QCF: Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge

Team Ninja’s release of Ninja Gaiden 3 earlier this year was met with a laundry list of criticisms on an abysmally large scale and was poorly received by the majority, myself included. Yosuke Hayashi and his team had their work cut for them when Tecmo made the decision to re-release the title on the WiiU with enhancements, some even calling the equivalent of the Sigma treatment that prior entries received from the same team on the PlayStation 3.

This is not the case, for you cannot enhance something that was originally broken. You can, however, fix it. And boy did Hayashi sure follow through, as they managed to not only do just that but labor to add more content in this surprisingly solid action launch title for the fledgling Nintendo console.

There’s an avoidable stigma for those revisiting Ninja Gaiden 3, memories of shallow conflicts involving senseless input to what’s opposing you on-screen, in an ad nauseam of monotonous sword swinging that mercifully ended the moment the credits started rolling. These flashbacks of past disappointment dissipate the instant you hack the first limb off the first enemy unfortunate enough to meet the end of your blade. First, and most importantly foremost, dismemberment is back. What was initially ruled off before Ninja Gaiden II’s release to be nothing more than an apathetic bullet-point, a glorified shock factor to attract players to a vividly graphic display of tasteless violence ended being one of the most tactically engrossing features within its combat, and much to Ninja Gaiden 3’s chagrin, completely absent in its original iteration.

Facing down enemies and pitting your odds against their increasing ranks will change up what attack you respond to an advancing foe with; the weak, successive strikes open enemies up to your stronger attacks that will result with a leg or arm getting lopped off. These injuries, once inflicted, impede them from causing any serious threat when approaching you as they’re slowed and weaker, gradually placing the odds of the fray in your favor. It’s not completely without danger as enemies without legs will delegate that the life of a surviving amputee is one that they choose to cast aside. These sinister folks will go for broke as they grab and embrace you in any way they can to initiate a suicidal bomb blast and invite you along for the ride. Still, even simply having the ability to thrust from the air with the signature Flying Swallow maneuver in order to sever some heads from the intimidating numbers of the mob you face is a relief all in its own. These strategies are strengthened further by the return of yet another significant mechanic of the modern Ninja Gaiden formula: your varied arsenal of weapons.

Initially offered as optional downloadable content from the previous version of Ninja Gaiden 3, Team Ninja has corrected their misguided decision and included all of the weapons in the game. The various blades and armaments are available once they’re discovered within the pacing of the story mode, although it is a bit awkward with the lack of context as to why you get them in comparison to the other titles within the series but hell, it’s a huge improvement that they’re there. In addition, that God awful singular Ninpo attack that wiped everything that was alive on the screen and constantly regenerated to rinse and repeat against the halfhearted drones of Ninja Gaiden 3 is removed completely in favor of the traditional Ninpo mechanic for Razor’s Edge.  The Ninpo magic still regenerates but not as generously this time around and is simply meant to be used as a modest equalizer. The magic blast eliminates, at most,  three to four foes at once even when leveled to its maximum capabilities instead of some lazy screen sweeper for enemies. The best part is you have a selection of different Ninpo just as you have been given in the past. The return of these pivotal traits within Ninja Gaiden’s combat, coupled with the return of proper fighting combinations that expand the list beyond three and your ability to level them up again, brings back the authentic Ninja Gaiden experience that was completely missing from Ninja Gaiden 3 while still trying to deliver the setting that crafted for it. Smaller touches have been made to main campaign as well. For example, instead of just merely collecting Crytal Skulls, you’re now warped to a challenge trial with the opportunity to earn additional karma. The most forward thinking aspect of this new approach is the ability to cut any loss you’re handed within its gauntlet by collecting the karma experience you've earned and ending the challenge. However, you can still attempt the harder alternative and go for broke; trying again and again until you can beat the mini boss at the end of the challenge in order to earn the maximum potential of Karma.

The only flaw in the overall combat that still sets Ninja Gaiden 3 back from being better than, say, Ninja Gaiden II, is the sloppy balancing when revamping for this change. See, Ninja Gaiden 3 was intended to cater to western sensibilities and address the common complaint of the series' infamously brutal difficulty. The result was reduced aggression in enemy AI, much simpler combo attacks and as I mentioned before, some cool hip flame dragon that flies around and wastes all of the bad guys and stuff. Yippee! In order to help balance some semblance of challenge the numbers of ranks within the enemy mobs were raised significantly, meaning more dudes came slicing at you in bigger numbers and for much longer than your average conflict in Ninja Gaiden. All of the aforementioned components have been retooled except for the increase in numbers within enemy ranks, which is now rendered unnecessary because the proper challenge in AI and depth within combat has returned to the formula. The resulting juxtaposition of traditional combat dynamics and bigger mobs ends up unbalancing Razor’s Edge all over again buy ironically making it slightly harder than it’s ever been before. Ultimately, this can hurt the experience at times but never to a degree that deludes the enjoyment like the earlier release of Ninja Gaiden 3 did, and the same generous checkpoints are still prevalent throughout the game.

The controls use the same accurate and precision input that’s conducive to the Ninja Gaiden name and surprising well crated for either option you might want on the Wii U. This may come as a shock, but the more intuitive option between the Pro controller and the Gamepad is... the Gamepad. Gameplay functions are regulated to the touch screen which give you one-touch access Ninpo, Ninja Sense, weapon changes, and Ninja Skill upgrades all within the perimeter of the screen. This may seem like a very small feature but the tactile nature of simply being able to have a one-touch input for a Ninpo attack has sensualized my access to Ryu’s arsenal of talents more than any of the prior titles. The privilege of the added control options with the gamepad did deride some of the tension that supposed to be inherent within the input design of Ninja Gaiden, however this tension is supplemented by the previously mentioned increase in ranks of enemies to dispose of.

The only other major change is the addition of Ayane and additional missions that add to the context of the original narrative of Ninja Gaiden 3. Ayane plays the exact same way she did in Sigma 2 for the most part. Other than some additional combos and weapons once you attain level 3 when upgrading, nothing has drastically changed from the way she was handled before. In a very similar criticism to Sigma 2, her inclusion doesn’t add to the game the same way Rachel did in the original Sigma. Ayane simply plays out to be a much faster (but weaker) Ryu. The additional Challenge trials are a plus but overall will only cater to the most dedicated Ninja Gaiden players. The Wii U difference is honestly the role that Miiverse plays for Razor’s Edge. Having a dedicated wall with the ability to screenshot certain events and battles, and swap tips and tactics add more depth in practice than the theory ever potentially indicated on paper. The Ninja Gaiden community is one of the most dedicated and rabid fan bases in video games today, and giving them a seamless and significant outlet to socialize their common interest is one of the best things that the Wii U could have ever done for the franchise that none of the other current platforms could have ever offered.

Most argued that the Wii U couldn't have done anything proper for the Ninja Gaiden name, let alone fix the damage that was already done with the original version of Ninja Gaiden 3. Team Ninja has managed to utilize the platform properly; making it a natural fit for the series while addressing all of the shortcomings of the past edition. The improvements aren’t perfect by any means but are plenty staggering in number and enough to warrant anyone to revisit the title or even try it out for the very first time if they’ve never owned an Xbox console or a Playstation 3. All in all this title is worth a look by any action fan, cementing hope that a game like Bayonetta 2 can work on the unique format and is a worthy launch title for the weird new video game box you just bought.