Ninja Gaiden was one of my favourite games on the original Xbox. That version had a re-release named Ninja Gaiden Black which now has this re-make called Sigma (got that?). Obviously the biggest change is the generation change, from the now outdated Xbox to the beastly PS3. The game itself hasn’t changed much at all, but let’s assume we haven’t played the original.
You play Ryu Hayabusa out to seek revenge after an attack on your village by the evil ‘Doku’. On your quest for revenge you’ll be using a super fast fighting system that’s only matched by God of War. You have two attack buttons; a ‘normal’ and ‘strong’. This might not sound very complex but when combined with the direction buttons they can become deadly combos. You’ll be slashing ninjas, rolling out the way of another ninja’s attack, smashing him into the air, running along a wall while throwing shurikens- it’s just non-stop action. To add even more combos and fighting styles to the mix you have a large choice of weapons. Ryu’s ‘Dragon Sword’ is the default weapon and along the way you’ll find nunchucks, a massive sword, a war hammer, a pole and (new for the PS3 version) some rather nifty dual-wielded swords. Naturally the speed and power of the weapons varies hugely and everyone will have their favourites. The game is structured in levels and you’re basically doing the same thing throughout, going from A to B then maybe to C while fighting groups of enemies in each area. Some times you’ll get 3 enemies and other times you’ll get waves and waves. Then come the bosses, ranging from tough to uber-tough. You may have heard that Ninja Gaiden is a tough game and the mixture of tricky enemies and big bad bosses is the reason why. I swore out loud a few times due to frustration and even had to leave the game alone for a bit. Don’t let that put you off because these bosses can be beaten and you really feel like you’ve accomplished something when you do.
New to the PS3 version is the chance to play as fiend hunter Rachel, who was only a supporting character in the original. She fights very differently to Ryu, a bit slower and more powerful, not as good or as flashy as Ryu but the variation is a good thing nonetheless, and of course she has a couple of other outstanding assets. There are also new little sections in the game and some of the old pre-rendered cut scenes are now done in game engine and look great. When you complete the game you can upload your overall score (or ‘karma’ as it’s known) and compare it to people around the world. Also a new mission mode becomes unlocked and extra difficulties.
Visually while the character models do look amazingly detailed and are well animated, the environments are lifted straight out of the Xbox version and just ‘rezzed-up’. The lighting also looks funny, the characters have excellent shadows but the environment doesn’t cast shadows and looks at times well…. odd. Bizarrely the pre-rendered cut scenes look worse than the actual game now, I guess it’s to do with the massively detailed Ryu and the fact that the cut scenes are not in HD. But then the game is running at 60fps even at 1080p which looks awesomely sharp. The sound is good, good music, good sound effects and ummm… good voice acting.
Overall, Sigma is an excellent last-gen game that’s been given a facelift. The fighting system is still top notch, just so fast and fluid. A decent sized story with a tough but rewarding difficulty setting - now the PlayStation crowd can finally experience one of Xbox’s finest games.
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