Ninja Gaiden Sigma

PlayStation3 ninjas beat stupid Shaolin Monks, anyday.

Ah, ninjas. Pyjama-wearing death machines, unconditionally lovable unless you happen to have a contract out on your life, in which case you probably live in abject fear of them. If this sounds like you, Ninja Gaiden will serve as the perfect way to study your enemy, or to pass time until they come for you. While the educational value will be lost on the rest of us, it’s still a pretty fun game, even if it’s almost identical to the original Xbox version.

You assume the role of Ryu Hayabusa (great ninja name), son of Joe Hayabusa (not-so-great ninja name). The pair is descendent of the Dragon lineage, and thus one of the few capable of wielding the Dragon Sword and the evil Dark Dragon Blade. Joe has placed the Dragon Sword in Ryu’s care, and left the Dark Dragon Blade in the safe-keeping of their ninja village. While Ryu is training, the village is attacked and the Dark Blade stolen, and it’s up to Ryu to get it back and seek vengeance for his destroyed village.

Who's your leather mummy!?

Ninja Gaiden Sigma is a mix of Resident Evil and Soul Cailbur, though the emphasis is definitely on the fighting. You explore each map, finding and mixing items to solve puzzles, and using various button combinations to produce effective, and slick-looking, attacks. One moment your enemy is across the room, the next you’re in the air as a fast-moving blur, preparing to decapitate him. The amount of moves is on-par with that of the previous games, so much so you most likely will not bother with most of them, and just settle on a few that you find to be effective.

You can also choose to fight with different weapons, from dual-swords and staves, to nunchucks. So pretending to be your favourite ninja turtle is very easy, so long as it’s not Raphael. You can upgrade your weapons at blacksmiths dotted through-out the game, as well as buying various other items that will replenish your health, teach you new moves and restock your ammunition for various weapons.

The Resident Evil element comes in as you explore. You can examine some items, for example a filing cabinet, and it will say something to the effect of ‘Lots of paper-work, none of it useful to me’. You know, just for ambience. You will also come across locked doors, which will sometimes require a button to be pushed or a key card to be found. The more interactive ones will have you running around looking for a few items that need to be combined.

Ryu's enemies wear knee pads for a reason. Think about it...

A further complication to Ryu’s skills is his ‘Close the distance between me and my ranged attacker’ move, which is the exact same button combination as ‘Leap in the air and do a big, slow attack that takes a few seconds to recover from leaving you helpless’ move.

The only variable is if the enemy is the correct distance (not too close, not too far) away. Too close and Ryu does move B and falls short, too far and again Ryu does move B and, while looking cool flying through the air, leaves himself completely open. While this is only one move, it’s a big one, and it can prove extremely frustrating.

Another frustration is the door-opening button is the same as the attack button, so expect to frequently jump between sections inadvertently when you’re ambushed in a new area.

With a title like this, you’d expect some pretty nice graphics, and that’s exactly what you get, if a little Spartan and with textures a tad washed-out – a symptom of upscaling and lazy porting. As with any third-person action title, the camera can be placed in annoying positions, but fortunately, Temco has had a pretty good crack at getting it right.

Ryu Hayabusa comes free with flashy ninja moves, shiny ninja weapons and a secret ninja destiny to fulfill. It can be frustrating at times, but Ninja Gaiden Sigma is a fine title worth owning, especially if you haven’t played the original or Black versions.

For: Looks slick; cool ninja moves; new content; muscle men
in spandex.

Against: Frustrating combos; door open button same as attack; same old Ninja Gaiden.