Review: Ninja Gaiden

Ask ten people what the hardest game they've ever played is. Chances are more than half of them will say Ninja Gaiden. This game was massively popular when I was a kid, and was a frequent Friday night rental. It was only as an adult that I could appreciate how challenging this game can be. At the same time, being older and wiser has allowed me to see how well this game was designed, all the way back in 1989.

STORY

Yeah. Girls aren't allowed to play Ninjas. 

Before Ninja Gaiden, games rarely had any focus on story. Maybe you got a hint of a backstory in the game's manual, but very few plot points were ever delivered in-game. Ninja Gaiden changed all that. Your primary motivation is to avenge the death of your father. But after beating each level, you're treated to one of these beautifully directed cutscenes which dished out twist after turn almost flawlessly. 

Not only did these story segments look incredible for the time, but the script was actually translated properly into English. It's not Shakespeare, but its certainly light years away from "All Your Base Are Belong to Us!" Not a single example of Engrish in the entire game. Very impressed.

The story is indeed one of the coolest things about Ninja Gaiden, it's unfortunate that it's buried in our memories under the relentless difficulty.

GAMEPLAY

F those eagles, man. F em. 

Ninja Gaiden shows incredible precision in game design. Everything you do feels immidiately responsive and reactive. Your sword is quick and deadly. Your jumps land exactly where you want them, and special moves and projectile weapons work with the basic mechanics to create a beautiful harmony of elegant gameplay. 

The difficulty curve is fairly sharp, however. After the first level of introducing the player to the basic mechanics of the game, you are then subjected to the two biggest flaws in this game's design: 

1) Respawning enemies

2) Bottomless pit deaths

These two flaws work in tandem to ruin your entire life. Let me explain. 

Every enemy in this game has a spawn point - a specific location where it will appear. If you kill that enemy, move away and then come back to that same point, it will reappear - over and over again to infinity. This is particularly infuriating when you are near a bottomless pit, think you've killed something, take a step back to get up to jumping speed and are killed by by bumping into the stupid thing which you've already killed. 

To beat this game, you have to know exactly what you're doing at all times. No hesitations, no second guesses. You have to be 100% confident and make no mistakes. In a way, that adds to the mystique of the experience. Everyone has heard that training to become an actual Ninja is one of the hardest things any human can do - so why not make a game about a Ninja extremely demanding on the players reflexes and responses? 

When you do master everything and blow through a level like nobody's business, there isn't quite a better feeling. The word accomplishment doesn't even begin to capture the feeling of beating this game and mastering its devilish levels. It was hard as hell, and I loved every second of it. 

PRESENTATION

 Comin to getchu, son.

The actual in-game graphics aren't anything to write home about. Merit must be awarded for the game running smoothly for the entire length, with little frame rate dips or disappearing sprites. But overall, it's not anything that you hadn't seen before on the NES. 

 But the story cutscenes are where it was at. Back in the NES days, graphics were king. If you bought a game with sweet-ass pixels, all your friends were totally jealous. And any friend who saw Ninja Gaiden's beautifully detailed and film-noire inspired cutscenes in your console would surely be eating a piece of the old humble pie.

STUFF I LOVED: 

• Insane story-based cutscenes. Revolutionary for the time, and still impressive today. 
• Pitch perfect control. Ryu always moved exactly where you wanted him to. 
• Feeling of absolute accomplishment when you do everything right and beat it once and for all.    

STUFF I HATED:

• BRUTAL difficulty. While it did make you feel good for beating it, there were MANY spiked controllers on the way to the final screen. 
• Cheap deaths and respawning enemies. It's just not fair.

In the end, I am probably most proud to have this one on my "Finished" pile. It's a badge of honor I can wear with my nerd friends and to be able to finally tell them that I beat Ninja Gaiden.

Review in Ten Words or Less: 
Perfect gameplay. Brutal difficulty. Awesome story.

Finished: Ninja Gaiden!!

I did it!!!

Completion Time: 12:27
Friends I'm About to Tell Off: All of them

Holy crap. I can not believe I beat this thing. What an amazing feeling. I seriously feel like I may be the only person in the world who's beaten it. You out there reading this. Have YOU beaten Ninja Gaiden? Tell me off in the comments if you have.

