NINJA GAIDEN 2 Black

Stop uploading graphics settings to the cloud. Some third tier college passout devs think this is a great idea. It becomes difficult to switch between devices like the steam deck

A good friend of mine gifted me this game minutes before showing his empty bank account in an ongoing delinquent child support payment court case. It seems like it was less of an act of charity and more of a last ditch effort to do everything he can so that as he puts it "Her and that rude baby will never see a dime of my money". Still a good friend and a good game I can't be happier.

I love this game, yet I also hate this game. I remember playing Ninja Gaiden Black on my older brothers original Xbox, and that game has forever been imprinted into my life. It was one of the very first video games I remember playing. Then Ninja Gaiden 2 released for the Xbox 360. Such a brutal game, especially at the young age I played it at. It took me many many years to finally be able to complete both games. Brutally challenging but extremely satisfying once you get the hang of it. Fast forward to the shadow release of Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, the so called definitive version of the original Ninja Gaiden 2. It takes elements of the PlayStation version named Ninja Gaiden 2 Sigma (A game I never actually played) and the original, and throws a fresh coat of new gen graphics on it. The game looks absolutely beautiful. I mean, seriously stunning scenery and art direction. If I had only one praise to give it would be that. This game is generally the same as I remember it being. I guess a lot of purist say this and that about the changes they made, but truthfully it is just as good as I remember it being while looking 100x better with updated graphics. There are some level, boss, and enemy changes but as long as you are not a die hard purist of the original game it shouldn't effect your enjoyment with this game. There are some added levels playing as some of the female characters (which I personally do not care for at all, but it is still a solid experience). With all of this said, I decided to try and play this game on the hardest difficulty - Master Ninja - something I have not yet done in this franchise, and it is so insanely unforgiving it makes me not even want to attempt to waste my time in it. Some sections are genuinely unfair that it does not even make sense. I mean, masochist levels of challenging. As much as I adore this game and want to, I don't think I will ever finish this game on that difficulty level. The difficulty beneath that one - Path of the Mentor - is the most enjoyable experience by far. Anything beneath that kind of feels like a walk in the park, but this may be due to my long standing experience with the series itself. I'm sure for the new player playing on normal difficulty is recommended. So, even with the few shortcomings this game has, I do recommend it. If you are a completionist, be wary, as there are 8 achievements that are only achievable by beating the entire game. So, that means you have to beat the game 8 total times. Twice on each difficulty. Totally ridiculous, if you ask me. I hope this helps.

[h1]"They said the game was too difficult. I made it more difficult"[/h1] [b]-Tomonobu Itagaki[/b] RIP to the legend, his legacy will never be forgotten. I had already played the game in the Ninja Gaiden Master Collection and I played Ninja Gaiden 2 Black on Gamepass Day One when it launched last year and since the game is so good I was already feeling like playing it again and bought on Steam as I strongly believe great games should be bought and never be locked under a subscription. Ninja Gaiden 2 is certainly one of the greatest action games out there and this remaster brought the classic game back with upgraded graphics and it looks visually really good. Basically everything else gameplay wise is the same to the original. Gameplay is fast, fluid, responsive, difficult and incredibly fun. There are several weapons to choose from, many combo routes, lots of Izuna drops, and the enemies are actually difficult and have many tricks under their sleeve. The game is hack and slash and requires skill and speed. The combination of smart and difficult enemies, gameplay variety, combo routes and speed makes the whole experience very satisfying. Literally everything in the game looks absolute cool and stylish, the presentation in cutscenes and especially the character designs that are amazing and very iconic. Ryu Hayabusa is the one who comes to my mind when I think about ninjas. Dude is really cool and stylish af. Momiji, Rachel, Ayane and Sonia are also one of the greatest female character designs I've seen and they look absolutely fantastic. The gameplay sections with Momiji, Rachel and Ayane were really interesting with different style of combat and weapons, and I just wish those sections with them were longer. Team Ninja should definitely make a Kunoichi Gaiden game with Stellar Blade-like outfits, they will print tons of money easily. Ninja Gaiden 2 Black is absolutely worth it. It is very fun, one of the greatest action games out there and is an absolute joy to play with satisfying controls and difficulty, really stylish presentation and excellent characters. The game story mode takes around 8 hours to finish and it is pure action gameplay. There's also lots of replayability and challenges to take after beating the story. The original NG2 game was the last game directed by the Legendary Master Ninja Itagaki himself. He was an absolute legend and made a huge impact in the game industry at the time, and even until this day, his unique figure, the style and the iconic characters he had into his games are unmatched even until this day.

