Good day gamers! This past week Xbox hosted their Developer Conference and had some cool things to show for later this year. The overall presentation was decent, but in my opinion there were only 3 titles worth talking about. One being Koei Tecmo’s new installment for the Ninja Gaiden series: Ninja Gaiden 4. After Koei Tecmo had announced their new game and a new secret partnership with another developer for the project, they added a cherry on top of their presentation. They showed a trailer for Ninja Gaiden 2 BLACK and announced it was available that day on Xbox, PS5, and PC game pass. This was such awesome news, and I love when developers pull little stunts like this where they hype up the fans for a future project. It seems that the idea was while we wait for Ninja Gaiden 4, we have something new to play to hold us over. Later in the Developer Conference, Doom The Dark Ages was presented with a deep dive into the gameplay, which had me on the edge of my seat. All three games: Ninja Gaiden 4, Ninja Gaiden 2 BLACK, and DOOM The Dark Ages were the highlights of the presentation and they actually gave us something to look forward to this year, which feels like it hasn’t happened in a long time.
As I watched the Koei Tecmo announcement, I couldn’t help but get excited, especially after hearing their amazing news that they have been secretly developing Ninja Gaiden 4 in partnership with PLATINUM Games. Platinum Games is an incredible development studio that primarily makes intense over the top hack and slash action games like Nier Automata, Bayonetta, Metal Gear Rising Revengeance, Astral Chains, and Vanquish. This team up between both studios is a thing of beauty. The high intensity hack and slash action Ninja Gaiden is known for seems to be in great hands as the new project comes to completion over the next few months. Ninja Gaiden 4 was said to be launching later this fall and I cannot wait to play the final game, especially now with Platinum games working on it as well. After discussing the future of Ninja Gaiden 4, the developers shared the info about a shadow drop of Ninja Gaiden 2 BLACK. After hearing the news I instantly went onto Xbox game pass and installed the game. I have never played the original Ninja Gaiden games back when they were out on Xbox 360, so this was my chance to actually play it on current hardware.
Ninja Gaiden 2 BLACK first impressions
My first few moments playing the game felt absolutely awesome. The game is filled with intense action and crazy ninja violence from the start, and overall I was blown away by the remake. I enjoyed the game so much that I even began looking up what the original games looked like in the past to get an idea of how accurate this remake was, and it held up extremely well all things considered. However, I did come across some Ninja Gaiden purists online who made videos complaining that the game was not exactly a remake of the original, but instead a remake of the already remade Sigma version of the game (which was exclusive for Playstation consoles at the time). Honestly, I didn’t understand what the big deal was as the overall experience looks to capture the core essence of the original games, but perhaps the hardcore fans prefer that things worked identically to the original.
Personally, I loved this remake and as a sort of newcomer to this series it felt like a great entry point for me. It sticks to a very simple story premise, and offers a decent variety of different gameplay mechanics. Throughout the game you play as a mixed variation of characters, but the majority of the game you play as Ryu Hayabusa – who is straight up one of the most hardcore ninjas I’ve ever seen. For players who have already played the originals and the remakes, this may be a repetitive experience, but for players like myself who have never played them before, this game coming out now is a breath of fresh air. There is no woken politics, no agendas or DEI injection, its just pure ninja fantasy chaos and this is what makes it so incredible. It’s fun for any players who want to play as a ninja and tear things up. Ryu is such a cool character, and sometimes I felt like “holy cow this guy is just next level”. The crazy over the top fights and unrelenting enemies push you to use all your skills and weapons as effectively as possible and as you shred your way through the demon fiends, I found myself smiling in awe of how awesome the game is.
If I had to mention one gripe I had about the game though, it would have to be its troublesome camera system. The camera for the game can’t seem to stay focused on the proper angles as you fight, leading you to fail encounters more frequently then you should have to. For some reason it just loves to automatically position itself in weird angles away from the enemy or behind a random column which hinders your view and changes your position as you fight. The game does not have an enemy lock on mechanic or fixed camera angles, so it is constantly shifting on its own while you fight. This minor annoyance aside, the game was a fun and over the top experience which is what makes it one of the greats from the past. Not to mention its stunning female cast of hardcore ninja ladies which each bring a unique playstyle to the game.
Final Thoughts for Xbox Developers Conference
Overall, the presentation was decent, and it featured some cool trailers and gameplay clips which reminded me of the golden age of gaming back in the early and mid 2000’s. While there were only 3 main titles I was interested in from the presentation, I was still hopeful. Those 3 featured a real artistic vision for the game and that seemed clear throughout the trailers and gameplay. I can only hope that the final games will be as cool as the what they are promising to provide. But in the mean time I highly recommend trying out Ninja Gaiden 2 Black if you’re interested in brutal ninja game – and the cool thing is you don’t even have to buy it full price. It is on game pass so if you already have the subscription you can try it out for a fraction of the full cost.
As always gamers, thank you so much for your support and your time reading my posts. Please stay tuned for more posts coming up in the near future. Have a great day!