But you probably haven't so BOOM!

I seriously feel like having a party and calling my parents - it's like I'm having a baby. That's how excited I am about this.

Review coming shortly.

So Effing Close: Ninja Gaiden

I've made it farther than I ever have before.

The final boss has three forms. Each more insane than the last. Now remember, if you die on the boss, the trap door is triggered and you are sent back to the beginning of Level 6 - by far one of the hardest levels in video game history. If - however - you beat the first form of the boss, and then die, the next time you reach the final chamber you start with the second form of the boss. I have beaten the first and second forms and have gotten the third form down to like two hit points. And then it sent me all the way back to the beginning.

I can't tell you how infuriating that is.

The up side is that being forced to run Level 6 again and again has given me a mastery over the devious, cheap kill fest.

Once again The Angry Video Game Nerd sums it up nicely.

Tags: GameTrailers.com, ScrewAttack - Angry Video Game Nerd: Ninja Gaiden, PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Still Playing: Ninja Gaiden

In a single sitting, I made my way all the way to the final boss. And then I remembered why I couldn't beat it. If you die while fighting the final boss, you are sent three levels back. And these are the hardest three levels of the game. And its not even getting sent back from using a continue - if you die once while fighting the last boss - even with 50 lives - you are sent back. It's infuriating.

Everyone's been saying that I can't beat this game, and I'm starting to believe them. That last boss is unreal.

One Year Anniversary Post!

The Game Adventure has been going strong for exactly one year today. In the past year I've seen the endings of 21 games which I've never seen before. That may be a paltry number to some, but for me it's huge. I'm used to beating maybe five games a year - so it feels like a really great accomplishment. If I keep going at this rate, it should take me about two more years to finish everything. That's a while, isn't it?

And since we're feeling nostalgic, let's take a look at some of the best and worst of this past year.

Good: 
a boy and his blob (Wii)
Batman Arkham Asylum
Super Metroid
Portal 2

Bad: 
360 Biting the Dust
Corrupt memory while playing Beyond Good and Evil
My battle with Geometry Wars
Kingdom Hearts 2

Best Moment:
Finally beating Zelda II

Worst Moment: 
Every second of Donkey Kong Country 
 

I'm excited for the year ahead. I've still got a ton of great games in my backlog, and I'm looking forward to finally being in control of my collection.

Please Hold: Burnout 3

Yeah - I gotta take a break. I have been avoiding playing this game for weeks now. It's not that it's bad or boring, it's just so tedious. For the time being, this will remain in my PS2 and I will periodically jump in and collect a few medals between other games in the backlog.

As for my next game, it's one I've been talking about starting for a while. A game that many have warned is literally impossible to beat. Most of my friends have no faith that I can beat this one. Of course I'm talking about the legendary...

Wish me luck...

Shield Pose Demo for Wii U

E3 Update from 6/7

Nintendo's Press Conference

The pre-conference has Nintendo trivia - with a lot of questions about Star Fox? Could there be a new Star Fox game in the works?

Orchestra playing Zelda tunes

A live orchestra is on set playing the Zelda theme. A video montage of the history of Zelda is playing. Concludes with a lot of footage from the 3DS remake of Ocarina and Skyward sword. "Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary" flashes on the screen.

Miyamoto is on stage. The orchestra is playing various music cues from the Zelda series. Miyamoto is clearly proud of the history. He's still a little kid.

Links Awakening is available on the 3DS eSHop today. Next weekend, Ocarina of Time 3DS is launching. September - Zelda Four Swords will be launching for FREE on DSi as a download. Skyward Sword launches this holiday for Wii. Special Zelda themed Gold Wii Remote will be available at launch of Skyward.

Zelda 25th Anniversary Orchestra Concerts in every region around the world. Dates coming soon.

Two music CDs - Ocarina of Time official soundtrack will be available for those who register the 3DS version of Ocarina. The other CD is a live version of the Orchestra performances.

Iwata is on stage. He's gonna announce the new console. "Equally satisfying for casual and hardcore gamers." Full details coming later in the conference, but it's coming next year.

