Who would have dared to dream that the sequel to Itagaki's masterpiece would be every bit as intense, challenging, and massively addictive as the original? 2 is that, and it's wrapped up in the goriest next-gen engine ever created. Limbs fly left and right leaving glorious trials of blood as a pro-gamer takes to the controls of master ninja Ryu Hayabusa. To truly master this game, you must literally become one with the ninja way.

In-fact there's almost a Zen presence in the air when you observe a true master plugged into this game and running at full flow. Absolute concentration takes place, and the true master ninja becomes one with the controller: dodging left, right, slash, combo, dodge, ultimate technique, execution... Playing the game becomes an art, and the pure gaming experienced is viewed by all on the screen; with the added bonus that in Ninja Gaiden 2 every fight can be recorded and replayed in the Ninja Cinema.

All the enemy's attacks in the game can be predicted, and dealt with, and then countered with Ryu's arsenal of moves. Boss fights step up the complexity to a new level, with the bosses often-deadly attacks to be considered, as well as his or her little minions running around like insects buzzing in your ear, needing to be cut down swiftly. In order to master a boss in NG2 all manner of defensive and evasive techniques must be employed, and your counter attack must be just as well calculated and executed.

One mistimed attack against a boss can leave you vulnerable to a horribly damaging move; such as the giant fire turtle who will, without hesitation, rip Ryu off the ground with its teeth and mercilessly chomp away until half of your life bar has been burnt down. The move is uninterruptible and doesn't allow the player to use any form of healing aid until its completion, you just have to watch as a giant turtle disgraces you, and feel the full punishment of your earlier error.

One of the most inexplicable x-factor qualities of this game is that it actually gets exponentially more enjoyable the harder difficulty you are playing it on. The first play through is aesthetically fun, challenging, and pleasing. Stepping up to mentor difficulty is like an electric shock to your nervous system, you need to play harder, better, moving faster, as the addiction levels double. And when you finally reach master ninja? The core of your mind has already begun to tune into the ninja ways, but now you know you must succeed, you have to get faster, you have to know your enemies inside out to dodge every attack and counter with the perfect combo. Welcome to the real challenge; the level of addiction and the intensity experience found in this difficulty is un-reached by any other I've played.

The storyline is a true convoluted Japanese masterwork; leather clad, heavy on the demons, packed to the brim with subtle ninja humour, and with even the most small talk between friends being interwoven with deep philosophical meaning. Sure, it actually makes almost no sense whatsoever, but it's just awesome and you must accept that.

There are some camera difficulties, but they're infrequent and hardly major. The difficulty is pure; there is no "cheap" in this game and there is no luck, it's all fair play and it's all beatable by calculation and reaction. NG2 is the perfect fighting-action game, it is the ultimate gaming challenge for 2008, and it's one of the best looking 'gore games' ever created. If you want to know why Master Ninja level NG players give no respect to anyone who hasn't achieved this level of action-gaming perfection, you must become one yourself.

95%

By Richard Nolan