Just read the recent news here in kikizo and spotted the Ninja Gaiden 2 confirmation!!! That game was amazing, I could only imagine how the sequal will turn out.

Geez!, I have yet to beat the first! I have to get back into that game, and soon!

I was always suspicious that a sequel might be in the works especially after the attention the first next-gen Ninja Gaiden received.

I hope in the sequel they let Tecmo' s sound designer(s) shine and actually produce some good music for the game... I' d also like a few less puzzles, the challenge can remain the same.

Team Ninja sounds like they are very open to public oppinion which is very cool. Altho I still wanna know more about that DOA:code chronus

I hope the sequel is longer, has more replay value and has a harder (yes, harder) difficulty level.

Terry: I didn' t even think there were any puzzles in NG...at least, not ones I' d define as puzzles. That one with the floating platforms where you had to pull a few levers to advance upwards was moderately challenging, but other than that, it was more like an RE-type thing (find the item to unlock the door; backtrack to get the item, etc.). That' s not a " puzzle," IMO, that' s a treasure hunt. To me, a puzzle game with adventure and action elements is Alundra.

And as far as the difficulty goes...okay, maybe the challenge could remain the same, but I' d be looking for an altered kind of challenge. The difficulty in NG is, unfortunately, based on some extremely cheesy factors, i.e.: 1. all enemies are faster than you are. No matter what. 2. respawning enemies cuts down on motivation for exploration...this isn' t a typical action game; there' s lots to explore, and if I have to face the same set of potentially deadly enemies, I refuse to go back. 3. I wanted to run UP the wall, not ALONG it!!! (sensitivity of controls a touch TOO sensitive).

My review of the game still stands, despite these drawbacks (and I think I may have mentioned them in the review), but if we' re looking for changes in NG 2, I' d say this- no respawning enemies, enemies SMARTER, not FASTER, a camera that doesn' t sit at your feet (especially when going upwards) and for the love of God, don' t make the action button and attack button one in the same!

Terry: I didn' t even think there were any puzzles in NG...at least, not ones I' d define as puzzles. That one with the floating platforms where you had to pull a few levers to advance upwards was moderately challenging, but other than that, it was more like an RE-type thing (find the item to unlock the door; backtrack to get the item, etc.). That' s not a " puzzle," IMO, that' s a treasure hunt. To me, a puzzle game with adventure and action elements is Alundra.

As for locating keys to unlock doors I consider them puzzles only because I was puzzled about their locations, LOL ;)

And as far as the difficulty goes...okay, maybe the challenge could remain the same, but I' d be looking for an altered kind of challenge. The difficulty in NG is, unfortunately, based on some extremely cheesy factors, i.e.: 1. all enemies are faster than you are. No matter what. 2. respawning enemies cuts down on motivation for exploration...this isn' t a typical action game; there' s lots to explore, and if I have to face the same set of potentially deadly enemies, I refuse to go back. 3. I wanted to run UP the wall, not ALONG it!!! (sensitivity of controls a touch TOO sensitive).

To tell you the truth, if the game was totally straightforward with none of the exploration stuff involved I wouldn' t mind faster & smarter enemies or ones that respawn. Like I said before, I' m all about arcade styled gameplay. But when dealing with exploration elements, you' re right, I don' t want to deal with respawning enemies.

My review of the game still stands, despite these drawbacks (and I think I may have mentioned them in the review), but if we' re looking for changes in NG 2, I' d say this- no respawning enemies, enemies SMARTER, not FASTER, a camera that doesn' t sit at your feet (especially when going upwards) and for the love of God, don' t make the action button and attack button one in the same!

Twas a totally kick a$$ review and I agreed with 99%. Despite Ninja Gaiden' s few flaws it was definitely a high impact game and managed to live up to a good deal of the hype that it rode in on.

One of the best parts about the review was that UNLIKE most of the other Ninja Gaiden reviews out there you didn' t waste time complaining about the camera..
I definitely agree that the camera was no where near as bad as many other reviews seemed to be whining and moaning about. It' s almost as if Ninja Gaiden was the first game they ever played with a somewhat flawed camera. Some even spent 95% of their reviews on the camera alone, LOL..

I think in a nutshell, I want Ninja Gaiden 2 to be a Mindless beat em up, LOL.
No exploration involved OR make it optional instead of mandatory. All doors should be accessible, no searching for keys to unlock them. No backtracking. Just straightforward melees through gorgeous, highly interactive 3D environments, A MUCH better soundtrack that' s closer in quality to Dead or Alive 2' s soundtrack or Fatal Frame 2, and two player co-op play like the arcade original. In fact, I guess that' s what I want, a 3D version of the arcade game :D

Twas a totally kick a$$ review and I agreed with 99%. Despite Ninja Gaiden' s few flaws it was definitely a high impact game and managed to live up to a good deal of the hype that it rode in on.

