Ninja Gaiden II
| Ninja Gaiden II | |
|---|---|
European cover art
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| Developer(s) | Team Ninja |
| Publisher(s) | Temco Koei |
| Designer(s) | Tomonobu Itagaki |
| Series | Ninja Gaiden |
| Platform(s) | Xbox 360 |
| Release date(s) |
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| Genre(s) | Action-adventure, hack and slash |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 81.25% |
| Metacritic | 81/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| 1UP.com | B- |
| Edge | 8/10 |
| Eurogamer | 7/10 |
| Game Informer | 8.75/10 |
| Game Revolution | B/A+ |
| GameTrailers | 8.4/10 |
| GameZone | 8.8/10 |
| IGN | 8.7/10 |
| OXM (US) | 8.5/10 |
| TeamXbox | 9/10 |
| Game Planet | 8.5/10 |
| GameDaily | 9/10 |
Ninja Gaiden II is an action-adventure video game developed by Team Ninja and published by Temco Koei. It is the sequel to the 2004 title Ninja Gaiden and was released worldwide for the Xbox 360 in June 2008. An updated version, titled Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 was released for the PlayStation 3 later in 2009, and was published by Tecmo Koei.
Ninja Gaiden II's new combat system allows Ryu to dismember his enemies, severing their limbs and tearing their bodies apart covering his weapon and everything around with blood. Compared to Ninja Gaiden, the sequel contains more gore and graphic violence. Dismemberment will weaken or slow down an enemy, depending on if an arm or leg is severed, but not necessarily kill it. In fact, an injured enemy will be prone to use suicide tactics such as pinning Ryu down and planting an incendiary shuriken on him, forcing the player to quickly finish off his opponents using new, brutal Obliteration Techniques before injured enemies can get the upper hand. This new mechanic can also be triggered in the presence of boss characters. Compared to other action-adventure titles, the player can be just as vulnerable to attack as the enemies can during fight encounters.
Aside from his standard melee techniques, Ryu can absorb nearby essence in combat. These colored globes of energy are released from the bodies of slain enemies, and absorbed into Ryu's body when he comes close to them. Essence has an important role towards general game play, acting to heal Ryu, restore his ki, or increase his cash. However, the player can cause Ryu to deliberately draw in essence, which can then be used to unleash powerful attacks known as Ultimate Techniques. When Ryu fights and takes damage, there is a red bar that starts building on the right of Ryu's health bar, which is called lasting damage. After Ryu has slaughtered all of his enemies in that particular area, his health recharges, but only to the point where the red bar starts. Herbs of Spiritual Life and Save Statues can heal this lasting damage, however. Also when Ryu is done fighting, he performs a chiburui (the act of swatting blood off of his weapon). He does this for every weapon, with a different animation for each one. Ryu can stand still and attempt to block attacks (though enemies can break his guard and leave him vulnerable to attack) or he can dodge by dashing away in a maneuver called Reverse Wind. The game also takes two elements from the "Hurricane Pack" upgrade from the original game: camera rotation and the ability to charge up for an Ultimate technique without the need for essence (this takes time to charge up; essence can still be absorbed to speed up the process).
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