3DS presentation

Reggie is on stage. Aiming for the wide market for 3DS - five new core titles

• Mario Kart 3DS - showing off a hang-glider attachment, underwater attachment, customizable karts, looks fun. Comes out this Christmas. 
• Star Fox 64 3D - a remake of Starfox 64. Tilt control introduced. Live cameras on each player. Comes out this September. 

Super Mario 3DS

• Super Mario 3D - first 3D Mario game created from scratch for a portable system. Looks FANTASTIC. Elements of Galaxy, Mario 64 and Mario 3. Comes out at some point in 2011. 
• Kid Icarus Uprising - Great looking story mode, 3-on-3 multiplayer battles, Looks like a kid-friendly God of War. Showing off an AR game with collectible cards. Comes out this year. 
• Luigi's Mansion 2 - Looks adorable. An entirely new game, featuring several new mansions. 

Third Party 3DS Titles

• Resident Evil Mercenaries
• Mario and Sonic Olympics
• Ace Combat
• Tetris
• Cave Story 3D
• Resident Evil Revalations
• Driver Renegade
• Pac Man and Galaga Dimensions
• Tekken
• Snake Eater 3D

3DS eShop

Nintendo eShop.

• Game demos will be available later this year
• Virtual console for 3DS. 
• Free 3D version of Excitebike is available. 
• Pokemon Pokedex 3D allows you to catch em all through street pass, or by catching them in Black and White versions. This is free.

New System Intro!!

The Wii U.

• It is called "Wii U" Watch Intro.
• Controller shown off.
• Demo time. Play full console games on the controller. Draw on the tablet. Play touch based games on the new controller. "See through" the screen to the TV. It interacts with the Wiimote. Make video calls with the new controller. 
• Backward compatible with ALL Wii controllers. 
• Showing off a new Zelda - inventory is handled on the new controller. 
• Incredible demo. 

The New Controller. WHAT?

New Controller - Watch Overview

• 6.2" touch screen. 
• Dual analog sticks, big ass screen in the middle, D pad, four standard face buttons, four shoulder buttons. 
• Camera, mic, accelerometer, speakers
• NOT designed to be a portable game machine. Images displayed on the controller are generated by the console - so you can't really take it with you. 

More details coming at e3.nintendo.com

Smash Bros for 3DS and WiiU - it will work together between the two consoles. This is a WAYS off.

Demo of graphical capabilities. Looks great. Hard to tell with the low-res stream though.

Reggie talking about possibilities:

• New Super Mario Bros Mii - play with your Mii
• Shield Pose - move the controller to block arrows. 
• Pac Man Vs. type Mario game. 
• Two fighters on the ground with Wiimotes are shooting at a space ship, the person with the new controller has a birds eye view of the other two people. 
• Lego City Stories announced for WiiU. Exclusive to WiiU and 3DS. 
• Darksiders 2 at launch. 
• Arkham City will be on WiiU.
• New Ninja Gaiden on WiiU. 

That's it. Boom.

E3 Update from 6/6

Yesterday saw two of the big three press conferences - Microsoft and Sony. Microsoft focused extremely heavily on Kinect games and Kinect integration into existing franchises like Forza and Fable. Sony had just a heavy emphasis on 3D, unveiling an attractive $499 Playstation Branded 3DTV bundle, but also focused on big name exclusive content like Bioshock Infinite coming with the Original Bioshock if you buy the PS3 version.

Here's the breakdown of big announcements.

Microsoft

• Opened the show with a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Gameplay Demo. Looks really slick - NYC is under a full boar attack, and you're sneaking around placing bombs on submarines and escaping on speed rafts.
• Tomb Raider Opening Moments Demo. Very visceral and gritty. Lara has a new look and the games opens with her captured and bloody. You make a narrow escape from a cave as a bloody mess. Very cool.
• Mass Effect 3 Introduction - looks like more of the same. If you're a ME fan though, I'm sure this is on your radar.
• All EA Sports titles will support Kinect 
• Ghost Recon: Future Soldier - Kinect Demo w/ "GunSmith" for Kinect. A rep is showing how simple gestures can open up your gun and you can customize every single piece of it. It also shows off voice commands.
  "All future Tom Clancy game will leverage Kinect"
• Showing off Kinect capabilities w Voice Commands for the dashboard. Looks annoying - "XBOX - Movies" "XBOX - Play DVD" I think we'd all rather just press a button. New Dashboard looks slick though, similar to Windows 7 Phone OS.
• New Channels - Youtube and Bing - Bing searches everything available on XBOX Live. Motto is "You say it, XBOX finds it."
• XBOX 360 Live TV. Partnering with many cable providers. Launches this fall. 