One of the best parts about the review was that UNLIKE most of the other Ninja Gaiden reviews out there you didn' t waste time complaining about the camera..
I definitely agree that the camera was no where near as bad as many other reviews seemed to be whining and moaning about. It' s almost as if Ninja Gaiden was the first game they ever played with a somewhat flawed camera. Some even spent 95% of their reviews on the camera alone, LOL..

I think in a nutshell, I want Ninja Gaiden 2 to be a Mindless beat em up, LOL.
No exploration involved OR make it optional instead of mandatory. All doors should be accessible, no searching for keys to unlock them. No backtracking. Just straightforward melees through gorgeous, highly interactive 3D environments, A MUCH better soundtrack that' s closer in quality to Dead or Alive 2' s soundtrack or Fatal Frame 2, and two player co-op play like the arcade original. In fact, I guess that' s what I want, a 3D version of the arcade game :D

Thanks, and I never thought the camera was THAT bad. I was reading some early reviews before I played the game, and some critics made it seem like the camera ruined the whole experience. That certainly wasn' t the case. Sure, it got annoying here and there, especially when on inclines or fighting in cramped spaces, but could someone please name me a 3D action game that had a perfect camera? As far as cameras go, it wasn' t that bad, although there have been better ones in the past.

If they go that way (more arcade-style), then I totally agree with what you said you want. However, if they DO do that, I probably won' t buy it...I hate arcade gaming. You and I are very different in that respect. Being an RPG fan, I' d want it to go MORE exploration, MORE story, no respawning enemies, and maybe some REAL puzzles. And I' m not very good at games like this, so I want lesser difficulty in the areas I mentioned; the cheesy difficulty parts, I mean. I beat NG on normal, but it was hard for me, and I wouldn' t have a chance on Hard. LOL

Who cares? As long as they keep the level of quality from the first they can make all the sequels they make. I think after the scores (and my opinion is the same) the NG got, a second can only be good for the industry. I enjoyed the first, hopefully I will the second.

I hope they ad something new and innovative, if there is more of the same, the future games will slowly go downhill.

I beat Ninja Gaiden on Normal.Got the new costume and the plasma sword and started to play on HARD.I loved that u had to find keys and other things to advance.

As for respawning enemies i didnt really like that as well.

The cammera wasnt perfect it had problems,but it was the best so far.

As for the music i actually liked it.
The graphics are the best ive seen so far.The water is the best .But i was surprised that ryu didnt reflect in anything except the mirror.
as for Ninja Gaiden 2 it should be more of the same and have more BLOOD.

Umm...I don' t really need blood. In fact, I think it would take something away from the franchise if they went that route...

I dunno it seems Ninjas easily relate to alot of blood, but at the same time, since they sneaky stealth killers youd think theyd be known to leave little to no blood...

But come no now whos ever seen a ninja flick or played a ninja game that didnt have a vast amount of blood?

Me. It' s called " Ninja Gaiden."

I' m guessing you guys never played any Ninja Gaidens besides this one. They were in the 16-bit days and there wasn' t any blood. Seeing as how the game lends itself to more of an arcade beat-' em-up, I really don' t think blood is necessary. I know that everyone under the age of 18 requires blood nowadays in order for a game to be " cool" (which is just plain sad), but blood is not an issue in this case, IMO.

Shinobi' s another classic franchise, well the 2D versions, that didn' t seem to deal with much blood.

Blood is pretty much necessary in games today. Everyone wants to be shocked and amazed when they play the game, so why not toss in a few thousand gallons of blood? Instant classic.

But Ninja Gaiden is a franchise that I hope stays around for a long time, along with Devil May Cry and Final Fantasy. But in NG2, let' s see a couple more people from DOA in there.... Or maybe even an unlockable playable character... Kasumi anyone?

Blood is pretty much necessary in games today. Everyone wants to be shocked and amazed when they play the game, so why not toss in a few thousand gallons of blood? Instant classic.

This was sarcasm, right?

Imagine the next Mario game full of blood! :D

Mario jumps on the Koopa troopers and they squirt bloody, hehehe. " Mario is no longerZ teh Kiddie!!"

This was sarcasm, right?

Ha ha! Yes it was. I was just kidding. But it is quite disturbing that a lot of the newer games of today' s age rely on blood and guts to cover up rotten gameplay. Not NG though. That' s a shining pearl.

Exactly. And because it' s a " shining pearl," we don' t need to dirty it up with bucketloads of blood, now do we?

Terry: Easy...you' re making me think I' m in the System Wars forum at GameSpot. LOL