Ninja Gaiden 2 Black Review – The Edge of the Dragon Sword

The first two entries in the modern Ninja Gaiden series are still considered decades after their original release as two of the best action games ever released and for very good reasons. With the depth of their combat mechanics, their high-speed action, and solid level design, the two games have aged rather well and still play great to this day. With the departure of Team Ninja's founder and series creator Tomonobu Itagaki, however, the franchise kind of lost itself, with a third entry in the series that required a revamped version to steer the course and provide an experience that, while improved, still failed to be on par with that of its predecessors. The glory days of the early 2000s, however, seem to be back, with the announcement of Ninja Gaiden 4 and the surprise launch of Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, an Unreal Engine 5-powered remaster of the second entry in the series that attempts to bridge the gap between the hardcore experience of the original and the tweaked gameplay of the Sigma release while offering enhanced visual, and generally succeeds at providing a solid entry point for those who never had the chance to play the game.

One feature of the original Ninja Gaiden 2 that has been left untouched since the release of the original is the story, so it's not surprising to see how Ninja Gaiden 2 Black leaves Ryu Hayabusa's journey across the world to rescue CIA agent Sonia and defeat the Greater Fiends and the resurrected Archfiend intact. Like in most action games, the story isn't particularly deep, but it's action-packed and generally entertaining, serving as a serviceable backdrop and providing enough reason to care about all the ninja and demon-slaying Ryu Hayabusa has to do to complete his mission, together with other allies that will join his quest in specific chapters such as Ayane, Momiji and Rachel.

While Ninja Gaiden 2 Black is not much different from other similar in terms of story, it provides a radically different experience from the vast majority of modern character action games. Despite not being as intense as the original Xbox 360 release, the game can still feel extremely overwhelming for beginners, even at the normal difficulty level, although Ninja Gaiden 2 Black introduces a new difficulty level called Hero Play Style that features a Hero Mode that allows Ryu to automatically block or avoid enemy attacks automatically, while also enhancing healing via the blue orbs that appear after defeating enemies which makes the experience way more manageable for newcomers.

Hero Play Style, however, is not the difficulty setting that's best suited to learning the intricacies of the Ninja Gaiden 2 Black experience, which makes it such a unique action game. Unlike other games that put the focus on parrying or dodging, this game prioritizes blocking, learning enemies' attack patterns to understand when it is safe to attack, and repositioning while continuing to block, almost in the vein of a fighting game.

On paper, this sounds very simple to do, but in actuality, the game throws a lot of curveballs at the player, with a huge enemy variety, an extensive moveset for each of the available weapons, and, most of all, the high-speed of the entire experience. Both Ryu and the many enemies he will face during his adventure are fast and very agile, so mastering both offense and defense is extremely important not only to complete the game but also to have fun. Button mashing doesn't really allow the player to go far, and only a competent knowledge of the mechanics and the wise usage of some advanced techniques, which also include the powerful Ninpo Spells that can only be used with Ki charges, ranged attacks with weapons like bows and shurikens.

The uniqueness of the experience is also highlighted by some of the game's advanced mechanics. Lacking a lock-on function, using a ranged attack allows the player to see if there are enemies positioned outside of the current camera view, giving them the chance to reposition it manually to get a better view of all present enemies. For some players, this will feel like a remnant from another video gaming age, but it's these small things that make Ninja Gaiden 2 Black feel so unique nowadays, alongside its relative systemic simplicity. While the experience has tons of depth and secret techniques, which have been fully eviscerated since the release of the original Xbox 360 release and are still effective in the latest version of the game, it is relatively straightforward, lacking intricate interworking gameplay systems that often bog down modern games. Purchasing restorative items and upgrading weapons and Ninpo spells, for example, is extremely simple, allowing players to focus only on what truly matters: disposing of enemies as effectively and quickly as possible before they get the chance to overwhelm Ryu.

This is also one more feature that sets the game apart from the vast majority of other action games. Series like Devil May Cry and Bayonetta are mostly about styling on enemies with intricate combos and juggles. Ninja Gaiden, on the other hand, is all about efficacy, although there are still opportunities for some stylish gameplay. In Team Ninja's game, though, enemies are not puppets ready to be launched in the air. Instead, they fiercely fight back at any given time. At higher difficulty levels, the opportunities to play stylishly are considerably reduced, as players need to rely on some extremely powerful techniques such as the iconic Izuna Drop, the Flying Swallow, and Ultimate Techniques to make it out alive.

As mentioned earlier, one more feature that sets Ninja Gaiden 2 Black apart from other games in the genre is the level design. Instead of featuring a straightforward alternation between what are essentially corridors and combat arenas, the Team NINJA game features a slightly more complex level design featuring some basic platforming and slightly more intricate combat areas that force players to think hard about positioning. Some camera angles and clunkiness in the traversal mechanics and jumping do get in the way sometimes, but it's only a minor issue and hasn't led to an unexpected death at any time during my first playthrough, which required around 12 hours. Those with less experience with either the original or the Sigma release will probably require more time for a playthrough, as some combat encounters and bosses, the vast majority of them of which are very nicely designed, can be a little challenging.

When it comes to visuals, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black is most definitely a very good overhaul of the original. Powered by Unreal Engine 5, the new version of the game features considerably improved visuals with better lighting, details, and slightly altered character models that are, despite the changes, extremely faithful to the original designs, which is extremely welcome. Where the game leaves something to be desired is in the performance.

Even after disabling ray tracing, which doesn't add a whole lot to the visuals, I couldn't get the game to run at steady framerates at 4K resolution, NVIDIA DLSS at Quality, and the settings in the screenshot below not only with the 120 FPS cap, but also with the 60 FPS cap, as frame rate drops were consistent, and the experience felt choppy even on a powerful system like mine (i7-13700F, RTX 4080, 32 GB RAM) that should be more than able to handle high and steady framerates. For a high-speed action game like Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, this is extremely disappointing, and Frame Generation can do little in this case, although it does, at least, improve the perception of smoothness with its generated frames. Hopefully, optimization will be refined with future updates. Also, if you have played any of the other versions of the game, it will be impossible for you not to notice how Ryu Hayabusa's trademark responsiveness is no longer a thing due to some input delay.  On the other hand, if this is your first time experiencing Ninja Gaiden 2, you will hardly notice anything wrong.

Ninja Gaiden 2 Black may not offer the extremely intense experience of the original Xbox 360, but it's still an extremely solid action game with very unique quirks that those who aren't much into the freestyle combo approach of other franchises will surely appreciate. At the same time, the base experience definitely shows its age with some needlessly annoying platforming sequences and weird camera angles that don't provide the best possible view during the action. Even so, this is still one of the best action games developed by Team NINJA.

PC version tested. Review code provided by the publisher.

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8.5

WCCFTECH RATING

Ninja Gaiden 2 Black

Ninja Gaiden 2 Black isn't quite the definitive edition of Team NINJA's second entry in the series, but it comes close. While Ryu Hayabusa no longer faces overwhelming hordes of enemies, the game's intensity, deep combat mechanics, excellent enemy variety, greatly overhauled visuals, and solid level design make it one of the best ways to experience one of the finest action games ever released, performance issues notwithstanding.

Pros

• Intense high-speed action
• Deep combat mechanics
• Excellent enemy variety
• Solid level design
• Visuals are much improved over the original

Cons

• Forgettable story that is barely serviceable
• Performance issues
• Some annoying platforming sessions
• Camera management and lack of lock-on sometimes make it difficult to get the best view

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