Ninja Gaiden II Black Review - Back In Black
I tried Ninja Gaiden back on the Xbox and Xbox 360 and was quickly chewed up and spat out by the experience. The modern reboot of the classic franchise was doing brutal difficulty long before Souls titles ever made it cool to hate the player. So colour me intrigued, and also a little anxious when Xbox goes and announces that Ninja Gaiden II Black exists. The Black version of the intial game was essentially a definitive version of the original release with all the accoutrements to elevate the game even further. Ninja Gaiden II Black acts in much the same way, but withe modern remaster treatment as well. Importantly there is some accessibility added in the form of lowered difficulty levels that make this game more appealing to the simpletons of the world such as myself, making an otherwise brutal, uninviting title, a must-play of 2025.
Ninja Gaiden II is, perhaps unsurprisingly set following the events of its predecessor, that said, those that come for Ninja Gaiden, aren’t coming for incredible plot development, or perhaps even a coherent narrative. Franchise lead protagonist, Ryu Hayabusa holds the dragon sword, and with it, the ability to fight off the attacking Black Spider Ninja clan who have kidnapped CIA operative. This is the thrust that sends Ryu off on yet another wild, largely non-sensical adventure interspersed with epic encounters against leaders of the Black Spider clan, enormous, highly dangerous monsters, and legions of enemies. You won’t be riveted by the plot, but oh the places you’ll go.
While you won’t find yourself enraptured by the game’s narrative, you will certainly fall in love quite quickly with the game’s combat, which swift, slick, and deeply satisfying. In many games the feeling of being surrounded by a wave of enemies can be an intimidating prospect, especially when its a game that is particularly difficult like Ninja Gaiden, though the player is so empowered in the role of Ryu that making a blood-soaked mess of those who stand in your way is deeply satisfying. That’s not to say that there aren’t some heart-in-mouth moments along the way, and Ninja Gaiden II Black throws more than a few of those at you, pushing you to your limits, but deconstructing the net you’re trapped in, and finding a way out is incredibly appealing. A great credit must be given to the team for offering up a lower barrier to players with a lower difficulty level. My prior experiences with the game had been so brutal that I didn’t want to go back, but with Hero Play Style being included, players of all abilities can first get in the door, acclimatise to the combat and then explore the full spectrum of difficulty from there. It wasn’t long before I had my sea-legs, had learned the nuances of combat, and moved to the normal difficulty mode (Path Of The Acolyte), and repeated playthroughs might even tempt me to take my skills further. This lack of lower ceiling that plagued the prior games is no more, and the experience is much better for it.
Ninja Gaiden II does remove you from the shoes of Ryu from time-to-time which is also exciting on a gameplay level. Was the ridiculous jiggle physics applied to Ayane and Rachel’s chests unnecessary? Absolutely, but being able to pick up Rachel’s hammer, Ayane’s dual small-swords and kunai, or Momiji’s Heavy Spear and bow combo, makes for a nice change of pace every 3-4 chapters in this 17 chapter experience. Ryu though is of course the star of the show, and as the game progresses you can opt to either persist with the Dragon Sword or cycle through one of several weapons, both melee, ranged, and somewhere in-between, leveling them up, giving you more ways to inflict gratuitous death upon your foes. Ryu also has some Ninpo magic abilities at his disposal too that can help in a pinch providing healing aide, provide crowd control, and even help to launch a counter offensive against a swarm of enemies. The gameplay is varied, fun, and balanced, except for in boss encounters which are perhaps easier than most standard encounters, with the singular target making it much easier to navigate the situation.
Beyond the core campaign, players can also enjoy some additional modes, specifically the tag missions, which can be attempted with AI companions or in online co-op play, where the player/s will tackle waves of enemies, bosses, or both in a range of short combat scenarios. With the PS3 version of the game, Ninja Gaiden II Sigma being the core, underpinning version for this remaster there some aspects of the main game that aren’t present in this remaster, such as the Great Buddha and Statue of Liberty bosses, as well as the “Ninja Race” mode. As a 2025 remaster, Ninja Gaiden II Black looks pretty exceptional. Obviously some limitations of game design in 2008 will bother you, and the camera can still be problematic to battle with, but Black, developed on Unreal Engine 5, looks absolutely exceptional.
Ninja Gaiden II Black is the very best of the 2008 game, with sprinklings of 2025 qualities atop it to make the game relevant, modern, and very much playable in the present day. It won’t blow minds, but its time well spent, and with Ninja Gaiden 4 on the way, jumping into Ninja Gaiden II Black might be the perfect serving to whet the appetite ahead of the main event later this year.
Ninja Gaiden II Black was reviewed on PS5 with a code kindly provided by Koei-Tecmo.