New Dahsboard with Live TV Channel

• UFC is Partnering with XBOX Live. Watch Pay-Per-Views, interact with the fights with stat tracking, or by betting on the winner (for points).
• Gears of War 3 co-op demo with Cliffy B and Ice-T...ugh. Ice-T is going to reunite his band to write a song about Horde mode. Wow. 
• Halo 1 remake. "Halo: Combat Evolved: Anniversary" Remastered single player campaign and seven original multilayer maps. Comes out November 15.
• Forza 4. I wish they called it 4za. "Monthly expansions" flashes across the screen. Heavy integration of Kinect with head tracking and "air steering" but we saw this last year.
• Fable: The Journey demo. Looks like it can be played only using Kinect, sitting down no less. It actually looks like a really cool use of the hardware. Conjuring spells with different gestures. 
• Minecraft is coming to 360+Kinect this winter. 
• Kinect Disneyland Adventures. Explore the entire Disneyland park virtually. Could be cool for a family going to Disney for the first time. Play through the park's rides using Kinect.
• Kinect Star Wars game demo. The crowd goes crazy. It looks pretty darn cool, and it seems to work with Kinect fairly flawlessly. 
• Tim Schafer is on stage to announce a Sesame Street game - Once Upon a Monster. For - you guessed it - Kinect. Dad and son on stage playing. It's cute, but this is not the venue to show this one off. I can hear the collective barfs of everyone in the crowd.

• Kinect Fun Labs. Play around with new prototypes for Kinect games. Showing off how to create a virtual avatar by taking a picture of you - works great!
• Kinect Fun Labs - Finger tracking - drawing in 3D. Really cool.
• Object Capture - allows you to play games with your favorite objects. 
• Kinect Fun Labs goes live TODAY! WHOA!
• Kinect Sports Season 2. Baseball, Skiing, Golf, Darts, Tennis, Football. Demo of Golf - the swing is significantly delayed. Football demo co-op with two dudes. These guys are douches.
• Dance Central 2 demo. They got actual dancers to demo it - not that awful white guy from last year. Looks more legit. 
• They close the show with a brief trailer for Halo 4. It will be kicking off a new trilogy, and it comes out Holiday 2012.

Sony

• Significant apologies for PSN fiasco, they keep thanking the consumers for their undying support.
• Uncharted 3 demo followed by demo of Uncharted game for the new PSP - now called PSVita. 
• Two HD collections coming from Sony - God of War Origins will be uprezzed versions of the two PSP games and the ICO Collection will be a disc with uprezzed versions of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. 
• PS Move focus on Sport games. Kobe Bryant comes out to play the new NBA 2K game. Point at what you want to do basically. An extremely dumbed down version of the game, but it looks fantastic.
• Medieval Moves - a new Move title for this fall. Kind of a Zelda type thing. No inventory screen - everything is handled with gestures. 

Medieval Moves for PS3

• Bioshock Infinite demo with Ken Levine. He talks about his support for Move in the PS3 version after making some negative comments about the tech in the past - he is ready to support it. Also announces a game set in the Bioshock universe for the PSVita - no further details. 
• EA Games announces a new SSX, Need for Speed, and Battlefield 3. PS3 version of Battlefield 3 includes Battlefield 1943 for free. 
• On stage demo of PSVita. 
• Mod Nation Racers for Vita - create a custom track by drawing on the screen.
• Little Big Planet for Vita demo.
• Vita is coming out this holiday. Wi-Fi only version is $250, 3G version is $300. Not bad - competitive with the 3DS, anyway. 

