3.5/5 ★ – bokonon764's review of Ninja Gaiden Sigma.

I tried this game a while back and it never really clicked for me; and by a while back, I mean I rented it at Blockbuster when I was a teenager. Ninja Gaiden checks a lot of boxes for me, but there’s a certain kind of difficulty features here that is just so fucking frustrating. That being said, I beat the main game this time around, and plan on playing the sequels, so take that for what it’s worth. So Ninja Gaiden Sigma is like a PS3 port of Ninja Gaiden Black, which itself was just a sort of deluxe version of Ninja Gaiden’s original Xbox release, which was a reboot of the Tecmo beat ‘em up series that was first released in ‘88….I don’t know, it’s confusing as fuck. But whatever, I got this one as a bundle with the second and third game. To make things a little more confusing, Team Ninja just released (2025) a remake of the second game, and called it Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, like what the fuck? I don’t know, Team Ninja is fuckin weird. I’ll probably play that new version, I’ve heard it’s pretty good. Anywho, Ninja Gaiden is a hack and slash adventure game in the vein of God of War, Devil May Cry, stuff like that. It has this great setting, a mix of medieval Japan and Europe, with a hint of vague futurism. One minute you’re fighting demonic entities in an ancient dungeon, the next you’re fighting tech ninjas and hordes of gun-toting goons. The story is there, I don’t really know what the fuck is going on. You play as this guy Ryu Hayabusa; there’s this thing where you die at the beginning but then you’re just alive again with no real explanation. People show up and drop exposition and I have no fucking clue who they are…I wasn’t really bothered though, it’s a cool premise. Definitely a style over substance situation. The story did all come full circle by the end, but still wasn’t much of a story. It’s no surprise that a developer known for a 3D 8 way fighting game created Ninja Gaiden; it feels like a fighting game at times. The combat really sings with the tough one-on-one human-sized opponents. Once you get three or more enemies on the screen, it gets a little difficult to focus on everything and timing parries feels like a crap shoot. Larger bosses tend to feel very messy by comparison, making most of the bosses in the game, which are large, fall flat. There was a moment during one of the ambushes, (more on those later) I did get why this game is so loved. This rhythm can be found, and once found, it feels like a white knuckle grind, where the smallest mistake can ruin your flow. It’s definitely a fun game, if you can find the fun. I think the high difficulty level is a huge part of why I bailed on this back in the day. Since then, I have become a glutton for virtual punishment, as have many fellow disciples of From Software games. I do love the challenge of Ninja Gaiden, but sometimes the challenge just feels more like bad design. The online community suggests a lot of spamming and manipulating the design to a certain end. The ambushes I mentioned earlier are one of the worst design offenders. They are seemingly endless enemy encounters of wave after of wave of the same enemies. My game experience had me confused as to whether they were endlessly spawning rooms of enemies or not. When I finally did see through one of the rooms like this, I received a great reward, which just pissed me off more knowing all the other loot I missed throughout the game. Really though, the ambushes are a slog. The real challenge is just having the patience to mow through one more enemy. Though I did say, it was in one of these fights that I found the point of the game. On top of its difficulty, it was just so hard to do the simplest of things, especially when it came to the platforming and movement in general. Too often did I fire off a precious arrow instead of opening a chest; running on water for the fifth time instead of diving, fighting the camera at every turn, attacking in the wrong direction; problems like these abound. I will say though, the running on water mechanic is so fucking cool, and I wish they built more combat scenarios built around it. Team Ninja was originally known for the Dead or Alive fighting franchise, which they still make. They just kinda shoved Ninja Gaiden into the same universe, and now the two share lore. It’s no surprise that a developer known for a 3D 8 way fighting game created Ninja Gaiden; it feels like a fighting game at times. Where the combat really hits is the tough one on one fights. Once you get three or more enemies on the screen, it gets a little difficult to focus on everything and timing parries feels like a crap shoot. Larger bosses smack Ryu around until you realize almost everything can be blocked, except sometimes? Ninja Gaiden seems to use the shortcomings of the design to make some of the fights tougher, even challenging players to manipulate given moves to cheese bosses or reach areas you should be able to. Sort of like platformers that want you to stand on and jump off shit that you would never think to get on, I definitely love that kind of style, but it does get frustrating in this game. So yeah, I’ve used the word frustrating a few times here, that kinda sums up how this game makes me feel. It is a rad game though, and definitely a classic of the genre. When it’s good, and everything works the way it should, it’s a really fun game that kept me coming back. Unfortunately, with its messy button mapping and touchy controls, Ninja Gaiden Sigma just misses for most of its runtime. And yet, much like the first God of War, the bones show potential, I’m definitely gonna play more of these.