Ninja Gaiden BLACK

For over a year and a half, Ninja Gaiden has made a major impact on the Xbox gaming community with it’s graceful game play and graphics. As for its next installment, Ninja Gaiden Black will have to work hard to continue Tecmo’s legacy. The previous title, a critically acclaimed action title, requires lighting reflexes and brutal attacks to conquer aggressive enemies. Now, with a cheaper price and more add-on features for this version, an already incredible title is getting even better.

With further improvement of it’s action-packed missions and great story mode, Ninja Gaiden BLACK may have what it takes to become one of the most anticipated titles of the year. It contains a massive number of missions with your normal enemy battles, boss battles, and more challenges. The number of difficulty levels has been increased to five- among your choices are the relatively simple “Ninja Dog” and “Very Difficult Master Ninja”. This title has an interesting vibe to the whole aspect from the previous installment. Most importantly, we’ve learned that the game play itself has improved, perhaps in anticipation of hardcore competition from next-generation consoles are being manufactured and distributed this fall.

Along with the gameplay, replay value has been boosted immensely. Players can unlock a ton of content, including the original arcade version of Ninja Gaiden. Yes, both Tecmo and Team Ninja decided to get a bit old-school, though it’s okay for us gamers… and certainly Tecmo’s arcade compliation releasing on the same day. There’s also ‘never-before-seen’ content which includes cinematics that reveal secrets from the world of Ninja Gaiden. Finally, on the game play side of things, you’ll eventually run into the challenging hurricane packs content. All of this will be included in the Xbox Live multi-player experience. This will involve content with new enemies as well as big bosses from both Hurricane Packs 1 and 2 for an extra ninja challenge.

Tecmo’s development team, Team Ninja, has really added some kick to the action genre. It’s extremely obvious that a team of professionals were constantly working hard on the astounding graphics and audio clarity. You can never just start playing a game of Ninja Gaidenafter you have watch the cinematics in each segment during the game… it is one of those jaw-dropping, eye-opening deals that you need a second or two to recover from.

If you need more fast-paced ultra violent action in your life, then Ninja Gaiden Black is definitely a game you want to pick up for your Xbox. You’ll get all of the action, story-telling, and ninja-style fighting sometime in September 2005. Though, why would you want to wait for it? Ninja Gaiden Black is set to release at the low price of $29.99, so get off your butt and reserve it now! AMN will have a review up soon, so keep your careful ninja gaze directed at XA!