4.5/5 ★ – Mike_Kersh's review of NINJA GAIDEN 2 Black.

TL;DR - Ninja Gaiden II Black is a flurrying, hectic, utterly over-the-top action game. Its hyper-focus on tight gameplay and blisteringly fast pacing harken back to a different era of video games in all the best ways. While a few design elements have aged less gracefully, Ninja Gaiden II Black remains a must-play in the hack-and-slash genre. Review: I'd never played a Ninja Gaiden game before the announcement and surprise drop of Ninja Gaiden II Black a few weeks ago. I had heard many people sing its praises and remember reading Game Informer reviews back in the day, so after seeing all the online hype for Ninja Gaiden II's glow-up, I decided to give it a go. I'm glad I let the FOMO get to me this time because Ninja Gaiden II Black is amazing. The premise is straightforward — you play as longtime protagonist Ryu Hayabusa as you wall-run and platform through a variety of diverse levels, eviscerating enemy ninjas and demons as you attempt to stop the summoning of the Archfiend and save the world. Along the way, you'll find and upgrade new weapons, take on challenging bosses, and play as new characters, which help add variety to the experience. The story is rather poor, comprised of silly writing and close-up shots of bad guys saying menacing things. It's also inaccessible, especially to a newcomer like me. I had no idea who any of the characters were, how they knew each other, or if any of it mattered at all. That being said, this is the type of game where the story is meant to take a backseat. It certainly doesn't take itself too seriously and, instead, serves as a mechanism through which to feed you fodder to dismember limb from limb. In that same vein, the art direction and character design must be praised. The assortment of levels will see you bouncing from the Japanese countryside to the bustling streets of New York, to canals and waterways reminiscent of Venice, and even into the depths of hell itself. Ryu is iconic, as well as many of the bosses and enemies, and they all feel consistent within the game's world and art design. Animations are detailed and smooth, with plenty of pretty-looking particle effects and explosions filling the screen. Oh, and there's blood...lots and lots of blood. Indeed, this is a game that bathes in its bloody violence. The combat is truly extraordinary and visceral. While the tutorialization is rudimentary at the onset of the game, with a little patience and practice, you can quickly learn the deeper mechanics of the combat. There are light and heavy attacks that can be combo'd together, shuriken and ranged weapons to interrupt attacks and handle foes at a distance, and ultimate attacks that require a risky long-button press to pull off. There's much more than that, and when you account for the intricacies and differences between the eight weapons you collect throughout the game, you're left with a lot of combat depth and lofty mastery ceiling. It all revolves around a unique dismemberment mechanic as well. Attack your enemies enough times, and you'll eventually sever one of their limbs. In this vulnerable state, you can take advantage by deploying a devastating finishing move that usually results in the enemy's head being removed from their body. In turn, these injured enemies become even more dangerous, choosing to end their lives by grabbing onto you and setting off explosives for massive damage. An engaging dance occurs when you're dealing with multiple threats and can't eliminate these high-risk foes immediately. It's also balanced perfectly, successfully fulfilling the ninja power fantasy while remaining punishing if you play recklessly. It's pure, distilled video game fun, taken like an IV shot directly into the veins. I lost track of time on multiple occasions in my playthrough as I fell into a flow state, mowing through swathes of enemies amidst rivers and geysers of flowing blood. In those moments, when it's all working, it's hard to imagine an action game being much better than this. It's not all perfect. The platforming is stylish but dull and uninvolved, mostly consisting of running through corridors and pressing the jump button, only sometimes you press it against a wall to run across it or to wall-jump up it, Mario style. Occasionally, there are collectibles or hidden items to uncover, but these platforming sections function as a way to break up the combat pacing and shuttle you across the map. Some of the boss fights are underwhelming, relying on gimmicks that take away from the core combat loop. The camera can be quite stiff and frustrating. For the most part, I found the sticky, almost static camera to be charming in the larger combat arenas. You can move it, but it's slow, and you risk leaving yourself vulnerable if you opt to get a better view over simply attacking in the right direction. In narrow hallways and corridors, however, it becomes detrimental. It's harder to see enemies, and attempting to move the camera left me disoriented on more than one occasion due to its tendency to flip its position rapidly. With the platforming segments, the camera stiffness affected my depth perception. This is a minor inconvenience that didn't substantially affect my experience or opinion of the game, but it would be nice to see just a little more camera freedom in Ninja Gaiden 4. Throughout my entire play experience, my mind couldn't help but consider Ninja Gaiden II Black's place in video games today. It's difficult to imagine a game like it getting made in today's AAA industry. I'm sure nostalgia must play a factor in my fondness for its design, but I can't help but feel like we need more Ninja Gaidens. Not in the literal sense, just that we need more of its ilk. More tightly focused, honed to a razor's edge, with appropriate ambition and scope types of experiences. Each mechanic is thoughtfully considered, even down to the UI, and not a single moment of playtime is wasted. As we've been subjected to the bloat of open worlds and live services, games like Ninja Gaiden have become strikingly refreshing. While the indie scene is overflowing with talented developers who toil away at making games just like this, I do feel it's important for the health of the industry that the larger companies take notes. Variety is the spice of life. In the creative world of video games, this is paramount. Ninja Gaiden II Black is excellent. I'm so glad I gave it a try. It sits in that space where only video games can be an interactive entertainment medium. It's so good at what it attempts to do — tight, expressive, and satisfying hack-and-slash combat. It's not as challenging as some people have made it out to be, particularly on its normal difficulty, but it offers a great deal of challenge and replayability through its various difficulty modes and level challenges for those who seek it. For the average video game enjoyer, I think you could manage, and you'll have a ton of fun. I better understand why Ninja Gaiden is so revered, and I think it's given me the itch to try out some more entries in its storied history.