Ninja Gaiden II

On Xbox 360
Gloriously, bloody, hard.
Ninja Gaiden is akin to beating your head against a brick wall – with enough determination something's got to give, be it an insanely hard boss or your skull against stone. The original was a triumph of heady, fluid combat that made you feel like you could slice through anything, yet punished with such heavy odds, that only the persistent, patient or foolish could make it to the end. I was persistent, I'm always foolish.
Ninja Gaiden II continues in very much the same trend, yet under the cowl things have changed. Combat has been re-jigged with an emphasis on even more violence and the ability to slice limbs off your opponents, followed up by a scarlet drenched finishing move. There's also the Ultimate Technique that allows you to decimate opponents (after charging the attack), then chain further UT attacks by sucking in the energy of fallen foes.
Alongside tweaked move-sets and new weapons, these 2 additions re-write the way Ninja Gaiden is played. If an enemy loses a limb he becomes more desperate, often to kamikaze-like extremes, so the strategy of finishing off the limbless first is a priority. Senseless button mashing won't get you far either, with careful and considered timing key to success.
Making sure you have the time and space to charge an Ultimate Attack is also important. It's also difficult, considering the rate at which enemies fly at you, fire at you and slice at you, but timed well can turn the tide of a one sided battle.
The original wasn't without its flaws, despite its awesomeness, and here those same problems rear their fiendish head. Once again the camera is a pain to use, where a mastery of it is as important as a mastery of the blade. It can be dealt with, but you shouldn't have to considering its sequel status. It's also hard as nails again, yet this time feels cheaper on the harder Warrior setting, with spammed, long distance fireball attacks the right way to send your joypad hurtling towards a wall.
As always, the way of the ninja is paved with many obstacles – while these may be mountains at times, the joy of climbing them almost always makes it worthwhile.

8.5/10