Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge Review
Game Emblems
The Good
The Bad
Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge is a fine hack n' slash game, but there are far better alternatives in the genre.
It's harder and more varied than its original release, but Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge doesn't reach the greatness of its forebears.
The pacing has been dramatically improved at least; those moments Ryu clutched at his arm and impaled his attackers in slow motion have been transformed into otherworldly challenges in which you must annihilate all enemies before your health siphons away. These sequences aren't as difficult as the main-world action that surrounds them, but they are a welcome alternative to the pace-killing moments of the original. So, too, have the quick-time events been adjusted, though not entirely removed. In many cases, the game still requires a particular button press at a particular time--it just doesn't tell you what button to press. The move you're meant to perform is obvious most of the time, though every so often, the lack of a prompt means you have to guess what the game wants you to do, and so you might press the attack button when you're actually meant to dodge out of the way.
The story remains much the same as before, and its attempts to humanize Ryu with the addition of a wordless little girl that sees him as a father figure remain just as hollow. At least it forgoes Ryu's uncomfortable murdering of those begging for their lives, among other tweaks. There is a new element here, though not a surprising one: two chapters featuring heroine Ayane, who boasted her own segments in Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 as well. She's lighter on her feet than Ryu, waving around her dual blades and leaping about with a somewhat different moveset. Her missions feel shoehorned in rather than organic extensions of the narrative that preceded them, but her nimble acrobatics enliven the experience.
For an extra challenge, you could go online, where you can take part in cooperative challenges and (gasp) competitive matches. If you played Ninja Gaiden Sigma's co-op, you have an idea of what to expect here: servings of slashes and dashes for two. The sense of progression in the single-player campaign is duplicated online; as you play, you level up and learn new techniques, along with costume pieces, costume colors, and so forth.
The co-op is fun, in part because it jettisons superfluous mechanics and quick-time events in favor of the core action. This is in spite of the hyperactive camera, which is jarring enough to get you temporarily lost as you try to figure out just which of the blade-flailing figures is you. More importantly, there's a sense that you aren't quite in control. The auto-targeting is fickle enough in the single-player game, but it can be frustrating to have the game send you slashing toward one opponent when you meant to focus on another. Not that you will get much chance to experience the issue: at launch, there are so few players online that you could wait a significant amount of time before finding a match.
Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge makes a myriad of fractional improvements that address many of the main complaints leveled against the original release. It's a welcome gesture, and one that makes for an improved action game--yet a hundred small fixes are no substitute for a game built from the ground up to be a challenging, fluid, and fulfilling action extravaganza. These are the elements this series is known for, though it seems we might need to wait until Ninja Gaiden 4 to see Ryu return to his true form.
By
Kevin VanOrd, Senior Editor
Kevin VanOrd is a lifelong RPG lover and violin player. When he isn't busy building PCs and composing symphonies, he watches American Dad reruns with his fat cat, Ollie.
53 comments
Don't get it... What I see on the video is the opposite of that "It's not the fast paced and intense game you are waiting for".
It looks quite intense. The control must be pretty screwed up for GS to say that. Maybe they will touch it a bit on PS3 and 360.
1 Like I'd give it an 8.5. Why? Nintendo published an M rated game & I respect them for doing that. That and IGN gave it a 7.6 so chill out.
Definitely an improvement over the original release. Makes me wish they'd re-release it for the 360/PS3. NG3: Black or somesuch. Whatever the case may be, this at least looks like a return to the more hardcore, skill-based combat of the first two number titles in the series.
1 Like @ThePowerOfHAT They just announced that they're porting it to the 360 and PS3. It comes out on April 2nd.
3 Like Now that's funny, because I feel this is a pretty good game overall, definitely deserves at least an 8 in my books. Much, much better than the original version from what I heard. Not even going to bother getting the original version to compare either, as I heard it was truly a broken game.
I find it a bit ludicrous how games released on the Wii u for the launch seem to be getting low scores. I wasn't expecting much looking at their launching titles, the only games that somewhat seemed to be good were Zombie and Mario. I'm still waiting for the Wii U to show me its potential to have GOOD games that are not for kids before I drop 500$ on this.
@xolivierx Well stuff like this generally happens with most consoles or updates. The first Kinect games for the xbox got mediocre or low scores. The first 3DS games got low scores, first playstation move games got mediocre scores. It's natural. But yeah the Wii U needs show some quality games that aren't ports.
3 Like 6.0 is exactly what this port deserves. They can try to copy Itagaki's NG2 all they want, at the end of the day it's still NG3.1. Tecmo really screwed up by letting Itagaki leave, Hayashi can't take this series forward.
NG2 wasn't even that good though. It was a laggy cluster**** at times. NGS2 was better. With that said, I do miss Itagaki and don't have that much faith in Hayashi.
@istuffedsunny do you honestly believe this guy? it comes with more unlockables, boss fights, and FREE DLC! plus the framerate is better and you can upgrade weapons
I really like the game, I'd give it a 7.5 or 8.0. My only complaints would be the frame rate and the gamepad
4 Like All remember our childhood where ninja and zombie games were awesome? like Tenchu, onimusha, Resident evil.
1 Like 1st of all why They ported this Ninja for wii u, it had Bad reputation and Crappy ninja will make it more bad. as for Ninja gaiden Really they need to fix things a lot :D
At least it'll probably be more playable than the original, which is what really matters to me.
