Review of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2

I have been looking forward to this release ever since I first heard it was coming out at this year's E3. I own an Xbox 360 and Ninja Gaiden II is still my favorite game for that system.
I still play the Xbox version like it was new, so when I heard an exclusive expanded version was coming out for the just reduced price PlayStation 3 120 GB, I had to buy both the system
and the game the day it came out. Since I own both versions, I wanted to compare both and let owners of both consoles decide if this latest version is worth picking up.
First, the Xbox version has better graphics for the most part. Some character models on the PS3 version have been improved, which is nice, but the backgrounds which were highly detailed on the Xbox 360
version are slightly downgraded here. For most, this wont be an issue, but I wanted to point it out. There were slowdown issues on the Xbox 360 version and the only time my PS3 game slowed down, was when
I was awarded a trophy during in game play, otherwise, the PS3 version is clean and fast paced. Sigma in many ways has improved the game over it's original Xbox 360 version. Some of the levels have been
redesigned and have better layouts than in the Xbox version. Also, lame bosses from the Xbox version have been replaced with all new enemies that are a million times more fun to fight than the previous bosses.
For example, the two gold dragons at the end of Chapter 9 have been replaced with one awesome looking black dragon. The double armadillo fight from Chapter 12 has been replaced with a new fiend, awesome!
Enough has been changed from the Xbox 360 version to keep veteran players like myself on our toes. Enemies you're use to facing in one section of the game, have been replaced with others, that kind of thing.
Plus, the ability to play important side missions as Rachel, Ayane and Momiji really add to the game. For example, in Ayane's segment you get to play as her and discover how she obtained the jewel she gives
Ryu to create the true dragon sword, cool stuff! Playing as the female characters makes me wonder why Tecmo has never released an action game staring the female characters from DOA, it would
be great to see that someday.
There have also been several surprising subtractions from the original Xbox 360 game, the biggest is the reduction in blood and gore. All blood and gore have been removed from the cut scenes
and while there is still a little bit of blood present during battles, most of it has been replaced with what I can only describe as a magic purple mist. Basically, the game went from reminding me of Kill Bill Vol. 1, to
an episode of Inuyasha. The game has a more anime feel to it now because of it, while the original was more visceral and pulled the player in. Also missing are: Incendiary Shurikens for Ryu (Ayane has them), the Tests
of Valor (one of my favorite things about the original game) and the ability to save your Spirit of the Devils, Lives of the Gods and Lives of the Thousand Gods items. They are now used as soon as you find them instead of
being able to save them and use them at will. Also, one of the original game's coolest moments has been watered down. Remember the massive fight against a seemingly never ending horde of ninjas up the steps to the temple
in Chapter 10? Well, it's not quite such a horde now, it's more like just a few dozen guys. Now, I'm hoping the number of ninjas increases as the difficulty goes up, but who knows?

I've beaten the game on Acolyte and I've gotta tell you, it's a million times easier now. Maybe it will get harder as I defeat the other difficulties, but I'm shocked at how much easier this game is. When I saw the credits,
I understood why. Tomonobu Itagaki was absent from the credits. Itagaki quit or was fired from Tecmo, depending on who you believe, last year and he was responsible for designing the DOA & Ninja Gaiden games, along with
Team Ninja, for Tecmo. He was very adamant about how difficult his games should be, some say he took it too far, and I guess Tecmo agreed because it's a cake walk now. I proudly defeated Master Ninja mode on Ninja Gaiden
2 on the Xbox, so to see the game become so easy now is a little bit of a let down, but hopefully it will get more challenging. With the Sigma version, the playing field has been leveled out. For example, you can now hit Genshin
with magic, the drawback is that now he uses it on you as well. The designers must have thought the Eclipse Scythe was too powerful because now it takes more than one ultimate attack to bring down characters that previously
only took one. And characters that could come close to killing you with one of their combos, now only take away a small amount of health. So, this is radically different from Itagaki's original vision, for better or worse. If you're
like me and enjoyed the challenge of the original, you may be disappointed. If you played the original 360 version and was frustrated beyond belief with it, here's your chance to simply enjoy the game without wanting to smash
your controller.

With all that said, let's pretend for a moment that there was never an Xbox 360 version. So, is this a great game? Absolutely! PS3 owners craving some hardcore ninja action should pick this one up asap. It's one of the most action
packed and addictive games I've ever played and wont disappoint! The only reason I gave it 4 stars was because of the subtractions that were made from the Xbox version. Otherwise it would've been perfect!
However, if you also own an Xbox 360 and have this game, the addition of the 3 new playable characters, new game modes and overall changes may not justify your purchase, but I was very pleased overall with the game.



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