Ninja Gaiden II Demo: A Love/Hate Thing

I've been looking forward to Ninja Gaiden II for quite awhile now. About a year. I didn't finish the Ninja Gaiden for the Xbox. I was waiting for #2 so they would fix that damn camera, right? I mean there was no doubt in my mind that the camera would be fixed. It's so frujeebly obvious. That they needed to fix the camera. In Ninja Gaiden. The camera needed fixing. Obviously. They're professional game designers! They KNOW the camera needs fixing. Right?

The camera in Ninja Gaiden II is worse.

The world is a very strange place. It is completely beyond my ability of comprehension to understand how the camera not only wasn't fixed but made worse.

Next point. The graphics. The screenshots leading up to the release of the game are just gorgeous. After playing the demo I have to say that that I was A LITTLE underwhelmed. The backgrounds and scenes stylistically remind me of one of my favorite games of all time Okami II (again with an odd, imperfect camera but miles better than the camera in NGII). The backgrounds and settings in the demo feel very "last generation" to me. The Characters look great. The characters and action look next-gen. It's an interesting combination that, if not wholly successful is not wholly unsuccessful either. It feels Japanese in that it has it's heart in the past while stepping into the future.

Now to the actual gameplay. Well, there's that aweful camera. Let's pretend for just a second that the awful camera isn't there. It's Awesome; incredibly addicting and engrossing and beautiful. And the blood. The beautiful blood and flying limbs and shooting blood. Like red paint being thrown straight from the bucket onto a wall. The gameplay. It's also frustrating. At times the game moves into a platforming style. I'm not into it. Or at least I'm not into the way it's done here. Let's just say the camera is problematic. Did I happen to mention that before? There's also an ability to zoom into first person. I found absolutely no use for this feature but it might be that there's no use for it in the demo level.

Overall I will say that there were times when playing the demo where I was completely wowed, entranced and thrilled. I'm going to buy this game which is something I rarely do. Buy games. For all it's flaws, and there are many, it's still a mesmerizing, awesome piece of action gaming. There's something about Japanese idiosyncratic style that I find magnetic and undeniable. And for better and for worse it's all here in NGII. While it's creator has stated that it's the last one in the series (and has quit and begun a lawsuit against his former bosses) I certainly hope that isn't the case. Cause I really want them to fix that Frebenhaphen camera!