The camera controls are the real enemy in this game.

This is a really damn good action game. I never finished the 360 original when I was younger, but I can safely say that I recommend this game for stylish action game or 3D Ninja Gaiden newcomers. The combat is super smooth and satisfying with a variety of weapons and techniques at your disposal while focusing on the . It also gives a decent challenge since the game WILL make you use everything you have. This game is pretty much 90% fighting, but it never feels stale since the combat system is just THAT engaging. There's some small hiccups with the system though, mainly the camera. It never cooperates without manual adjustment and enemies can still attack you when they're off camera which is especially painful when there are guys shooting you from a long range - not really the most fair or balanced. Pro Tip to help deal with this: The Camera Reset Button (RB on controller) is your best friend, so make liberal use of it. I also wish this game was a bit better with it's story. You can basically just sum it up as "Ryu Hayabusa goes to random places, does cool things and stops the bad guys". There IS some sort of appeal to seeing Ryu be a stoic badass who takes everything dead seriously - it's way better than having a bunch of cringey dialogue trying too hard to be cool since it gives everyone a lot more aura. But the Ninja Gaiden series was a pioneer in video game storytelling, so it feels a bit lackluster that this game doesn't have much of an engaging narrative. It's also really noticeable that Rachel and Momiji's chapters have NOTHING to do with the plot and just come out of nowhere. I feel it's also worth bringing up what most people don't like about this version of Ninja Gaiden 2 - it's more of an updated version of Sigma 2 than a proper peak version of the OG game. To be honest, I don't mind it all that much. I find this to be a well-rounded version of the game as it removes the worst bosses in the original game (god forbid anyone put up with that awful Worm boss) and doesn't have any of the stupid replacement bosses in Sigma. And while a lot of people have gripes with the decreased enemy count, I personally find the current enemy count to be okay since the original enemy formations could be annoyingly overwhelming - plus I hear in Sigma 2 they were annoyingly more durable, here I never had too much of an issue with it. Still, I guess it does kind of suck that in order to improve on some content, the only solution was to remove it entirely. I also prefer the more stylized UI of Vanilla 2 more. Overall, a really fun action that's super chaotic that may lack a bit of substance and occasional has some jank. I think it's a solid package if you need some good single player action.

