameplay in Ninja Gaiden Sigma is dead on. Either you fight with skill and intelligence or die frantically swinging your weapon around. At the end of the day the gameplay comes down to pure action which includes slicing, dicing, and decapitating enemies. The controls are spot on and every bit as accurate as they should be in an AAA title. From combos, fighting to running, jumping and wall running the controls are quick, responsive and perfect. While some have their complaints with the use of the SIXAXIS controls, I found that shaking the controller while using Ninpo to be a very effective and a good use of the new controller.

One of the only downfalls with Ninja Gaiden was it's camera. This is still somewhat of a problem but one that's easily overlooked because it rarely hinders the experience or gameplay. You can manually move the camera with R3 or center it with R1.

In addition to the great combat Sigma also offers a nice touch with the great boss battles and good puzzles. After beating Sigma you also unlock Mission Modes which are a blast to rip through; assuming you have the skill to. The addition of Rachael as a playable character is a bonus in Sigma. While her style is much different than Ryu's, the insight into the story and the change of gameplay is a nice touch.

Graphics: 9/10

The graphics in Ninja Gaiden are astonishing. While I could act like I know what I'm talking about while referring to the self shadowing, 60 FPS, 1080p, and other technical jibberish there's really no need to. This game speaks volumes for itself. Team Ninja did a great job in upgrading the graphics to 1080p and often even adding content and colors that weren't present in the original releases of Ninja Gaiden. The only complaint I have about the graphics are that the cut scenes aren't quite up to par with the rest of the game. Despite that the cutscenes are still decent.

Story & Sound: 9/10

The story is what you'd expect from an action game. While it isn't anything spectacular it's certainly decent enough to make you want to continue playing. I always say sound is an overrated score in gaming reviews. Either it's great, good, or it sucks. With that said the sound effects, music, and surround sound are all very good-great. While there's a lack of tracks for the game, the simple music that is played is appropriate for the game.

Closing:

Ninja Gaiden Sigma is easily one of the best action games ever made. It's gameplay is addictive to any fan of the genre. The boss battles are grand, level design and layout are both very well executed, and the story is reasonably good. Based simply on the fact it's a true classic, Ninja Gaiden Sigma gets a 10 from me. I will admit that in all honesty if I didn't rate it a 10 [5 Stars] simply because it's a classic in my book but Sigma is probably more like a 9-9.5 based on it's merits. Its a game worth owning for years to come, or at least testing the waters in to see if you enjoy it.

When talking of Ninja Gaiden Sigma, there are those who wish to talk about how the game differs from the original XBOX versions (especially Ninja Gaiden Black (2005)), on the one hand, and those who wish to talk about Sigma as simply a great PS3 game. I would like to focus on the latter point. Sure, NGS is more polished graphically than its predecessor, and has a new playable character -the heavily bosomed Rachel- but it is fundamentally the same game to any but the most fanatical Ninja Gaiden fans. Of course, Tomonubo Itagaki, who was Producer of the XBOX Ninja Gaidens, would disagree with this point: he has publicly denigrated the PlayStation 3 version of the game, perhaps because it was left to his understudies to make whilst he worked on the XBOX 360's Ninja Gaiden 2. But let's put that down to ego and move on.

Sigma is a beautiful game, but its real beauty lies in the complexity of the combat system. The game is quite simply a masterpiece of fast-paced control and combat design. It edges ahead of games such as the excellent Devil May Cry series because of its wonderful balance of defence and attack, magnificently fluid controls and ultra-demanding difficulty level. Its lasting brilliance is shown by how it is able to instil a feeling of pride in a gamer who succeeds in defeating a boss, or mastering a combo move: it is the gaming equivalent of learning a martial art. It is Ninjitsu for thumbs.

Sigma, whilst not significantly "better" than the previous versions of the game, is wonderful despite -or perhaps because of- that. Most significantly, it gives PlayStation 3 owners the chance to play the greatest action adventure masterpiece of the last twenty years.

GAMEPLAY: Ninja Gaiden Sigma, first and foremost, is a challenge. To most players, Normal difficulty will seem like Very Hard (forget the fact that you can also unlock a Hard, Very Hard, and Master Ninja difficulty setting upon subsequent completions of the game). The additional difficulty levels do offer extra enemies, items and weapons, making it worthwhile to brave the storm. There's a bit of a learning curve with respect to controlling Ryu's movements and battle maneuvers, and the diverse catalog of enemies forces you to make full use of his vast array of techniques to survive. If you take the time to perfect your combos, the battle system can make you feel like a pro. If not, it can make you feel like a novice, even if you are a hardcore gamer. The additional character, Rachel offers a new (if somewhat one-dimensional) experience to the series, with her own unique weapon and move set. There is little special strategy required to defeat any of the bosses, and some of the bosses you will encounter multiple times over. There are no difficult puzzles to solve; virtually everything can be accessed by killing that one monster with the key to progress. Ryu's weapons can be upgraded and improved by spending Yellow Essence gained from fallen enemies, offering a huge catalogue of special moves and techniques to choose from.

