So I'm a pretty huge Ninja Gaiden fan. Well, since 2018, that is. I've played the 2004 version, Black, Sigma, II, Sigma 2, and Razor's Edge. I had the time of my life with all of them. But I had never actually played the original Ninja Gaiden 3. Because I heard that it was awful, and that I should stay the hell away from it, and that Razor's Edge was an absolute miracle. So against my better judgement, I decide to give it a run. Well, multiple runs, that is. Normal, hard, and Master Ninja.
So, how was it?
Let me make it crystal clear now: NG3 deserved every last particle of shit that it got. Seriously, it is terrible. I'm gonna rattle off the reasons that this game was trash.
The game chugs. Hard. Constant frame drops, and constant slowdown on normal. It wasn't like in Ninja Gaiden II, where the slowdown came from enemies rushing you from all directions, throwing explosives at your face. It's just terribly optimized.
You are stuck with 1 weapon the entire game. That is, unless you get the PAID DLC weapons, which is total bullshit for a Ninja Gaiden game. Not to mention, that said weapon cannot be upgraded, until the game feels like giving it to you. What the fuck?
Walking sequences are everywhere. Razor's Edge had a few walking sequences that were really annoying. However, there are so many more walking sections in this game. They somehow managed to fit in walking sequences in fights, where Ryu's arm hurts, and then you just instakill your way through a crowd of enemies. This is what Team Ninja actually used their creativity for: Putting walking sections in fights. Because that's exactly what an action game needs.
Steel on Bone is absolutely broken. This isn't the fun kind of broken like Guard-cancelling in Darksiders, which to that game's credit, allowed you to be more creative in combat. We're talking "Ruins the game" kind of broken. It triggers COMPLETELY randomly, and there's no limit like in Razor's Edge, so fights end up with you just mashing square or triangle, and combined with the zoomed in/shakey camera when doing those moves, I'll admit that it made me quite dizzy sometimes.
The difficulty is completely fucked. The game is in one of two states when it comes to the difficulty: One is so preposterously easy, you can crack open your laptop, put down your controller, and read some news article or whatever the hell you want while mashing square with your index finger. No, I mean it. Give it a try for yourself, and you'll see that it actually works. And another is so ludicrously cheap, and unfun, that it forces you to constantly repeat the same attack string. Some enemies are immune to Steel on Bone later on. Combine that with the lack of dismemberment, and the absolutely insane health of them, and that just loops neatly into the "Repeating attack strings" problem. The following video sums up the Master Ninja mode of this game quite nicely.
The game doesn't play by its own rules. Moves sometimes work against enemies, and sometimes, it does virtually nothing. Steel on Bone would sometimes work, and sometimes wouldn't. Sometimes you could use Ninpo, other times, you just couldn't use it for some reason. Sometimes, UT was disabled as well. This is probably one of the worst offenses that a game can do: Not play by it's own rules.
It's extremely glitchy. Constant freezes, infinite loading screens, crashes, hangups, dropped inputs, the works.
Even after all this, I'm pretty sure I haven't fully gone in depth as to everything wrong with Ninja Gaiden 3. I doubt I ever will, to be honest. To sum everything up, Ninja Gaiden 3 is fucking terrible, 1/10, stay the hell away.
So, how was it?
Let me make it crystal clear now: NG3 deserved every last particle of shit that it got. Seriously, it is terrible. I'm gonna rattle off the reasons that this game was trash.
The game chugs. Hard. Constant frame drops, and constant slowdown on normal. It wasn't like in Ninja Gaiden II, where the slowdown came from enemies rushing you from all directions, throwing explosives at your face. It's just terribly optimized.
You are stuck with 1 weapon the entire game. That is, unless you get the PAID DLC weapons, which is total bullshit for a Ninja Gaiden game. Not to mention, that said weapon cannot be upgraded, until the game feels like giving it to you. What the fuck?
Walking sequences are everywhere. Razor's Edge had a few walking sequences that were really annoying. However, there are so many more walking sections in this game. They somehow managed to fit in walking sequences in fights, where Ryu's arm hurts, and then you just instakill your way through a crowd of enemies. This is what Team Ninja actually used their creativity for: Putting walking sections in fights. Because that's exactly what an action game needs.
Steel on Bone is absolutely broken. This isn't the fun kind of broken like Guard-cancelling in Darksiders, which to that game's credit, allowed you to be more creative in combat. We're talking "Ruins the game" kind of broken. It triggers COMPLETELY randomly, and there's no limit like in Razor's Edge, so fights end up with you just mashing square or triangle, and combined with the zoomed in/shakey camera when doing those moves, I'll admit that it made me quite dizzy sometimes.
The difficulty is completely fucked. The game is in one of two states when it comes to the difficulty: One is so preposterously easy, you can crack open your laptop, put down your controller, and read some news article or whatever the hell you want while mashing square with your index finger. No, I mean it. Give it a try for yourself, and you'll see that it actually works. And another is so ludicrously cheap, and unfun, that it forces you to constantly repeat the same attack string. Some enemies are immune to Steel on Bone later on. Combine that with the lack of dismemberment, and the absolutely insane health of them, and that just loops neatly into the "Repeating attack strings" problem. The following video sums up the Master Ninja mode of this game quite nicely.
The game doesn't play by its own rules. Moves sometimes work against enemies, and sometimes, it does virtually nothing. Steel on Bone would sometimes work, and sometimes wouldn't. Sometimes you could use Ninpo, other times, you just couldn't use it for some reason. Sometimes, UT was disabled as well. This is probably one of the worst offenses that a game can do: Not play by it's own rules.
It's extremely glitchy. Constant freezes, infinite loading screens, crashes, hangups, dropped inputs, the works.
Even after all this, I'm pretty sure I haven't fully gone in depth as to everything wrong with Ninja Gaiden 3. I doubt I ever will, to be honest. To sum everything up, Ninja Gaiden 3 is fucking terrible, 1/10, stay the hell away.
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