June 3 will turn exactly 14 years old when the cult slasher from the Japanese studio came out Team Ninja And Mr. Itagaki – Ninja Gaiden 2, The sequel of the original rethinking of 2004. Just a couple of weeks ago, with great pleasure, he had asked for my beloved Xbox One (Thanks to Phil for reverse compatibility), And I decided to share my thoughts about this project from Microsoft and answer the question – Whether the game has passed the test of time?

This will not be some kind of complete overview or detailed analysis of the game that will reveal the history of the creation, little-known facts, and so on. Rather, it will be a small story about why I think Ninja Gaiden 2 is an ideal slasher, the analogues of which are simply not there to this day and in the near future will not work. And yes, Denis is my name, it’s nice to meet.

Video version

And yet, it seems to me that it is worth starting a little with the background of my acquaintance with the series, because without this my story would not have been complete.

I met with Ryu Hayabusa and his ninja clan during the time of Dandy, when I played the third game of the original trilogy in the third game of the cartridge (probably therefore this part has become my most beloved), But I got acquainted with the first and second game of the series already during the emulation. The entire trilogy came out very suitable, so it was not surprising that the series, sooner or later, would continue on modern consoles.

Excerpt of a battle with a boss from Ninja Gaiden 3: Ancient Ship of Doom

In 2004, the series, Ninja Gaiden, was released, which most ordinary gamers bent and planted so that it reminds of itself to this day. I did not play the original, and I began my acquaintance with the updated version – Ninja Gaiden Black, where the difficulty wound up even more, making AI of enemies even smarter than in the original release. I, honestly, did not even go beyond the level on the plane. Когда у меня была эта игра на Xbox я был еще юн и не имел опыта в играх подобного жанра.

Already much later, in the year 2010, I won’t say for sure, on my first Xbox 360, I came across a continuation of the saga about Ryu Hayabus. And I will tell you, I immediately fell in love with her!

At this moment I was already a pretty good player, so I realized how to play the second Hiden quickly. And immediately I realized how cool this game is, starting from the beautiful graphics, which for some reason I immediately selected (Heroes and monsters were drawn very high quality, and I played at that time on the old one, not even HD TV) and ending with a really complex gameplay, which really threw a call to the player, and it doesn’t matter what complexity you played.

My first attempts to pass out https://sportsbettingmedia.co.uk/latest-news/zero-risk-betting-strategy of failure – I willingly pumped all the weapons, thoughtlessly spent herbs, Ninpo, and I did not reach the level in Venice.

But even such short progress, only 5 levels, gave me the fuse to train it further, I liked it so much.

I started a new attempt to pass more deliberately, and now I could reach the level at the flying fortress of Daedalus, namely the boss – a fiery dinosaur. I managed to reach this moment through the pain, and then I again realized what the game is so harsh. Not only did I spend a huge amount of effort to get here, so this fiery carrion always killed me with its explosion. I simply did not understand what to do and after another attempt I abandoned the game for almost six months.

Then I found out that at the time of the explosion you need to put the block.

And yet, starting a third attempt and gathering my strength, I settled for it – and passed. And it was unforgettable. After the complete completion, I fell in love with Ninja Gaiden 2 forever and steadily replaying it every year with some kind of challenge-either with only one weapon, then without magic, without a resurrecting talisman and so on.

And this year was no exception – once again the game was completed, and with graphic improvements. And even if the 60 FPS was at the 360th, they increased resolution up to 4K, so the game is not felt in any way, but looks even better and more detailed than some modern releases.

What is this game so clinging? In my opinion, it is a huge variety that should be in most slasers. Moreover, a variety of everything – levels, locations, enemies, weapons, bosses.

There are many levels in the game, the scene is constantly changing. Either the night city, then the water Venice, the flying fortress, the jungle, mother Russia, the venture of the volcano and so on. Each area has its own graphic surroundings and atmosphere: somewhere it is light and mottled, such as in the jungle, and somewhere the darkness and not clear corridors from which bone demons climb on you endlessly.

