Ninja Gaiden

Hard as nails and to the core, to boot, Ninja Gaiden arrives not a moment too soon. Standing tall against the tide of interactive mediocrity, Tecmo's latest outshines a whole lot of games on a whole lot of levels. And in spite of its gee-whiz artistry, attitude, and technical grandeur, it's as classic—and unpretentious—as they come. To all those who cut their teeth on the good ol' games and find themselves grousing fondly for a time when each jump necessitated flawless timing, 36-digit passcodes were as prized as air, and boss fights were bruisers—real white-knuckle affairs—your hardcore savior has finally arrived.

She's a Beauty Not surprisingly, Gaiden looks and frequently feels like a Dead or Alive game gone action; it comes, after all, courtesy of Tomonobu Itagaki's Team Ninja. From skull-cleaving and death-defying acrobatics to heaving, gravity-defying bosoms, everything appears onscreen at the same razor-sharp resolution. Exacting attention is lavished on the animation set of vengeful hero Ryu Hayabusa, even when he's at rest; when he stands on a shallow incline, one knee is bent properly. Such seemingly superfluous details as fallen leaves dotting a quiet village path are similarly lovingly rendered.

Gaiden's hodgepodge mixture of background motifs gets the same treatment. From elegant airships and labyrinthine sewers to icy grottos and fields of lava, Gaiden's slick sense of archetypal arcade ambience never falters; even the requisite underwater level isn't as tedious as one might expect. Set pieces, like a Raiders of the Lost Ark–style boulder dash, keep players on their toes and their skills sharp. There is, naturally, a fair amount of backtracking, but it's nothing as laborious as the latter acts of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. As with Nintendo's epic, new areas are revealed due to in-game events, but Gaiden's world is set to a much more manageable scale and is more intricately, impressively intertwined.

Cutting to the Chase Combat, which comprises most of Gaiden's guts and glory, is every bit as deeply satisfying as it is satisfyingly deep. Exploring the weapon-selection menu reveals rows of elaborately monikered, intricately illustrated fighting techniques there for the learning.

As with most 3D fighters, however, learning all of them is far from necessary; with a few key maneuvers—and judicious use of the block/evade trigger—players can progress with relative confidence.

But those same fighting-game roots also lead to Gaiden's most controversial feature: its camera system, about which complaints have been and will continue to be registered. Set at the compulsory cine-dynamic angles, it's easily centered with a click of the right trigger—although this, admittedly, can get to be tiring at times. More troubling instances occur during heated battles against multiple opponents, of which there are many. The game's auto-locking mechanic has been fine-tuned so as to feel absolutely intuitive, but as a result, players will oftentimes find themselves stylishly kicking some serious—but offscreen—ass. The camera can't be adjusted in midmaneuver (or midair), which may leave some players frustrated, unsettled, or both.

Stuck on You With so much information unfolding smoothly onscreen, the close-up camera is crucial to keeping the player in the action. Unlike other successful updates of tried-and-true genres (EA's brace of Lord of the Rings–based beat-em-ups, for example), button mashing simply won't cut it—not with enemies this robust and such an awesome array of abilities on hand. A less-caressing camera may have been more effective, but it wouldn't have looked so damn cool, which is Gaiden's unabashedly primary principle. Games such as Capcom's Viewtiful Joe and Devil May Cry have followed this same macho mantra to considerable effect, but when it comes to that fresh, cool feeling, Gaiden is tough to beat.

So Good It Hurts By any measure, there's no shortage of quality videogame here to be savored, and at 16 taxing "levels" in length, Gaiden more than justifies its sticker price in both satisfaction and man-hours. It completely captures the core of that oft-revered 2D console gameplay and rerealizes it almost flawlessly. It's appropriate then that it's up there with the most grueling and least forgiving of games. But it's rarely unfair: Success is quite simply every bit as reliant on concentration, discipline, and patience as it is on dexterity and timing. It is, as the kids are fond of saying, old school. If Gaiden isn't the "perfect" action game, it's pretty damn close.

Copyright © 2004 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in Xbox Nation.