Unlike Ninja Gaiden 4 I’m just going to get straight to the point in this review as quickly as possible.
Note: No AI has been used in the creation, or editing of this review as has always been the case on this website. So sorry (not sorry?) in advance for any grammatical faux pas.
In my opinion every review on these modern (remake and new) Ninja Gaiden games should start with the reviewers background, or lack thereof with the series. I come to Ninja Gaiden 4 with very high regard for Ninja Gaiden Black and OG Xbox 360 Ninja Gaiden II. I have completed those games countless times and in my humble opinion they are some of the best character action games I have ever played. I don’t hate the sigma games, they are fine B-tier games in the series as for as I am concerned.
Its been over a year since the games launch and if you look on YouTube there are so many flowery love fest reviews out there for Ninja Gaiden 4 and that really baffles me.
GAME LENGTH
Simply put, Ninja Gaiden 4 is way to long. Its padded out with repetitive content in the levels to the point where on that alone it cant deserve the praise and yet theres more to this lesser Ninja.
You can play through the whole game and not unlock all of the moves for your character(s) and weapons. The game requires… expects (?)… multiple play throughs to unlock all of the combat tools it has to offer so the fact that its so long is a huge bummer.
I got about 2/3 of the way through it and I was DONE.
“Like YO can we wrap this up b?”
“What?!? Wait, I have to play this again, to really mess with what I unlocked this play-through?”
LEVEL DESIGN
The level design is boring over 70% of the time. You don’t feel like a Ninja as you traverse the levels like you did in the first 2 titles. In those you have combat encounters in random tight corridors and stairs and such. In Ninja Gaiden 4 its mostly these large wide open combat areas that are just not environmentally interesting. Sprinkled in there are just enough sauce to keep you going, but never enough to wow or, thrill you. I think the level design is the biggest miss in this game. Interesting level design is a positive force multiplier for the other elements. When done well it makes the game length a non-issue and can make combat feel more fresh despite its issues.
The set pieces are pretty but ultimately not that interesting, especially with how much of it you have to go through. Add on a bunch of rail grinding through them and it just ends up grinding your nerves 3/4 through the game as you wonder how long they are going to keep going back to rail grinding for traversal instead of using more NINJA type action.
Contrast fighting in a large warehouse for a whole level in Ninja Gaiden 4 with Ninja Gaiden 2 where you start at the edge of the village and fight to the top of the pagoda temples by the end of the level. The first is a yawn and the second is so much more interesting.
SOUND DESIGN
I actually really like the sounds effects and music in the game. Overall the soundtrack is well done. The ambient tracks are superb like for example like the submenu music. I found myself just leaving that running. Even though I’m not a huge fan of the mostly Heavy and Technical Metal soundtrack overall its good and fits the action packed and chill sections.
GRAPHICS
The visuals are really nice and ironically this is where the games shortcomings hurt the most. Graphics are perhaps the biggest draw, or rather proposition of the game. The promise of a modern HDR, VRR, (plus all the latest tech) capable Ninja Gaiden game. Older games struggled to execute on the vision and were hampered by the tech not being capable. OG Ninja Gaiden 2 pushed the tech to the limit with the amount of enemies on screen as you left rooms and hallways full of blood splatter and body parts that just stayed there (for the most part) even if you backtracked those body parts were still there.
That was and still is amazing.
The sigma games got rid of this (BOOO) which I personally never forgave and Ninja Gaiden 4 took that page out of Sigmas book (BOOOO) with the disappearing enemies despite now having the tech to keep that OG element that made it rough, rugged, and raw in line with Tomonobu Itagaki’s original vision.
In essence the game looks amazing but still doesn’t nail that VERY key design aspect that would knock it out of the park.
COMBAT
Arguably the most critical piece to get right. The combat is fun but has issues. The first miss hits you fast when you start the game. I guarantee that you will be in menus setting things to try to get it to feel right. So many buttons to change around till you settle in, so many systems to learn. So many moves to unlock. It ends up being a bit convoluted and too dense for its own good.
The abundance of weapon and combat moves may give the game legs but I think they went a bit too far with the amount instead of pulling back and refining the core combat more.
WHAT’S A YAKUMO?
For those that don’t know they pull a Metal Gear Solid 2 with this game where you expect but don’t end up (mostly) playing as the main character of the series (RYU) even though RYU (like SNAKE) is on the box art/cover of the game. You mostly play as Yakumo a ninja from another clan.
In all Yakumo is fine, but like Bayonetta 3 you end up playing so much more of the new character than you actually want and by the end of the game they just straight up throw Bayonetta style bosses at you. It’s boring and feels like Platinum games is just phoning it in.
The straight forward nature of Ryu’s combat move set proves that less can be more and honestly I had more fun with him even though Yakumo grew on me.
VERDICT
Ninja Gaiden 4 is way too long and unfortunately the level design leaves much to be desired. The combat is flawed though fun.
What will keep you coming back: A ton of weapon and combat move set options to mess around with along with some nice visuals.
Ultimately its far from reaching the legendary heights of the series while at the same time also not the worst in the series. A good discount buy for sure. You could do worse.
Less would have been more,
for this Lesser Ninja Gaiden 4.
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Chauncy Talon
I’m so happy I didn’t buy this. Next up, Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound review, please
brooklyn
You got it. Great idea.