Hey all, I recently blogged about Ninja Gaiden Sigma over at GameTrailers, so I thought I'd post for you to see what I think of Ninja Gaiden Sigma... mind you, this is from the perspective of someone who played the smeg out of Ninja Gaiden Black for about the past two months. Anyway, here it goes (Wall o' text):
Okay, so I was stoked to get my hands on Ninja Gaiden Sigma. I even took in a bunch of games I hadn't played in a long time so I could get my hands on it. I got out of the whole thing paying about $10 out of pocket haha
Now, either Ninja Gaiden Black gave me all kinds of training going through every mode. I think I left off on Chapter 6 - Master Ninja Mode the day before Sigma came out... maybe chapter 7. The place where you fight the Hydracubus for a second time, whatever that is. ANYWAY, I'm not so sure that it's just me being pretty good at the game because of Ninja Gaiden Black that makes it easier.
First of all I'd like to say that the new content thrown in was pretty cool. Like the burning village, that part was awesome. I wish there were more new levels like this one. I like the inclusion of Rachel's story, so all is not without hope with the game. But, let me point out a few things:
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Let's Dumb Down The Experience For People By...[/size]
Save Points There are new save points in the game. Now, they're not save points that have been moved from one location to the other, no. They are EXTRA save points that were thrown in. I can think of one that really pissed me off. It's in Tairon. When you first get to Tairon, you have a save point. Then, you don't have another save point for a long time. It was actually a challenge to get all the way by Han's Bar to save, and it added more emphasis on learning the enemy AI. Now, there's a save point thrown somewhere in between (by the Lily Key door), which is pretty lame in my opinion.
Let's see, there's a save point RIGHT AT the second Alma fight. Now, it kind of makes sense in this situation, because there's only one enemy fight that takes place before her if I recall correctly. So that one wasn't so bad.
There's another one or two though, that really got to me. OH! Yeah, there's a save point right at the room where you get the Holy Grail. Once again, another spot that presented challenge. If you couldn't cut the mustard, you had to LEARN to get good at the enemies on Ninja Gaiden Black. Now it's more of an afterthought at getting good at the enemies it seems.
Muramasa statues They're everywhere... EVERYWHERE! Thrown in the most out of place spots too. Inside the Labyrinth, at the bottom of the plate that breaks after you beat the bone skeleton guy (can't think of his name), right before the red samurai boss... man, there are too many spots that the statue is at to name now. But you have SO many chances to get elixirs and what-not throughout the whole game. Too many. I honestly expected to find one at the top of the Core.
Flying Swallow This is now a technique scroll that you pick up... ON THE FIRST LEVEL! Now instead of having to wait to get this move when you upgrade your Dragon Sword for the first time on
level 3, you can use this destructive move on the first and second levels. It's even on the first level during Hard Mode. Lame.
Dynamo You can Flying Swallow him with ease.
Team Ninja blocks Those that have played Ninja Gaiden Black will know this as the XBox symbol that gives you all of your energy and magic back. The only point this can be found in the game is by Han's Bar in Tairon. On Sigma, I think I counted a total of THREE of these in the game. 1.) By Han's Bar, 2.) After you defeat the two tanks (I was surprised they even had two tanks instead of one at this point), 3.) At the top of the Core RIGHT BY the Gates of Hell.
Healing On The Fly This was a feature I was really excited about! I still think it's a great feature, but it was utilized poorly I think. I'll explain. Now, when you're attacking or blocking and the like, you can't grab any essence. This adds to the challenge of collecting it all (I'm glad they didn't change that). With the healing on the fly feature, it was done POORLY. Let's say... I don't know... Alma! Yeah, let's say Alma has you in mid-air and she does that kick deal that slams you to the ground. You're low on energy and you're going to die when she does this to you. What do you do? HEAL WHILE YOU'RE GRIPPED BY HER! What?! So, you can't do anything else, but you can stop yourself from dying by healing while in her grasp??? Lame.
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Annoyances[/size]
Okay, now I have some problems with some things in this game.
Loading Why does it sometimes take FOREVER for the game to process what the hell you just grabbed out of a treasure chest? I seem to remember on Black that there was absolutely no delay whatsoever. This happens during playing time too. Sometimes I'm about to engage a slew of enemies, only to have the game go dark-screened for like, three seconds and say Loading... in the bottom right corner. Or just walking anywhere in general this will pop up. There's a spot where my buddy was Bird Flipping up a long shaft and it stopped him in the middle of it to load. Man, that is so lame. I feel like no one has learned to utilize the RAM efficiently for the PS3. I'm not sure. I even installed the game hoping that it would help, but no.
Lack of Puzzles Now, the puzzles in Ninja Gaiden Black weren't hard by any means. They were a nice little addition to it though. How many puzzles have been taken out?
Almost ALL. The pyramid, the platforms after the battle with Doku, just to name a couple. As for the pyramid, it would've been nice if they had the "Soul Calibur" enemies after the whole puzzle of the pyramid. It would've added a really good challenge that way. It WAS nice to see that enemy on Normal mode, but not at the expense of the entire pyramid level.
I think there was another annoyance I had, but for the life of me I can't think of them right now.
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The Good[/size]
Those that know me and the way I game know that I look for the good stuff in games most of the time. This was just too much for me though. I love Ninja Gaiden Black alot, and was ready to make a comparison. Anyway, before I go I'll point out the good stuff in a list.
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Mer-Men
Black Spider Clan have their own garb now
Playing Rachel's side of the story
"Soul Calibur" enemies on Normal mode
Obtaining the old-school Ninja Gaiden outfit after beating Normal (much more fun to play through with)
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There may be other stuff to add to that list, but I'm at a loss right now. For me, it seems that the rest of the things in the game over-shadow the good. I must say, I'm slightly disappointed, and if I decide to finish the rest of the modes, it will be the one time, then I'll stick to Ninja Gaiden Black most likely.
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