Review: Ninja Gaiden Black is that Crack

From the Vault — originally published March 7, 2008. Some links, videos or prices may be out of date.

So after reading the news that Ninja Gaiden Black is available now in the new Xbox Originals store and then seeing all the raves and reviews on how great it is I decided to cough up the 15 bucks. Is it worth it? Hell yes. Ok. I never played the original version on Xbox so keep that in mind. This is a brief review on the Xbox originals download version. I like to keep these review posts to the point so here goes…

Graphics:
The graphics are great. The downloadable Ninja Gaiden Black on the Xbox 360 looks better than almost every Wii game I have ever played. The game’s native resolution is 480p/widescreen which is about what the Wii outputs though I figure the Xbox 360 upscales it and in my case its upscaled to 1080i. The graphics look better than Twilight Princess for example.

Sound:
The music is great. First of all it doesn’t annoy me like most game soundtracks. On top of that the music actually enhances the experience. It totally draws you into the action and works with the setting. Actually this is one of the few games that I have played that has really great usage of surround sound. For example you will randomly hear birds from different surround speakers. The sound effects and music overall are GREAT when played on a surround system.

Play Mechanics:
This game has moves. Dude can walk up and along the side of walls, jump kick, backflip, jump on people heads and more. Theres a ton of combos and special moves. Blood effects and decapitations you can do. I have been playing for a week and I still don’t have all the moves down. You do feel like your controlling a ninja when your playing. Everything a ninja should be able to do you can do. Throw shuriken, smoke bombs and all that other super cool Ninja stuff. The controls are great. The one bad point or frustrating point of the game is the camera. AY! It frustrates you sometimes when you cant see and enemies are in front of you. You can center the camera but it is a bit wonky at times from my experience. I have read that as you progress it actually is perfect once you get the hang of it. I doubt that. But I do think its something that I can learn to work with. Hopefully in the new upcoming Ninja Gaiden II for Xbox 360 they will address the camera issue. thats the only thing working against the game and I would only take a point off for the camera as its still a great game and in no way a dealbreaker.

Difficulty:
Man, the game is no pushover. You WILL redo many sections. Its not an easy game even on normal mode. Its challenging an a great way and the enemy AI is on point. They will get at you and you will not want to give up.

Summary:
If you like Ninjas (DUH!) and ‘beat-em-up type games like Devil may Cry, Double Dragon and such then this game is for you. I highly recommend it as a download. Its definitely worth the $15 (1200 points). If you need the manual you can download that here. Just make sure you have enough hard drive space because its like 6 gigs. Set your Xbox 360 to continue downloads even while on standby and your all set.