Ninja Gaiden Black (Xbox, 2005)

... action/adventure game - A true masterpiece!!

Ninja Gaiden Black is the perfect fusion of an action/adventure game and a
fighting game. The gameplay is amazingly deep, the characters unique, the
graphics are gorgeous, the FMVs are beautiful, the story is very good, and it has tremendous replay value. On top of that the game is quite challenging.

Here are the details.

Gameplay 10/10
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Elements 10/10: First of all let's talk about the fighting system. You have your combat, magic, supers, and defense tactics. In the combat section, you have different strategies of attack, and also different attacks and combos that vary based on your weapons. Every weapon can be upgraded a number of times, to increase it's power, and add more moves to it's list of moves. Suffice it to say there are MANY MANY moves, combos, and throws to choose from. Each weapon has it's own super move also. Some weapons have 2. These supers requires charge time and orbs. You get orbs from defeating enemies. There are methods for reducing charge time, that you can learn to increase the usefulness of these powerful supers. As for magic, you have a couple different types, that can also be enhanced, and made more powerful. In the defense category, you have your basic block, roll, and block into roll (kind of like an alpha counter from street fighter series.)

Controls 9.75/10: The controls are very very good. My only complaint is they're not super accurate for jumping. So in some platform areas, it can get
frustrating.

Difficulty 10/10: This game is one of the most challenging games I have ever
played. You have to constantly come up with new strategies to handle the
situation at hand. Very hard regular enemies, tough bosses, and average difficulty puzzles.

Story 10/10
The story is pretty decent compared to an RPG, but for an Action/Adventure it's VERY good.. so I give it a 10/10.

Graphics 10/10
The Graphics are PURE EYE CANDY. The game's regular graphics are impeccable. Without a doubt the best looking graphics for any game on the Xbox. Everything is superb from the main character itself, to the levels, the regular enemies, the bosses, and the FMVs.

Value 10/10
This game has a ton of unlockable material, and missions to unlock. And being that it has a fighting game engine, the game itself is replayable also.

This game is without a doubt the single best game on the Xbox. Everything is perfect. It is a MUST own title on the Xbox.

Overall Rating 10/10

On March of 2004, Ninja Gaiden hit the XBOX by storm by combining great action, excellent combat, intuitive controls, and an unbelievable, (almost to the point of being farcical) yet compelling, storyline. The game, however, was marred by the lackluster camera and relatively shallow XBOX Live components. Those problems were then worked and fleshed out by the two Hurricane Packs that Team Ninja released onto XBOX Live for download. The result was an almost perfect game. Now, Ninja Gaiden Black has surpassed it.

With this release, Team Ninja has seamlessly interwoven the content from the Hurricane Packs, added an immense amount of re-playability, a new difficulty setting capable of testing even the best of Ninjas, a second new difficulty allowing those new to the game to enjoy it, and finally little tweaks and adjustments to the overall game play and battle mechanics.

What is amazing about this release is the amount of content that is crammed into the game. Whereas, in most games, changing the difficulty simply meant increasing/decreasing the "accuracy" of the various enemies, Team Ninja has rearranged items, added new encounters (with new enemies), and changed the weapons layout that Ryu can attain. All this provides a fresh new experience every time a different difficulty is attained. Finally, when bored with story mode, players can try the all new Missions Mode consisting of 50 tough, varied, and fun missions testing your skill as a Ninja Master.

The gameplay is top-notch, featuring plenty of weapons ranging from the average Katana to the huge War Hammer, to Incendiary Shruikens. Added to all the fun is also a magic system featuring four varying and destructive magic attacks. What Team Ninja has achieved is a fine balance between all the weapons and all of Ryu's abilities. Furthermore, enemy AI is formidable, but never becomes cheap, as if enticing the player to continue and experiment with new methods and combinations in hopes of defeating them.

The graphics and sound are spectacular, with every swipe, kick, throw, and explosion looking every bit as painful as it should. The game holds up on the XBOX at a very steady frame rate (although it does run into problems on the XBOX 360) and loads very quickly.

