Despite the fact that there have been about twelve Xbox 360s sold in Japan, for some reason they got the Ninja Gaiden II demo before we do.  Luckily, our correspondents at Gamervision of Japan (sure, it’s a real thing) were able to get some quality time with the much anticipated action title, and guess what; it’s very, very, VERY bloody!

The demo starts off with the abduction of the busty and underdressed Sonya, who looks a lot like Rachel, the busty and underdressed co-star of the previous title, by a group of Black Spider Clan ninjas.  From there, you’re immediately dropped into combat with these enemy ninjas.  You’ll start the game with the Dragon Sword equipped, but you’ll also have access to alternate weapons, including a massive scythe and a set of goofy looking clawed gloves and boots.  Each of the weapons has its own unique set of combo attacks.  Our experience with the game indicates that the best way to perform these combos is to wildly mash the X and Y button until everything in the room is dead.

Fans of the original Ninja Gaiden (and its 23 semi-sequels) will feel completely at home with the controls.  X and Y represent your regular and strong attacks, respectively, and A lets you jump, wall run an even vault off of walls to reach higher areas.  Left Trigger blocks and evades and B uses your secondary weapon, usually a ranged weapon like shuriken or a longbow.  There are also magic attacks called Ninpo (yet another holdover from the previous title) that unleash deadly attacks to everyone in the vicinity.  In practice, the game’s combat system feels almost identical to Ninja Gaiden’s.  This isn’t a bad thing, necessarily, but a bit of innovation would have been nice.  The one major new feature is the ability to regenerate health after battles, which cuts the game’s difficulty down a bit.  While some hardcore gamers may see this as gimping their favorite uber-challenging game, it will definitely serve to bring new players on board, and make the game more accessible overall.

While your attacks haven’t changed much, the results certainly have.  Instead of slashing enemies up until they simply fall down and die, you’ll find your attacks decapitating and dismembering opponents in a gruesome display of flying limbs and blood.  The vivisections look fantastic, if a bit gratuitous, as does the game in general.  Enemy designs are a bit generic, and Ryu looks pretty much exactly the same as last time, but the extra level of graphical polish and shine really make him and the rest of the game's character models look fantastic, especially in HD.  Environments are even more gorgeous, with excellent lighting effects, some very cool transparency effects, and a simply beautiful rendition of a futuristic Tokyo.

My opinion so far?  If you liked the first game, you’ll definitely want to check out the sequel.  All the insanely fast, fluid combat you expect from Ninja Gaiden is here, but it looks better, sounds better, and, thanks to some new finishing moves, it even feel better.  The demo rocks, we’ll see how the rest of the game holds up when it’s released in America on June 3.


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