STORY: The story is pretty typical of a wild-action hack-and-slash: the world is in peril, and only one man can save us all from certain destruction. If you're looking for a deep, engaging story with rich character development, you're barking up the wrong tree here. In fact, little about any of the characters is explained or revealed, save for one unsurprising twist about Ryu himself.

EXTRAS: After completing the story mode once, you can unlock the ever-challenging Mission Mode, which offers dozens of ways for the badguys to flay you alive. You can also unlock extra costumes for Ryu, which are available in each playing mode.

OVERALL: Ninja Gaiden Sigma is a lightning-fast, bloody blade-fest, especially suited to the electronically masochistic. If you enjoy challenging seemingly impossible hordes of quick and powerful monsters, this one's for you. If you are easily frustrated, save yourself the aneurism and look elsewhere.

I'll keep it simple since theres a lot of these reviews...

pros:
× great graphics
× easy controller layout - no buttons to learn
× addicting and original gameplay

cons:
× hard

This is one of the best games I have ever played. The graphics are absolutely beautiful and the frame rate is very fast. Even with plenty of enemies on the screen the speed of the game doesn't skip, glitch, or slow down at all (like a lot of other games out there).

The best thing about this game is the fighting system. The controls are so tight and precise it gives you a great feel. Decapitating enemies' heads is a piece of cake and is awesome. After beating this game I bought Heavenly Sword and Conan. When I started playing those games I was instantly disappointed by their loose controls and boring hack/slash mashing of the buttons. They just felt so "slow" compared to the speed and accuracy of Ninja Gaiden.

In Ninja Gaiden each enemy is unique in how you have to beat them and the moves you have to use to kill them, so it isn't just the typical "walk up to an enemy mash some buttons and their dead". No sir, in this game you will be running up walls, flipping, dodging and performing all kinds of insane acrobatic ninja techniques to eliminate your foes. Compared to Ninja Gaiden I have yet to find a game that matches the amazing fighting system developed.

The fighting is all super fast and it does take some getting used to. When I first started playing this I was a little overwhelmed but after a few missions you will get the hang of it and become ADDICTED.

This game has great visuals, amazing controls, good difficulty, and good length. GET THIS GAME! The upsetting thing is that the sequel to this game is only coming out for XBOX 360, I might have to get one just for that game!!!

A throwback to the difficulty of oldschool videogames. NGS tests your skills, the first couple chapters will suck you in with the graphics/gameplay but make you feel a little less like the walking death warrant you should be. Be patient and it will come though. Ryu's (main character) arsenal of moves has to be mastered for success. Every battle in this game can be life or death. And finally a new game that you actually have to use strategy to defeat the bosses. Instead of just rushing in and a quick hack and slash defeats them. A great game, I'm not giving it 5 stars cause I just don't think it's "the best". But it's definetly a purchase and not a rent game. Only downfall..I finished the game without using any Ninpo (ninja magic)..seems a little useless, but that's just because Ryu is such a hoss with his weapons. So maybe its not such a bad thing. Buy this game, you'll be satisfied. All in all the graphics, sound, controls, gameplay are 5 of 5. The ninpo (magic) and the way enemies respawn when you re-enter a room are the only negatives.

To qualify whether you might like this game:

Fans of Devil May Cry and the Onimusha series would be highly recommended to play this game. It is harder than both series, except DMC3, on normal difficulty and in my opinion, overly cheap. That said, once the Ninja Dog difficulty has been unlocked, the game really opens up to a more nuanced button masher, much more like DMC1, probably my favorite game of the genre. The intracacy of the combos are there but you aren't punished if that isn't your skill level. And don't take the easier difficulty to be a cake walk either, there still is a sense of accomplishment in defeating some of the bosses.

Unlocking Ninja Dog mode is not as evident as it might seem. Simply agree to quit when it asks you if you want to give up the way of the ninja. (This is different than just choosing not to continue). For a few hours I kept saying no but was really starting to get annoyed with this game, (20 minutes repeatedly playing the same level does that for me). Now I can harldly put the game down.

Additionally, many reviewers have already noted that the cutscenes are not PS3 quality, not a huge flaw but noticable. Still, the in-engine graphics are awesome. Reminds me of seeing previews of PS2 games on the PS1 demo discs.

Considering all the above, this is a great game, though not perfect. I would have rated it a 4.5 if possible and a must have for fans of the genre.