New enemies constantly appear from the location to the location. Everything begins harmlessly-with the usual ninja, which Ryu cuts in half as cabbage, and ends with some terrible mutants with huge bazuki instead of hands, mechanical robots with huge swords, giant killer fish, which intend to absorb you and fire-breathing armored dragons

They can be destroyed not only with the help of a classic dragon sword, but also by other traditional ninja weapons. The developers competently approached this moment and gave the player a large number of various means for extermination of demons – swords, sticks, nunchaki, a huge braid, weapons from “kill Bill” and other ways to reduce the population of these reptiles. These include throwing weapons – all kinds of shurikens, throwing grenades, onions, as well as magic – one of the business cards of games about Ru. There are 4 types of them, each of which helps in different conditions. The same applies to weapons. Some kind of ninja is well hollowed, and the other is werewilders.

Hand -to -hand arms can be pumped, adding to the already large number of tricks that you are unlikely to even remember, even more different blows and specialists. That is why every time it is interesting to pump new weapons, recognize its techniques and test them on poor fellows, depending on how they fly in different directions.

And this is very cool, because, in fact, The slasher is a rather single-type genre, and in order to captivate the player, you need to not only register a good story that may well take into the background due to gameplay (And so it should be in normal slasers, I think), but also ensure constant updating and filling content, so that the player does not get bored, but constantly tried and discovered something new for himself. And this NG 2 copes perfectly.

Another visiting card NG 2 has become divided. And how beautifully and deliciously the limbs of enemies are chopped off, and each weapon, depending on the level of pumping, does it differently. Some, such as, for example, swords or braids cut off his legs, head, hands under the root, when, like a stick or tonfa with a delicious sound, the heads of enemies crushed the head. Moreover, this does not bother, although the animations are constantly the same, because it is competently woven into the gameplay base. Apply to all this a secondary weapon and magic, and you will understand what it turns into. Moreover, at high levels, you need to competently combine all this – use the magic of flying daggers, what to cut off by one hand, go finish them, then burn with fiery phoenix, and the remaining to blow up shurikens with explosives. And this is only a small part of what can be done in the second Hayden. A lot of variations and it all depends only on your imagination and skill.

As for complexity, for a beginner and those who are little familiar, the game may well seem to be a difficult test, since the enemies hit painfully and strongly, crushing the player with both the number and his power. Each battle is turning into a real test, where the winner can only be one – this is you.

Health itself is not restored, the points of the records that are presented here in the form of a dragon statue, restore life only once, and the healing herbs are limited here. Therefore, you have to not only competently spend the obtained yellow souls (local currency) in the Muramasa shop, but also think in advance – is it worth it to eat grass here or die and try to pass without damage.

P.S. My advice – resurrecting talismans put in a slot only when you fight the boss and understand that the situation is hopeless. And also accept “Life of Thousands of Gods” at those moments when there is no herbs left, and the health came up at the minimum – it will not only restore you, but will increase the strip itself. The same applies to pearls.

In general, you can talk a lot about the advantages of the game, but also about the shortcomings that are also present here. But they are not visible at all when you are completely immersed in the process of saving the world from the prince of darkness. Ninja Gaiden 2 is the game in which the gameplay is in the first place, which is why it is simply interesting to play in it. Let it have a weak scenario part in which there are many stupid and illogical moments from which you can catch FAISPALM, but it is precisely its elaboration of gameplay that she drags, and even now remains the best game in the series, and one of the best slasers on Earth. And for me – the best!

The game with a proudly raised head passed the test of time, and in 2022 it can still show gamers what a real, cool, interesting game about ninja is!

Now anyone can try himself in this role by buying a collection of Ninja Gaiden Master Collection, which includes not only one of the versions of the second Hayden, but also the first and third parts. And if you do not have Xbox One, this is a worthy option to get acquainted with the universe and this game, in particular. But for me, the original will forever be the best version, and if you have the opportunity – play it exactly, you will be satisfied.