That's it! Nintendo's presser is today at noon on the East Coast. 

It's E3 Week!

That's right kids. Today officially marks the start of the most exciting week in the video game biz. The Electronic Entertainment Expo. The week when all the big announcements are made - this is where the big publishers reveal their new games, where the console makers reveal their new machines, and where nerds around the world unite in a single week of great news and exciting unveilings.

This corny corporate hack will likely be talking.

The Game Adventure is not a news site, but E3 is too big to ignore. So I'll be posting recaps every evening of the day's biggest news. Microsoft is set to go live with their press conference at 12:30 EDT today where the rumors are talking about a Star Wars Kinect game, new Halo and maybe talk of a new console? We'll see!

Check back here later today for the very delayed, somewhat detailed, slightly interesting coverage of the biggest event of the year.

iPad Review: Dead Space HD

Yes, I've still been playing games on my iPad in between the backlog. Puzzle Quest is often a staple as are Bit.Trip Beat and SuperBrothers: Sword And Sworcery, but by far the best game I've played so far on Apple's magical device is Dead Space HD.

Being a virgin to the Dead Space series, this was my first time exploring the horror's of the EA's dark universe. The first thing that immediately grabs you is the visuals. Still images of this game look like it's big brother console counterparts. The frame-rate takes a hit and some of the backgrounds are fuzzy, but for an iPad game, the visuals are an incredible achievement.

OH!mygod.

The second thing that sticks out is how easily this game controls. When a series like this is ported to a touch device, the results are usually a complete disaster. The virtual analog sticks and buttons will never replace physical buttons. Taking that well-known criticism under advisement, the developers implemented a wholly unique control scheme. Your character movement is handled by sliding your finger up or down the left side of the screen and camera control is handled on the right. Tapping the right side of the screen will also aim and fire your weapon.

Everything else is handled in-environment. So when you come across ammo on the floor, a virtual screen opens in front of your character and instead of tapping a "take item" button, you just tap on the item itself. Very clean an efficient.

The story is well told if a little predictable. You're on a space mission that goes bad and now there's scary monsters everywhere. There's one or two double crosses that come as no shock at all, but all in all, the story serves the overall experience well.

The scares in Dead Space HD come in two ways. The first is cerebral as your character slowly starts to lose grip with reality and has vivid, terrifying hallucinations, leaving you as the player to wonder what is real and what isn't. Unfortunately, these hallucinations are never explained outside of your basic assumption of space madness. The second types of scares are of the more traditional "jump out of a dark corner" variety and both work well within the game.

Nope.

 The sound design is phenomenal, featuring full voice work for multiple characters, and fantastic monster sounds that can go from the subtle to ear shattering horrific. Playing with a stereo headset also helps alert you to the location of enemies, and the stereo effects are beautifully and delicately implemented.

All in all this is the best iOS game I've ever played. I got it on sale for a buck, but I would gladly pay the normal asking price. A recent update to the game gives players new modes and features to play with as well. A fantastic value for a really terrific game.

Review in Ten Words or Less: Best game on the iPad, fool. Get it!

STILL Playing: Burnout 3

Ooooh kay. This game is gettin old.

Don't get me wrong - it's incredibly well designed and a genuine blast to play, but this is literally gonna take close to 40 hours to beat. That's mid-range RPG length! For a racing game! The tedium is also likely stemming from the fact that I'm not breaking it up or playing anything else. I don't think this game was designed to be played the way I'm playing it. This is a "pick up every few weeks" kinda game. As for now though, I have to sit down and force myself to play for at least an hour or so a night.

uuuggGGHHHHHH!!!!

Controller spikes have also increased significantly since I began playing this one. The difficulty curve is straight up evil. From the very first race, you are always crossing the finish line by the skin of your teeth - that's IF you're lucky enough to place. The problem is that you are going 150+ mph and trying to dodge traffic while keeping an eye out for sharp turns and boost opportunities. When you do it right, there is nothing quite as exhilarating, but when you blow it, it can ruin your whole day.

Well, I will continue my trudge through this painful yet enjoyable experience. Any encouragement, fellow nerds?