Team Ninja has achieved perfection with Ninja Gaiden Black. Every aspect is beautiful, fun, and incredibly well though out. For the naysayers, I recommend reading the Advanced Combat FAQ on GameFAQs to see just how deep the combat system of Ninja Gaiden Black is. This game was a pleasure to play, and I feel humbled that I was able to have such entertainment and fun out of this release! An absolute must have for any XBOX collection.

Ninja Gaiden black is one of the best games on the original Xbox. It is a 3rd person action game that resembles old school "beat'em up" games like Final Fight or Streets of Rage. The graphics are beyond belief and the game is very difficult at times, but overall it is really fun to play and the battle engine has great depth.

There are 5 difficulty modes, each one providing a whole new game since the item locations and enemy types change (quite drastically too and in some cases the AI changes). The game is pretty violent, but how can it not be when you are wielding swords and such battling fiends and other sword wielding ninjas. It isn't particularly excessive but if you don't have the stomach for it, check out some videos of gameplay before purchasing for a better view.

If you like action games like Devil May Cry or God of War, this will most likely be one of your favorites. In my opinion its superior to Ninja Gaiden 2 since for its time this game was incredible while the second one seems mediocre for its time but both are excellent action games. The story is pretty pathetic and non-sensical but the gameplay and graphics are incredible which led me and most others to buy it. If you do purchase and play this on your first play through I would recommend you use a strategy guide, I unfortunately didn't but had I used one I would have had fewer frustrations. The game manual provided is very uninformative and didn't help with the difficulty issues.

Remarkably enough, the best just got better with Ninja Gaiden Black, an updated version of the already amazing Xbox action game. This new installment seems bent on achieving nothing less than perfection by using the old game as a starting point and fine-tuning its few issues, while also adding lots of new options and content, such as a lengthy series of stand-alone missions that emphasize the game's unbelievably intense, brutal, lighting-fast combat.

The mission mode is a great new part of Ninja Gaiden Black, since it strips away the game's action adventure elements and focuses on pure combat--truly the best part of the game. The missions tend to be variations on scenes from the story mode but will often pit you against more and different enemies than you're used to.

The story isn't that great (though a few new cutscenes in Black help move it along), and the pacing of some of Ryu's adventures is a little off. This is a lengthy game that will take a good 20 hours your first time through, and it features a considerable amount of variety.

It is an extremely good-looking game. It's easily one of the best looking Xbox games, and by extension, it's one of the best-looking games ever. The game sounds wonderful, too. The sounds of combat in Ninja Gaiden are terrific, especially Ryu's ferocious battle cries and the anime-style sound of steel cleaving flesh. Sure enough, the game features a fantastic soundtrack too, with unique music for all the different chapters and many of the boss battles.

Though this is essentially the same game as before, a laserlike focus on pure, relentless action makes Ninja Gaiden Black a terrific game in its own right. The result is that this is perfect for quick hits of fantastic, pulse-pounding gameplay. But of course, there's the full story mode there too.

Ninja Gaiden BLACK is an amazing game in more ways than one.
Graphics : This is one of the most beautiful games ever made for the xbox if not the most beautiful. The environment and character models are very impressive and it all runs at a very smooth framerate. The CG cutscenes are a sight to behold too.
Gameplay: This game is all about fast paced action, not like tenchu where you were encouraged to be more stealthy, Ninja Gaiden is about being aggressiveness and timing and is more like a fighting game adventure. It will have you trying over and over to complete its levels. If you didnt already know NG black is considered one of the most difficult/challenging games ever made. This version will kick into Ninja Dog mode once you die repeatedly making it a bit easier but still no cakewalk. Button mashing will not work for long you will need to learn the ways of the ninja.
Sound: The sound is good but not the star of the show. There is some dialogue that pushes the story forward. It gets the job done.
Story : Well this is kind of the weak point in the game as you are hunting down the evil guy and killing his minions along the way. I dont want to reveal anything so lets just say it's got one. Dont expect the depth of a Final Fantasy, this game is about the action not the story.
Extras: There are many unlockables to gain like once you beat the game you can go through the mission mode. there is also the original Ninja Gaiden games in there to be unlocked. No multiplayer or Online modes, although you can download your scores to Xbox LIVE.
Overall: this is one of the best action games ever made and now that it is down to around 20 buck a must have title. Excellent !!!