The Year Of The Ninja Begins

During Xbox’s last Developer_Direct, we were promised this would be the “Year of the Ninja.” Well, it’s certainly off to a good start. After Team NINJA showed off a first look at NINJA GAIDEN 4, we were treated to a surprise shadow drop of NINJA GAIDEN 2 Black. NINJA GAIDEN 2 Black is the first game I have played in the series, and I am certainly interested in seeing where the “Year of the Ninja” goes now.

The Green House

NINJA GAIDEN 2 Black follows Ryu Hayabusa as he chases down some of the world’s strongest fiends and ninjas looking to erase the Hayabusa clan from existence. With the help of some friends and even foes, Ryu will cut through and combo anything that gets in his way whether or not the game explains who they are.

NINJA GAIDEN 2 Black is a remaster of a re-release combining parts of the original NINJA GAIDEN 2, which came out in 2008, with elements of NINJA GAIDEN 2 Sigma, which came out in 2009. Black was made using Unreal Engine 5 and is developed to be the “ultimate” version of the original release.

While the game restores some of what was cut from Sigma, Black, unfortunately, is not the complete experience it could have been with some modes and missions not present in the 2025 release. But what it does contain is strong even with some small missteps.

In Bloom

Before playing NINJA GAIDEN 2 Black, I had no insight into how explosive the action of this series is. From the absurd and over-the-top dismemberment to the unreal combos that allow the player to control the flow of combat from start to finish, this is a pure action game that delivers unfiltered action.

Some enemies are more satisfying to fight against than others and some weapons, especially one you get very late into the game, are more enjoyable to fight with than others. But, when you fight an enemy that can get shredded apart with a few select button presses and Ryu transitions into a short glory kill animation, NG2B feels unbelievably satisfying.

Much like DOOM 2016, the glory kills you can use to finish off enemies never get tiring and can feel like a short respite when surrounded by giant walker tanks or a pack of hidden ninjas waiting for their turn to get slashed into bits.

NG2B has 9 melee weapons, 2 ranged weapons, and 7 Ninpo (Ranged magic attacks). The ranged weapons I’ll talk about more in the Out Of Season section, but the variety of melee weapons present I loved. Each weapon played slightly differently and offered a different set of moves to be tinkered/experimented with. Some were better for bosses, some were better for CC, and some just looked cool as hell in action.

One of the strongest aspects of this game is its pace. Most levels of NG2B will have you engaging with a group of foes or a large boss every 30-40 seconds after fighting the last group. The pace of play is balanced in a way that keeps the game moving fast enough to keep the energy up, but not too quickly where each combat interaction becomes a blur and meshes together over time. When you take on a large group of enemies, pull off the right combos, and finish the encounter with a big blow that decapitates an enemy, you are, most times, given enough of a moment to reflect before starting a new fight.

Each level ends with a big boss to cap off the high-paced gameplay with something a little more balanced and strategic. By no means are these bosses anything akin to a Souls-like boss, but they all have a personality that shines through in different ways set on grand backdrops that encapsulate the entire level you just played through.

While it’s not a robust system, NINJA GAIDEN 2 Black offers the ability to upgrade your weapons and magic, as well as a handful of collectibles for more health or items to turn in at the shopkeeps for consumables as you progress throughout the game. The weapon upgrade system is rather simple, each weapon can be upgraded up to level 3 and as you upgrade them a few more attack combos will open up. So if one weapon calls to you more than another, you can focus on upgrading that with the Essence you collect from killing enemies.

Ryu isn’t the only character you play as in this game. For a few missions sprinkled throughout, you take control of some supporting ladies who all offer their own style of gameplay and unique character-specific weapons. While I like the change of pace for Rachel, Ayane, and Momiji, they did feel out of place story-wise and the story never really explained who they were or what they were really doing. I wish they were featured more throughout the game story and gameplay-wise.

Out Of Season

As I mentioned at the opening of this review, NINJA GAIDEN 2 Black is my first time interacting in any way with the NINJA GAIDEN series, but from the start of this game to the end, almost nothing makes sense story-wise. Don’t get me wrong, I love a game that either has little to no story or leaves the door open enough for the player to interpret things how they want to. NINJA GAIDEN 2 Black has the framing of what could be an interesting story but, it almost never paid anything off or makes sense of the different adventures Ryu is partaking in.

I didn’t need this game to be the greatest story of all time, but giving a little more context to some of the enemy’s motivations, fleshing out Ryu’s connections with the other cast members, or even giving a reason as to why I should care about this lady following me around the whole game!

What is most likely to turn people off from this game is the camera. NINJA GAIDEN 2 is an Xbox 360 game at its heart and games from that era didn’t know how to make a third-person camera work to its fullest potential.

The best way to describe the camera is that it constantly feels like it’s fighting you. Yes, after a while I did get used to it and yes, there are some settings you can tweak to make the experience a little easier to manage. But, the camera doesn’t feel fluid, intuitive, or user friendly and that is above all else the biggest turn-off for this game.

One of the other places NG2B stumbles is the character movement outside of combat. When in combat Ryu controls and plays like a ninja, but when moving from area to area, Ryu feels heavy, lead-footed, and awkward to maneuver especially when it comes to some of the jumping puzzles sprinkled in from time to time. When in action, Ryu can jump off walls into long and thought-out combos, but when it’s time to get from one broken staircase to another, the ninja feels more like a Wipeout contestant.

I mentioned how much I liked the different melee weapons offered and how unique each was. On the other hand, the ranged weapons were a big disappointment to me. The two main ranged weapons you carry around are the bow and cannon. While the weapons themselves are fine, if anything maybe a little too strong, each time they are needed they break up the action in a way that made me almost forget I’m playing a NINJA GAIDEN and instead made me think I’m playing some sort of on-rails shooter where everyone stands in place and takes turns shooting back and forth at one another.

The Stem

NINJA GAIDEN 2 Black is a ton of fun all the way through and has me interested in playing more games in the series. From remastered visuals that shine through on certain levels to the addicting action, I recommend NINJA GAIDEN 2 Black For Some.

If you have never played a NINJA GAIDEN before, I see this as a good entry into the series. It looks pretty, it’s a ton of fun to play and doesn’t take itself too seriously.

If NINJA GAIDEN is a favorite series of yours, the fresh coat of paint may be enough for you to jump into this version of 2, but the lack of some content may be enough for you to skip this one.

If a story-driven action game is something you are craving right now, NINJA GAIDEN 2 Black is most likely not the game for you. While its action is likely more than enough for you, its lack of a compelling and cohesive story leaves just the action carrying this title.