Now been more than three years since, in June of 2008, Itagaki-san has left Tecmo and Team Ninja gave the direction, yet it is still strange to talk about a title like Ninja Gaiden 3 without a reference frame that is at all the effects of the spiritual rebirth of this series, and the protagonist Ryu Hayabusa. The internal organization of the development team should be further changed over the years and Ninja Gaiden 3, although it apparently remained faithful to the original formula has actually undergone some major changes compared to the previous two chapters.
The plot sees Ryu called into question by the Japanese Ministry of Defense, in the person of two special envoys, because of terrorist events that somehow relate to the protagonist. In a video released by the group of armed forces and unscrupulous ravaging the streets of London, involving innocent civilians, are clearly seen some footage of Hayabusa in action, and are clearly understood the words of the singular message: "Bring Ryu Hayabusa!" . Not being able to subtract from acting morally in this mission, you will start your adventure in Ninja Gaiden 3 in the shoes of Hayabusa.
The first thing that leaps to the eye, since the opening sequence in real time, is the introduction of the quick time event. If it were a new IP, such as the underrated Ninja Blade (which points most of his own on QTE gameplay), there would be no harm, but the fact is that we found to deal with the refined and demanding combat formula of previous episodes, the series that no fan would ever want to see polluted by obvious simplifications, in favor of an undoubted spectacular scenes. Without much circled around, and the only awkward issue of Ninja Gaiden 3 is just her being extremely lax and, in some ways, even small compared to the past! Of course, the feeling of being a lethal fighting machine was made to perfection, but at what cost?
It is evident that the balance of the game experience has been calibrated to be more accessible, lost much of its masochistic charm. By setting the lowest level of difficulty, or Hero, will be activated even aid to come into action when the energy of Ryu becomes dangerously low, dodging and fending off any shot automatically. Even leaving the pad placed in front of you will be virtually impossible to die! A simplification which, honestly, has nothing to do with the balance down the difficulty, but that smells like cheat. To be sure, have been prepared prohibitive levels of difficulty than the first three, to try to imbonirsi experienced players and old ninja navigated, but will not be available initially. This does not mean that the formula of the game has been brutally mutilated also of some essential features, such as the ability to select different weapons compared to the classic Dragon Sword. Consequently all those dynamics have failed to choose the most efficient weapon weighted with a specific type of opponent!
The energy management was revisited by introducing a process autorigenerativo (partly already present in Ninja Gaiden 2, but implemented with criteria) that made vain the presence of Elixir to restore health, depriving the gameplay even that bit of strategy healing and eliminating the use of ampoules from the context of game research spheres of Life of the Gods to increase the energy bar. Vanished into thin air the dynamics of accumulation of the spiritual essence of light that was released from slain enemies, thus precluding the aficionados all the virtuosity based on the elimination of an opponent and then to concentrate the essence in the blade, rather than absorbing it, and trigger a series of devastating blows. In Ninja Gaiden 3 will offer simply the ability to upload gradually Dragon Sword, killing after killing, allowing to obtain similar results but in a much less rewarding for the purpose of the combat mechanics.
Faced with such (dare I say inexcusable) limitations in gameplay, plus cassate mutilation were real adversaries, deprives this third episode of the now much-discussed feature of the formula rooted in the individuality of Ninja Gaiden. All the violence of the impact of the blade Ryu, accentuated by the short QTE in theory to perform devastating strikes that pierce the opponents from side to side, they lose a lot of their impact because of this decision which sadly recalls the episode of censorship on beheadings that took place at the time of marketing of the first Ninja Gaiden in Europe. For the rest, there is no doubt that at rendering characters and environments of the series has made important steps forward, offering a visual spectacle worthy of note. Great, for example, the impact of the devastating fire of Ninpo, which releases a giant dragon capable of annihilating all enemies in a single fiery jaws wide open to attack.
Very useful, however, implementing a sort of compass that, by the pressure of the right analog stick, it shows the direction in which to navigate. Pleasant, but not essential, the introduction of dynamic climbing the walls with the Kunai. The rescue system was spectacularized, as the whole production, replacing the unnamed savepoints with a hawk that flies near the checkpoint to rest on the arm of Ryu when the game saves progress. A proper warning: there are no slots, so please be careful not to restart a game to show some friends the gruesome opening scenes during which Ryu removes his mask, because you would lose all your progress and there is no post to display avviserebbe of the real risk.
Despite the obvious and heavy cuts to the formula game, Ninja Gaiden 3 still managed to win with the speed of the action on screen, providing an acceptable level of challenge if you start now to play it in Hard Mode. Fortunately, the resistance of the enemies will grow with each passing level, obbligandovi to develop a strategic approach at least during the fighting, although a move in particular will take away almost all the time of trouble: the technique of slip, with which you will avoid most of the attacks. Memorable encounters with bosses, perhaps the only part of Ninja Gaiden 3 is lower than the previous episodes. Overall, therefore, the production of the new Team Ninja is an honest way, but unfortunately provides an involution of the series, resulting paradoxically less attractive compared to Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus, PS Life.
The fact that he made the whole experience far more easy of play has also led to a substantial decrease in longevity, that Team Ninja has tried to compensate with the introduction of some multiplayer gaming. By accessing the Shadows menu item you can experience the World Trials Ninja, or co-op missions to deal with a friend, but above all to play Clan Battle mode, which provides direct clashes between eight players, divided into two teams of four ninjas and three maps . Much of the gameplay in single limitations were removed in competitive multiplayer, giving you the chance to earn new moves and weapons to be strengthened. Too bad, pad in hand, even the multiplayer fails to convince fully, leaving the feeling that every encounter with a human opponent is decided only by those who manage to pull off the first attack, taking the lead for a pure randomness.
Technically, as already mentioned, Ninja Gaiden 3 is defended very well, making many improvements in the specific characterization of the faces of the characters, than the approach chart typically led by Itagaki of Team Ninja. The PlayStation 3 version, we tried to carry out the review, supported the motion controller PS Move, but we had no way to test the game with this system of alternative input. Interesting, as always cencerne version for the Sony console, the ability to install game data on request, by going to Options and selecting the appropriate menu item that moved on your hard drive just over 2 GB of information, useful to streamline loading times slightly.
Ninja Gaiden 3 For PLAYSTATION 3
Ninja Gaiden 3 For Xbox 360