Ninja Gaiden Black -- Final Opinion.

I've completed the game on normal difficulty level. It took me seventeen hours and change with an overall rank of Master Ninja. There are some things right and some things wrong with the game. What's right with the game? It's simply gorgeous for one. The in game graphics are about as well done as anything on the Xbox. Team Ninja also has a real knack for visually impressive CGI cutscenes. You will not find prettier CGI this generation. The music is really well done and is used sparingly and dramatically both to a good result. The combat gets some mention in the good category. When it's working, it's very fast, frenetic, stylish, and fun. On the other half of the coin we have the bad. And here, the combat will get some mention. When it's not working, it's as cheap as anything I've ever seen. It's not exactly fair. Which is the key distinction in what makes a hard game fun instead of merely hard. With most of the later bosses there seems to be a chance factor being used. It's not about skill here. You can dodge the attack, and land your counter attack perfectly, and it's seemingly up to a chance modifier if the hit lands. It might take skill to make the dodge, and then to counter, but then having to rely on chance is crossing that line of hard and fun and fair to hard and not fun and unfair to me. Also in the bad is the camera. Easily some of the worst camera movement I've ever seen. This is the very first game where I've managed to be killed off screen, by a boss also off screen. The camera didn't feel the need to track me or the only other creature around and instead chose to show me the corner and the really nice textures employed by the graphics designers. The combat being so frenetic is the cause for this. The camera just can't come close to keeping up with the action. The content offered on the disc is to be considered a plus if you like the combat system. That's a big if. There's nothing there for you if you don't, and an awful lot there for you if you do. Once you finish the game on any level, the mission mode is unlocked. It's a series of fifty challenges. Ten are available at the start, and completing five of the ten unlocks the next ten. You'll be set against a group of creatures and with specific items and weapons and must make it through. These become insanely hard. It's fan service to those who like the engine. It's torture to anyone who doesn't like the engine. Now for me, I liked the game enough to see it through, but the engine is not my preferred brand of poison. The frustration with the cheapness I see in the engine is what does it for me. The camera angles can be suffered through a little easier. If I were to start with the game being a perfect ten, and took full points away for the cheapness I see and the what I don't see because of the camera, I'd end up at eight. So that's it, I'm giving Ninja Gaiden Black an 8. Glad I was around for the main course, but not sticking around for dessert.