I got the game and played up to level 3 before removing it from my Xbox, returning it to the store and demanding a refund. I've only done this once in my life and that was with Sonic 06 so that tells you how big of a piece of stinking shit this game is.
Everything that made the last 2 games amazing is thrown out the window in favor of idiotic changes that ruins the gameplay. The worst offenses are:
-The main annoying thing to me is only 2 weapons, no items, and no leveling up. Combat just feels pointless and theres no reason to kill anyone except to progress foward. Speaking of fighting...
-the game throws WAY too many enemies at you in encounters. It was ok in previous games since you were working towards earning karma, but once again here, its just pointless fighting that gets old quick. Hell, even the previous games didn't make you fight that many in regular encounters.
-EVERYTHING stuns Ryu. It makes fighting extremely annoying since you'll begin a combo and get stopped by a single projectile or gunfire. I was playing on hard, but thats no excuse since I always play or hard in NG games and never have that problem.
-Enemy grabs happen way too often and take too much damage. Enemies would grab you in previous games, but it was sparcely and did reasonable damage. Here, it happens every second and does unreasonable amounts of damage. Its beyond cheap and extremely annoying. Also, soldiers use guns too much instead of fighting head on and the damage from them is unreasonable as well.
All in all, this game is shit and I wouldn't even give it to my most hated enemy in the world. I had really hoped the reviews were just exagerating things, but its even worse than reviews made it out to be. Its cheap, unfair, repetitve and flat out unfun. Whoever was in charge of making this piece if shit should just commit ritual suicide right now to atone for the disgrace they've brought to the 'Ninja Gaiden' name.
My score - 0.5/10