Ninja Gaiden II Black PC review — Grab a glass because there’s going to be a flood

I was as surprised as anyone else when Ninja Gaiden II Black was stealth launched (appropriate for a ninja game, no?) “Finally, they’re releasing a version of Ninja Gaiden II that will make the fans happy,” I thought to myself. Then we all realized it was mostly just Sigma 2 again. Granted, there have been some patches since launch that improved things a bit and the game is undeniably gorgeous. Plus, since it’s a version of Ninja Gaiden II, it’s automatically one of the best action games in existence by simply being. Despite not being the return to form many of us were hoping for, it’s still very much worth a playthrough (or three.)

As I said, Ninja Gaiden II Black is really just a remaster of Sigma 2. The game’s visuals run in Unreal Engine 5, with completely new graphics tied to the original game’s logic and animations. Prior to playing, I’d heard that the performance was awful, but I was overall pleased with it, as the game averages about 75 fps using a 3090 GPU with a 5700x processor at 1440p with max settings. Simply put, visuals are incredibly high quality. As a long time fan of the original game, seeing it with this level of visual fidelity is truly such a treat. Certain areas that looked a little flat or dated in the original game, such as New York City and Venice, are now gorgeously rendered in a truly impressive way.

As for differences from Sigma 2, there are some. The pointless giant statue bosses that everyone was very meh on are both gone now. Blood and gore are back, resulting in gallons of the stuff (I gave you all that you can drink and it has never been enough!) pouring out with seemingly every wound. Enemies in the previous version of the game could take a lot more punishment before being delimbed or decapitated, but that’s been improved. Instead of levelling weapons up for free at specific shop statues, you can now purchase as many as you want as long as you have the currency. Of course, you now get less currency from using ultimate techniques than before, so money is tighter in this version.

One odd drawback of this version is that several attacks just don’t seem to track enemies correctly. There are more enemies in several spots to try and be more in line with the original Ninja Gaiden II. Plus a recent patch has added a large amount of additional enemies to two of the game’s chapters in an attempt to more closely resemble the original game as well. The result is that it’s mostly easier to recommend Ninja Gaiden II Black over Sigma 2 any day, save for the tracking issues. Strangely, the ninja race mode included in that game is completely absent, though, which is a pretty confusing omission.

I’ve also noticed that some bosses seem to be even easier here than in Sigma 2. Alexei is a pushover in that version of the game compared to the original, but here he seems to spam his grab a whole lot less. While I love Ninja Gaiden II, I kind of hate most of its bosses, so I’m actually very okay with this, just as I was okay with Sigma 2 making the Death Megalo Flyer boss in chapter 3 an easy trifle versus the extreme annoyance of the game’s original boss. Regardless, I hope further patches are on the way to add more enemies and improve the iffy balancing on Ninja Gaiden II Black‘s hardest difficulty, where some enemy attacks simply do far too much damage (I’m looking at you, one-shot grabs.)

On the other end of the spectrum is Ninja Gaiden II Black‘s explosion effect. For whatever reason, it’s larger and harder to see through than in the other versions of the game. It isn’t uncommon to basically get completely blinded after being bombarded with them, which is a shame. Much like with the weapon tracking issues, mods exist that fix this, but it’s disappointing that these things haven’t been rectified by an additional patch when fans could figure them out.

In case you’re not familiar with any version of this game, it’s all about ninja extraordinaire Ryu Hayabusa traveling the world to stop an evil Fiend priest named Dagra Dai from resurrecting the Archfiend. To do so, he’ll battle through 14 stages (with three female characters each getting their own stage) of abominations to stop their evil plans from reaching fruition. Regardless of which version you’re playing, Ninja Gaiden II possibly has the best combat in any action game. You fight hordes of foes with an assortment of weapons that just tear your opponents apart in the goriest way.

Enemy limbs pop off with regularity and any delimbed enemy can be dispatched immediately by using an Obliteration Technique. Taking damage from enemy attacks lowers your health, sure, but also reduces your maximum health gauge until you use either a specific healing item or heal at the next save point. Otherwise, health refills up to a certain point when there are no enemies around, which gives you more room to make mistakes. I always considered this an improvement versus the first Ninja Gaiden. You’ll also find health and magic upgrades while exploring the game’s levels, plus crystal skulls that will grant you discounts at shops.

Ninja Gaiden Black II is a perfectly good way of experiencing this classic game, but isn’t the definitive version that some fans (yours truly included) were hoping it would be. But for new players experiencing the series for the first time, the terrific new visuals and wonderful gameplay will certainly be more than enough to have them see that this franchise still has some life left in it. And gallons and gallons of blood, of course.

Here is our previous review:

Lightning Katana PC review — Short cuts |