2.5/5 ★ – ColeTrain's review of Ninja Gaiden Sigma.

I have some previous experience with this series having played the original Ninja Gaiden on NES as well as Ninja Gaiden 2 on Xbox 360 many many moons ago and more recently I played Ninja Gaiden 2 Black but I had never played the first game of the reboot series before and so once I found out that Sigma was a remake of the first game I thought "why not give it a try?" And see where the story all began. Speaking of the story it begins by telling that hundreds of years ago there was a sword known as the Dark Dragon Sword which was forged from the bones of a Dragon and was known to harness great power making anyone who weilded it incredibly strong however there was a downside in that whoever weilded the sword would be corrupted by it and turn into a demon as it holds within it all the evil of mankind and so it was hidden away by the Hayabusa clan who are a part of a bloodline known as the Dragon Lineage that have the power to resist the corruption of the Dark Dragon Sword and so have watched over it and made sure no one gets their hands on it and unleashes the sword's corruption upon the world. In the modern day the sword is still watched over by the Hayabusa Clan and its latest master Ryu Hayabusa is visiting his uncle who tells him about the Dark Dragon Sword and its history. As they talk a member of the clan named Ayane tells them that there's currently a raid going on in Hayabusa Village and so Ryu decides he needs to head out and try to help out the village. When Ryu arrives there he sees that it's been set on fire and some of his clan have been killed he tries his best to fend off the invaders killing off as many as he can as well as helping his surviving clan members get to safety. Eventually Ryu makes it to the leader of the invaders named Doku just as he kills the clans Shrine Maiden (basically like a priest who wards off evil spirits) Kureha who was Ryu's friend and then takes the Dark Dragon Sword for himself. Ryu then tries to battle Doku and stop him from using the Dark Dragon Sword but is killed by him however a falcon which is the Hayabusa Clan's Spirit Animal revives Ryu. He then seeks vengeance for Kureha's death he then returns to Murai to speak with him about the invaders and Murai says that they came from a place known as Tairon in the country of the Vigoor Empire but that the only way into the country would be by airship. Ryu eventually finds an airship to stow away on and heads into the Vigoor Empire to exact his revenge. Ok time to talk gameplay now Ninja Gaiden Sigma is a third person melee focused action game with some puzzles you'll have to solve throughout the game. For example there's one that has you go into a cathedral where you'll find a safe in an office on the second floor but you'll need the combination in order to open it so you have to find a note that has numbers highlighted then input the numbers in the combination lock in order to open the safe and retrieve the item. As far as combat goes you have a light attack you can use by pressing X that's fast but doesn't do a ton of damage. There's also the strong attack which can be done by pressing the Y button which does more damage but is slower and can leave you a little more vulnerable to attacks depending on the enemy you're fighting and the weapon you're using.You can also use ranged weapons by pressing B Speaking of weapons you'll find a decent variety to carve up your enemies like a Christmas Turkey or to beat them to death with, your choice. For starters there's the Dragon Sword which is pretty middle of the road does decent damage has okay speed not the worst but not the best either. Then there's the Staff which is a faster weapon but does a little less damage however it's good for crowd control when you're getting overwhelmed as it has good reach and can hit enemies from pretty far away. There's the nunchucks which are weak but are super fast allowing you to do damage quickly and get out of harms way if you're dealing with an enemy that's on the speedier side of things.There's also a heavier weapon named Dabilahro which kind of functions like a greatsword in certain rpgs it's pretty strong but has a slow swing speed making it better to use on slower moving enemies.There's also ranged weapons at your disposal which can be used by pressing the B button you have Shuriken which are fast little your fast but weak little Ninja Stars as well as your bow which is stronger than your Shuriken but you have limited arrows for and they're slower to shoot as a trade off. You can aim the bow more precisely with the left trigger which will give you a crosshair but will lock you in place so you can't move Ryu out of the way there's also different arrow types for the bow like regular arrows as well as explosive arrows and more for dealing with tougher enemies. Theese stronger arrows can be found in wooden crates in different levels. There's even more weapons to be found as well but I thought I'd just list a few of them. You can also upgrade these weapons too making each of them stronger than their base forms by buying upgrades from shops. You can find these shops that look like a statue of an old man and there's a guy there named Muramasa that will also sell you other things as well like health potions called Elixir of Spiritual Life which slightly heals you there's also the Great Spirit Elixir which heals you a lot there's also the Elixir of the Devils Way which refills your Ninpo meter which is Ninja Gaiden Sigma's version of magic allowing you to summon wheels of fire around you, lightning blasts or Ice shards by pressing the Y and B buttons at the same time. In order to buy upgrades you will need Yellow Essence which is the games version of currency this can be taken from enemies or found in chests. There's also Blue Essence which can heal you a bit as well as Red Essence that refills your Ninpo meter. Other things you'll need to know are wall running which is done just by running straight at a wall and then pressing the A button then moving the left stick in the direction you want to go as well as pressing A again to move between walls if you need to run for longer distances. There's also shimmying on ledges or wires which can be done by jumping towards them then Ryu will automatically grab them then you can move your left stick to move left or right on whatever you're hanging off of. There's also sometimes poles or branches that can be swung on by jumping towards them which Ryu will automatically grab then depending on if you want to jump forwards you'll have to press jump when Ryu feet are at the lowest point or backwards when at the highest point.There's also maps you'll have to find in each area if want to know which direction to head in or at least make navigation a little easier. Now on to the good and the bad. For the good I would say I liked the weapon variety and how each weapon felt like it served a purpose and how I would need to switch up my weapons based on what enemy I was fighting. I liked Ryu's outfit and thought he looked pretty cool in it. Some of the locations were pretty interesting with cities, temples, pyramids and underground areas to explore as examples. As far as the bad or things I didn't care for I found the story at times felt a bit rushed and threw a lot of concepts at you all at once where as Ninja Gaiden 2 took its time to explain things more and did it better in my opinion not having as much of a break neck pace. I also found that this game felt all over the place difficulty wise like one chapter would be really easy and then the next one really hard and then the one after that easy again or two hard chapters back to back which was really annoying just how jarring it was for me to adjust to. Overall this game was alright and I had some decent fun but don't know if I would recommend it fully if you're not used to getting your ass beat or don't like difficult games then it might just be a bit too much for you . Definitely not very beginner friendly that's for sure.