四十岁老登的超忍梦，十年饮冰，难凉热血。 忍者龙剑传2是我从xbox时代就玩过的游戏，然而当时的我的境界还不足以通关。之后我的人生经历了黑暗的十年，直到2024年我涅槃重生。我从卧龙苍天陨落全dlc开始，陆续通关了只狼，卡赞，仁王2全dlc，仁王1全dlc，最终幻想起源，仁王3，直到不久前的忍者龙剑传4，我意识到，我的心境和水平已经成熟，可以挑战这一部旷世经典了。这一次我打算继续突破自我的极限，挑战我三十岁乃至二十岁都没能完成的壮举，在一周目用最高难度也就是上忍难度来完成忍龙2黑之章重制版。 忍龙系列经常被冠以巅峰难度而出名，但是在我看来，忍龙算不上是操作很复杂输出频率很高的游戏，他的常用基础操作风驱，飞燕，落地吸魂等只需要稍加练习便可以轻松使出，隼龙和敌人的输出频率也不会像音游或者弹幕射击游戏那样频繁，但这并不代表忍龙的上限不高，当高手在超忍难度下无伤打出急速连段歼灭敌群时，也是十分赏心悦目。但是好的游戏一般都会提供简洁的玩法却不让游戏体验有分毫的流失，这里面只狼便是一个极致简洁的例子，作为魂系游戏中唯一一款鼓励进攻的产品，宫崎英高显然十分了解也深度玩过所有古早的巅峰动作游戏，这样他才知道在怎么样的框架下做出最精确的减法，保留他心目中的精华。坦白说，我不是一个魂系游戏粉丝，但是现在我的游戏历程令我对所有同类游戏有更高维度的理解，在通关忍龙2黑之章之后，我对宫崎英高本人更多了几分钦佩，他不像采访中谦称自己是因为做不好动作所以才进行了简化，他是在深度体验和理解了其他动作游戏之后，才根据自己的理解做出了如今引领风潮的子类别。 前有机枪，后有导弹，邪恶的法师在远处吟唱，极度有限的补给，距离很远的存盘点，当初法环的读指令被喷过一阵，但是跟老前辈一比就都不算什么，你懂不懂什么叫按住防御键就对你出0帧投技的浪漫啊？那么，板垣伴信凭什么让我一次又一次，跌倒了重新站起来，一点一点优化我每一次的出手和后招呢？这就不得不提到板垣伴信的动作设计，作为四大传统ACT之一，其他三个游戏战神鬼泣猎天使魔女的遭遇战都是通过控制同一时间攻击主角的敌人数量来实现交互的，之所以鬼泣有着“皇牌空战”的称号的主要原因就是地面敌人太多难以同时应对，只能通过浮空连段切分战场来达到1v1的目的。为什么说成龙将功夫片发扬光大，形成了独树一帜的个人风格，因为在成龙的一对多电影场景中，反派们不是只会转圈看戏然后被主角一一击破，而是一拥而上，互相配合，有人牵制，有人偷袭。然而成龙巧妙地利用了场景，环境，道具，将攻击欲望强烈的反派们进行了强行分割，既不影响主角的胜利，又塑造了不是各自为战的反派们。 我认为板垣伴信正是从成龙功夫片中汲取了灵感，移除了传统意义上杂兵的血条，创造了主角的所有攻击均有一定概率会造成断肢，而断肢后即可进行处决击杀的机制。从防守端来说，由于处决会自带无敌帧，配合之前提到的风驱和飞燕自带的无敌帧，以及ET/UT自带的长动画无敌帧，将无敌帧连携起来就可以让你规避多敌人多角度对隼龙造成的致命伤害，同时又没有降低敌人之间的配合与攻击性，是昙花一现的天才设计。从进攻端来说，配合击杀敌人-掉落灵魂-吸魂-释放ET或者UT这一简洁的操作和一目了然的循环，这一攻一守，就足以让所有有心尝试忍龙的人能够通关，又保留了招牌的高速动作要素。 关于很多人诟病的Boss战设计却让我感到敝帚自珍，除去我心目中最难的三场Boss战，魔化幻心+伊丽莎白二番连战，红叶对决双天狗，以及最终的邪魔神以外，其他的包括火神在内的Boss，板垣伴信都给到了特攻的武器和解法，比如新月棍饭刚落屈死幻心人形态，近身复读超杀规避火神连招，镰刀空中XYY对付达拉戴的光线等等。同时，诸如雷神，魔化幻心，伊丽莎白都给我提供了多次提到的高速战斗中的交互体验，由于忍龙2的闪避能一定程度取消攻击的后腰，这也是通关必须要练习的技巧之一，从巨型怪物的远程攻击和修脚到人形Boss的激烈攻防，不同的Boss之间也没有重复的攻击模组，因此我认为忍龙2的Boss设计和体验都十分全面，Boss的美术风格也都十分鲜明，给人留下了深刻的记忆点。 忍者龙剑传2的剧情和世界观是被大大低估的，虽然他没有太多反转和谜语，甚至于主线本身是一个经典的日式boy meets girl的故事，充满了90年代高口碑日式RPG的要素。混沌开初，自虚无中诞生了第一位神祇——善神戈杜，而被遗忘的混沌之力则保留了最原始的恐惧，最终演变成为神格——邪魔神之祖威格鲁。邪魔神威格鲁从戈杜神领土的中枢开始蚕食其版图，世界陷入动荡与分裂。海洋干涸，洪水泛滥，暴风席卷，烈火烧尽，世界再度陷入最初的混沌状态。外形似蛇的创造之神从戈杜神的身躯中分裂出来，化作十三条以战斗为宿命的龙，它们向着把世界卷入憎恨的邪魔神威格鲁发起永无止尽的战争，并成功把邪神逼迫到了世界的尽头。但此时，宿命之龙中地位最低最年轻的黑龙因自卑而招致了憎恨，向邪神倒戈，威格鲁因此而避免了完全毁灭的命运。在此期间，古人类诞生，被称为古代氏族，古代氏族中包括龙之忍者在内有的加入了创龙阵营，有的混合了所有古代氏族的血统，仅仅继承了古代氏族的外形，变成了妖魔。