2004 looks to be the year of the resurrected classic title, with a number of old game characters returning to next generation consoles to reclaim their platforming turf. While some of these appearances rear their heads in sweeping collections of emulated titles, the true heroes get their own game to shine. Few are as deserving as Tecmo’s Ryu Hayabusa. The star of the immensely popular Ninja Gaiden series on the NES, this stealthy side-scrolling assassin has been missing from the gaming spotlight for almost ten years. Finally, Ryu’s stepping out of the shadows of time with a new adventure and new facelift with Tecmo’s Ninja Gaiden.





The plot of this new adventure is unlike any of the other Gaiden titles, so new gamers don’t need to worry about having experience with this secretive character. The Hayabusa Ninja Clan are descendants of the Dragon Lineage, a race of warriors who managed to defeat an ancient black dragon. Forging Light and Dark swords from the remains of this beast, the Dragon Lineage became guardians against the sins of humanity, passing this responsibility from leader to leader of the clan. But when the Dark Dragon blade is stolen and the Hayabusa village is burned to the ground, Ryu embarks upon a mission of revenge against the rival ninjas and other creatures who’ve robbed him of his birthright.





The first thing that players will notice is how incredibly easy it is to pick up and control Ryu from the get go. Intuitive and very responsive, players will find themselves sprinting and dashing across open ground and walls as well. This move can be used in combination with additional jumps to springboard him along walls or up narrow shafts to new areas. However, this speed merely serves to illustrate how fast and agile Ryu is, which really comes in handy during combat. Ryu can block most attacks with his sword, including bullets, and can also avoid strikes by rolling out of the way of incoming blows. Doing so often provides prime opportunities to inflict a ton of damage, carried out in a matter of swift slashes, punches, or throws. Ryu can also choose to collect himself and power up his blade, further strengthening his attack. This sometimes leads to a number of devastating (and often bloody) attack strings.





I’m oversimplifying the combat system for a reason, and that’s because it’s incredibly deep. Once you get the hang of dodging, blocking and striking, you’ll find yourself fluidly cutting and hacking your way through scores of opponents. Yet while Ryu is very lethal, he still starts the game off with an incredible number of techniques locked away. Some of these are taught to him by instructors or via scrolls, while still others are found by upgrading his blades. This isn’t counting other weapons he’ll pick up, which have their own attacks, or projectiles, including his unlimited stores of shuriken that he throws with deadly precision. Simply put, we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of this character with the amount we’ve played the game, and yet we’ve managed to unlock over 75 separate attacks. The number of moves will probably rival that of the most complex fighting game!





I don’t even need to stress how beautiful this game looks. Just take a look at these screenshots…every one of them is simply a piece of eye candy that is impressive to behold and play with. Characters are huge, yet can be dwarfed by the sheer scale of levels that you run through, which give a great sense of scale to your adventure. It runs at an incredibly high frame rate without the slightest hint of slowdown, which can seem unbelievable with the number of projectiles and particles that can fill the screen at one time. Voice acting is very good, and the sound effects within the game really draw you in.

With the short amount of time we’ve had with this code, we’ve been completely enraptured with this game. A great story, incredibly easy to play and gorgeous to look at, Ninja Gaiden is easily staking its claim for game of the year early when it sneaks onto shelves tomorrow. Check back here for our full review!