Ninja Gaiden 3: Punishing Me for Playing It

A few minutes ago I went over to my Xbox 360 and booted up Ninja Gaiden 3 with the intention of playing the game for a little while. Well, apparently the game had other plans in mind, because rather than be immersed in mediocre action upon starting up the game, I was met with this lovely sight:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

At this point, I wave the proverbial white flag. I give up. Fuck this game; back to Devil May Cry HD Collection I go.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

So, I Gave in and Rented Ninja Gaiden 3....

I gave in and rented the damn thing (no way am I buying it and supporting TN's 'vision') and so far (beginning of Day 3 on Hard) I have to say that it's.....overall a great game with several significant flaws, one of which being it's a TERRIBLE Ninja Gaiden game. I'll review the game once I am done with it, but for now, here's a bullet point list of a few (negative) things about the game that many/most reviewers seemed to have missed (as usual):

-Recovery frames are far too numerous and sustained
-The usefulness of shuriken cancelling has been decreased (reduction in frames during which it is possible)
-Invincibility frames (i-frames) have been reduced in number
-Enemy tracking is not broken, but problematic
-Wind pathing controls are a bit screwed up
-No guillotine throw :(
-Shuriken cancelling while airborne (or even throwing normal air shurikens) results in OL recovery frames
-Enemy grabs have pretty obvious telegraphs (audio/visual) but this is largely negated by above issues
-ShurikenSlideStrong Attack on a bloody enemy to initiate a SOB moment often glitches and fails
-TN set out to negate UT spam, but in doing do merely replaced it with SOB spam
-Enemy encounters are ridiculously lengthy gauntlets (at least on Hard) resulting in extreme repetition
-Control of Ryu is taken from the player FAR too often, ruining the pacing
-Far too much grab spam in addition to the recovery frame issue=less combat options (at least on Hard)
-Many moments of slowdown on Hard and above (due to the high enemy and projectile count)
-Most of the music heard thus far has been much less memorable than that of the previous games
-Invisible walls
-Wall running and bird flipping opportunities are few and far between
-Too much bow combat. It's just not very engaging

On the positive side of things:

-Some nice new DS combos
-OT's look cool and are prioritized (OT opportunities are always recognized by the engine and prioritized)
-The lack of items, while overall a gigantic step backwards, does add to the tension/difficulty during fights
-SOB chaining, while overall a detriment, is actually kind of fun, surprisingly
-Graphics are (mostly) great
-Regent of the Mask is a good boss. Bit too easy but well designed and fun
-Bow control is much more user friendly than before (not all changes aiming for ease of use are bad)
-Quickest loading of the modern console NG games (restarting after death is pretty fast, which is nice)
-There's still challenge and fun to be had here. A non 'hardcore' Ninja Gaiden fan might LOVE this game

If I don't give up on this game (I have been tempted to a few times) I will review it in full upon completion.

IGN Gives Ninja Gaiden 3 a Fucking 3/10!!!

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/122/1221032p1.html

IGN scores Ninja Gaiden 3 a 3/10. What a fucking disaster. Hayashi and co. have RUINED the greatest series of action games on the planet.

Ugh.

I'll be ranting about the game in detail at a later date.

Ninja Gaiden 3 E3 2011 Debut Trailer

Well, that was ultimately disappointing. Hopefully we get some in depth gameplay footage this E3.

Can`t say what I`ve seen so far is all that revealing, save for the fact that Hayashi and co. still seem to think a gigantic, nearly stationary boss is an engaging boss fight....

What do you guys think?

Offical Xbox Magazine (OXM) Interview with Yosuke Hayashi SCANS

OXM Interview with Yosuke Hayashi

SCANS: (CLICK TO ENLARGE!)

Credit goes to mohsin117 over at GameTrailers.com

Well.... 



There were a few things said in that interview that went a small, small way towards perhaps a 1% decrease in my discomfort with Hayashi being in charge.

Other than that, I'm skeptical. I really, really hope they blow me away. I'll be watching the reveal gameplay during E3 and commenting on ever little detail I see. Hopefullythose comments are tinged with glee, and not disappointment.