其中最为知名的便是割据冥界的四大魔神，风神，雷神，火神和血神。然而，四大魔神的对立局势引发的地狱的剧烈争斗，波及到了人间，冲突使得新一代的邪魔神瓦兹达从威格鲁的残躯中苏醒。遥望世间的超然贤者达拉戴在漫长的旅途结束后，于地底深渊中触碰到了邪魔神的邪眼之光，觉醒了第三只眼，也获得了恐怖的领悟能力，化身为凶魔皇帝达拉戴，支配了四大魔神为己所用。 我在多个游戏评测中反复提到，阴阳二元对立，以道德经中大道为基底的故事创作都拥有最大的格局。恢弘的世界观，穿梭时空于场景，充满幻想的旅途，忍龙2中的RPG元素不仅齐全完备，而且有着相当程度的代入感，这在ACT游戏中可谓绝无仅有。从日式村庄到东京摩天楼，樱花树上悬挂的是不详的血月。从第五大道到自由岛，穿梭在纽约地铁的夜幕中一路杀到自由女神像。从威尼斯到斗兽场，残阳斜下映照着棚布下鲜红的苹果，和地上被我粉碎的浪人尸体相互映衬，拜占庭和巴洛克风格的穹顶建筑下，是水底的古罗马密特拉神庙。 从飞行要塞到冰雪世界，飞机加碉堡，高达配地雷，带给你原初的恶意。从玛雅雨林到献祭神殿，倒悬的面具有神秘海域1的既视感，阿兹特克式的金字塔地宫和脓包也让我知道黑神话借了多么小众的元素。壮丽的黄金瀑布下，飞龙腾空而起，真龙和伪龙应有一战。血肉地狱中，diablo式的教堂竟还透出丝缕微光，蔚为壮观。当然，我最喜欢的一幕还是在击败宿敌——邪忍王幻心后，他把自己的武器邪龙剑托付给了我，加上我的真龙剑，组成了最强二刀流，在最终Boss邪魔神瓦兹达一战中，用武器双刀将混沌本源消灭在了富士山下。 不得不说，忍者龙剑传2诞生在在动作游戏的黄金年代，既有家喻户晓的BGM鲜烈之龙，更有不输同期RPG游戏的不羁旅途，是名副其实的六边形战士，也是美好时代的完美游戏。 忍者龙剑传2之父板垣伴信毕业于早稻田大学法律系，是不折不扣的高材生，因为Tecmo离家很近选择了加入Tecmo工作，放弃了当时如日中天的世嘉，从一些细节上就已经可以看出他的不羁风格。当时Tecmo还以体育游戏为主导，结果被EA打的体无完肤，陷入严重的财政危机，必须转型来规避破产的风险，正是板垣伴信接手了这一转型计划的执行，开发了死或生系列，这一有板垣伴信亲自命名的新系列也体现出当时孤注一掷的必死决心，死或生系列也成功拯救了Tecmo濒临倒闭的命运。他深知年轻人喜欢暴力和色情，不仅将这些元素融入到了自己的作品中，还改变了人设，以狷狂著称，和小林裕幸，神谷英树，原田弘胜等知名制作人经常激烈对线，但是粗狂的外在匹配地却是一颗细腻温柔的心。其实坊间盛传大哥和小弟水火不容是一定程度的谬误，在板垣伴信打算跟XBOX独占合作而跟社内高层沟通的时候，遭到了一致的反对，只有忍者组的小弟都站在板垣的一边。小弟的忍龙3无印发售的时候，板垣伴信在E3上排队试玩。 在大哥的追悼会上，曾经的一号小弟早矢仕洋介已经是光荣特库摩的副社长，主持创作了大哥的悼词，他自称无法模仿大哥那聪敏而又破天荒的风格，但是继承了大哥遗志的以自己的战斗方式持续战斗至今，请大哥今后也在英灵殿中守望着我们。英灵殿正是板垣伴信离开Tecmo后创立的公司，仅发布过一部口碑很差的游戏恶魔三人组，便草草解散。大哥还拜托早矢仕洋介永远不要更改忍者组的Logo，这一约定也被早矢仕洋介遵守了下来，不仅如此，还把开场动画的海浪高清重制化了。如今，小小弟安田文彦已经执掌忍者组，领衔开发了仁王1-3，浪人崛起，卧龙苍天陨落，最终幻想起源。在类魂的主流ARPG中，忍者组的游戏作为鼓励高速进攻的存在，将大哥的薪火传承了下去，在我得知并体验了这一切后，也不禁为忍者组的传承而动容，成为了死忠粉丝。 板垣伴信是孤独的，相比小岛秀夫的名利双收和持续发展，他的晚年可谓十分凄惨，但他俩在我心中都是同等地位的制作人。在我看来板垣伴信就像是为了忍者龙剑传2这一部巅峰之作燃尽了生命，而人这辈子能因为一部作品而被人记住，就已经是至高的评价。

The fight against the camera and the controls was more difficult than the actual boss fights. Combat never really clicked for me and even though I got to the end, I never quite got the hang of the combos or even dodging.

Very good game, graphics are good, gameplay is good, it requires skill and have good replayability. You have to finish the game on master ninja to at least learn that this is not a button masher

Combat is absolute dogwater.