1 Like Sigma 1 is not any easier than black, it just has more save points and shops, so it is just more convenient for the player. The action is just as difficult. Also, on master ninja mode it is actually harder beacuse you start out the first chapter with only the dragon sword, and the second rachel mission is infuriating.
@H4num4n Ninja Gaiden 2 Sigma is a lot easier but I'm not sure about Sigma 1, I keep getting my ass kicked. xD
2 Like @Nexozable @H4num4n Arent't the Sigma versions a lot easier than the original/black version? Yes, i'm an elitist bastard:)
16 Like I don't know why they thought they needed to "humanize" Ryu, it's not like he's ever been a bad guy. He's the good guy who kills bad guys, and he even generally ends up saving people who he's capable of saving (they usually have massive boobs too).
He's nothing like Kratos, who just murders everyone around him pointlessly.
They could've done so much more with the "possessed arm" concept than this stupid crap. Like make the main story be that Ryu's inner demon is attempting to take over his body, and has begun manifesting itself in his arm. Throughout the game, the arm sometimes temporarily handicaps you in various ways that require you to change your playstyle in order to survive. It'd also be really cool for Ryu to have to occasionally do this 1v1 fights (taking place inside his head) with his inner demon as it tries to take over his body or something.
I'm not even a creative writer and I just made up something more interesting for both story, and gameplay.
1 Like I personally thought NG3 showed a little bit more of Ryu's human side; like an actual person you could actually relate to(somewhat at least). It made him more likable to me personally.
1 Like thankyou Nexozable, ninjas dont have "feelings". they also dont encounter the badguy and say stuf like "hey give the girl back!"
they simply stab they bastard in the face and take her back.
How Ninja Gaiden III was received here reminds me of Greg Mueller's reception of True Crime: New York City.
6 Like You can only put so much lipstick on a pig. At the end of the day, it's still a pig.
3 Like Hmm little disappointed. Seem like Team Ninja is still trying to figure out several thing after Tomonobu Itagaki left. Never thought that perv had a big influence on the game that the team had created really.
Lol. It's not that I underestamated Itagaki skills. It's more that I overestamated Team Ninja, thinking they do fine without him.
@Rivboets7 To be fair Ninja Gaiden 3 was a bad game when it was released on the 360 and PS3 in the first place, but I agree, some of these reviews for the WII U titles haven't really been that great. The 3rd support at least.
@Rivboets7 Uh... NSMBU and Nintendo Land, much? There are still several other games that need to be reviewed.
21 Like @Rivboets7 Not at all! And this particular game, while not great, got a higher score on WiiU than on Xbox and PS3.
@alenth Might give it a go as it returns to most of it's roots with multiple weapons, so I won't be bored doing the same exact combo with the same lame sword for the 9000th time, which is what it felt like on 360. Used to the difficulty spikes as all NG games tend to go bonkers at the weirdest of moments, or you ran into a Boss that seemed to not want to be defeated no matter how hard you fought. Only thing that was ACE in NG3 was the ninpo, it actually did something useful like instantly killing any enemies it came into contact with...in the other games ninpo was just used to make yourself invincible so you could avoid an unblockable move or otherwise.
2 Like @SavageEvil Ninpo was perfectly balanced in the older games imo. Not to strong but still kiling standard enemys, invincibility for a short time for strategic use and even moderate damage on most bosses. Now it's just a smart bomb to obliterate everithing on screen? L.A.M.E.
@H4num4n @SavageEvil remember now, this is coming from the ppl who did the SS 7.5 review. Their credibility, at least to me, is next to dead.
@SavageEvil @H4num4n I dare you to say something bad about my awesome ninja magic moves. Without them evil spirit doku would still turn big breasted women into...well...big breasted demon women. Also there are a few spots in NG2 where i really needed it in certain boss fights. But yes, ninpo is cheap and if a few bosses weren't so cheap we really wouldn't need it at all. The shurikens are good for keeping combos up. To bad i will never see how that all turned out in NG3. It still baffles me to read something like: "The controls can't always keep up with the action" related to a NG game. Oh Team Ninja, how could you:(
@H4num4n That's the reason it's there, to take out those annoying flies when things get dire, like those save up that smart bomb and use it when things get really hairy. Doubt it will get much use in the Wii U version because of having multiple weapons that have greater range and deadlier attacks ahh, the fun of it all. In fact I rarely used ninpo in the other NG games, because it was that damn lame, flying swallow worked for most every character, just jump and attack then counter if you get blocked. WTF is the point of being a super ninja and having lame magic moves to back you up? It's just like his infinite shurikens, just annoyances to slow only the weakest of enemies, useless on stronger opponents. That ninpo doesn't really work on the bosses though, as they are usually too damn big does a nice bit of damage but still relegated to death avoidance. Still balanced I say, since it's only used sparingly. These new weapons will see the most use, especially that scythe oh yes. Hope the upgrade system is still in there, did Unlabored Flawlessness make the cut?
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Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge
Not Following
- Publisher(s): Nintendo
- Developer(s): Team Ninja
- Genre: Action
- Release:
- PEGI: 18+
Ninja Gaiden III: Razor' Navigation
