Wow, you say – two reviews! The thing is, I’m a big fan of Devil May Cry, and on the 360 this lead to a love for Ninja Gaiden II. When Garv discovered the news of this previously Japanese-exclusive series, we were both quite excited. Another 3rd person action game, on a console that is very dominated by FPS games. Being a PlayStation convert, its good to see a few more of the genres I enjoy coming to my main gaming console. So, Garv got dibs on the review, but was nice enough to let me post my own thoughts as well.
So, after we’d both finished uni, we sat and each played the demo on our 360s as we screamed and cheered at each other down the mic (wth the occasional bit of advanced critique). Now, this game is a little bit of an uncertainty to me – I’m certain I will be buying it, that I am sure of, but the question is, will it be as great as DMC3 or NG2?
Since Garvs summed up the general outline of the demo, I’ll just talk about the actual gameplay. Now, the combat itself seemed alright – a nice range of weapons, yet it didnt look or feel quite as fluid as that of Ninja Gaiden II. Still, its not bad, and I could grow to like it once I’ve got into a bit of a rhythm. Now, what I personally did enjoy was the mixup in gameplay – first it was a quicktime event, then combat, then platforming and quicktiming, then the wall running, then the boss.
Quicktime Events: Now, there were quite a few in the demo, but I get the sense that its the ‘thing’ they really wanted to show off. Very reminiscent of God Of War, and highly enjoyable. The only thing I wasnt sure about was that failing them in some cases just seemed to rewind and let you try again – fair enough, but seemed to lack any real penalty. However, in some cases during boss fights, it seems that it can result in losing some health, or the boss regaining some HP. The boss Quicktimes were incredibly satisfying, giving it that God of War ‘finisher’ feel.
Platforming: Now, the platforming I did enjoy. Reminiscent of NG2, it was all about running fast, running on walls and swinging on poles. Very fluid, and enjoyable. I didnt feel I totally understood the controls (was a bit unsure how to wallrun exactly, since I missed the popup that told you how to as I was focusing on jumping around), but I got them figured by my second time playing it.
Wall Running: This was enjoyable, somewhere between platforming and a quicktime event, it involves strafing left and right, while being able to dig your sword in the wall to slow down, and using reaction commands to dispatch enemies. The only real problem was that it was very short, so I felt as though it didnt really give you time to enjoy it. Still, I’m quite excited.
Boss: The particular boss of the level involved avoiding attacks, and hitting its legs when they were in reach (its a sort of giant spider sitting over the whole area). This was quite enjoyable, although maybe a tad long. That said, it basically has two phases, the fighting, and every so often a chunk of running – where you are thrown back a way from the spider-zilla, and have to run at it whilst dodging shockwaves. This was fun also, and mixed up the gameplay a little. The only one little problem I had with this boss was that to finish it you needed to press ‘A’ when it was vulnerable, to perform the Quicktime finisher. I didnt realise this at first, because the symbol hinting you to do so was very small, and I didnt notice it to start with. Again, I’m sure you could easily get used to this, and looking out for these moments.
One last thing I will mention is a power called Ninja vision. This is a very useful ability that allows you to slow time for a while at any time, as long as you have some power in your meter - this was useful in all stages of the boss fight, from slowing time to time jumps over shockwaves, to dodge attacks, or using it to get to the legs of the beast in time to hack it up.
Over all, I’m very excited about this one. The combat *may* not match up to DMC or Ninja Gaiden, but the various bits of gameplay have got me pumped for more.
