Ninja Gaiden II demo slashes North America
Posted Jun 7th 2008 10:00AM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News, Xbox Live Marketplace

After one too many
broken promises, the previously
Japanese exclusive bloody ninja demo goodness has finally made its way overseas and not a moment too soon. Today, U.S. and Canadian Xbox Live members are being treated to a new'ish
Ninja Gaiden II demo that's available for download right this ninja-second via the XBLM. You'll also be excited to hear that the demo comes complete with the option to view Japanese or English subtitles! W00t! And, for those of you who'd like to view our take on what the demo has to offer, be sure to check out our
Ninja Gaiden II demo impressions video while waiting for your 858MBs to download.
Miss you Itagaki ...
Tags: ng2, ninja-gaiden-2, ninja-gaiden-ii, team-ninja, tecmo, xblm
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
6-07-2008 @ 10:05AM
Neuromancer said...
I guess I'll try this game just on account of the hype, can't really see myself getting into it though. Not sure why.
Reply
6-07-2008 @ 10:05AM
SadisticHam said...
Game is flipping amazing, on chapter 8 right now. Enjoy the demo.
Reply
6-07-2008 @ 10:48AM
Magic Whiskey said...
Had held off on purchasing the game until I tried the demo. Man, it's slick!
It'll be hard not to have this on my mind for a while, and very tempting to just go freakin' buy. I was really surprised at how much fun the demo is; I expected much less quality.
Reply
6-07-2008 @ 2:07PM
BananaBoat said...
The demo makes me want to buy, even though I'd rather support Itagaki and not buy it. Gamefly still hasn't sent it...and I'm getting itchy....mmmm....
6-07-2008 @ 11:30PM
DemonGSides said...
Go buy it. I've only gotten a little time to play it, but the Falcon talons or whatever are seriously one of the best video game weapons ever.
Also, SPOILER:
Kusarigama. Thats all I'm saying.
6-07-2008 @ 10:54AM
Big Filth said...
I bought the game even tho I was pissed at this demo situation. The game is really awesome.
but fuck MS and whoever else was responsible for taking so long to give us americans the demo!
Reply
6-07-2008 @ 11:03AM
Lord Bowser said...
Broken camera is broken.
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6-07-2008 @ 11:27AM
NummNutts said...
The camera is broken. It wasn't such a problem in NGB because most environments were wide open. In NG2, you often fight in confined areas, plus the obliteration techniques constantly switch the camera around. It requires some blind slashing once in a while, but it's still awesome.
That being said, I still really enjoy it, but I still think NGB is a better experience - although I'm only on chapter 3, so...
6-07-2008 @ 11:45AM
Lord Bowser said...
I played the demo: every five seconds you have to press R trigger. But that's not that bad if the game was actually fair; it's almost as if the camera is an enemy unto itself.
Example: you're walking, fighting ninjas, and all that. Suddenly, there's a ninja duo hiding behind a wall. Ok, I'll press R so I can see them. But then the camera gets stuck in a wall.
???
What's up with that? Meanwhile, the enemies have slashed away three or four times at me leaving Ryu with critical health. I'm not saying it's a bad game, in fact I'll probably buy it when the price drops, just don't expect to have fun in small enclosed areas. I would even argue that Ninja Gaiden Black had a better camera.
6-07-2008 @ 12:13PM
Gamertag: GOPAL892005 said...
try it without pressing RT - the camera's fine IMO - gets stuck occassonally but an RT will sort that out.
my major issue is the difficulty levels of the bosses - it doesnt seem to be in keeping with the rest of the game - ie. bosses are extremely hard [even on Acolyte] & all other enemies are easy to beat.
6-07-2008 @ 12:33PM
Homer 918 said...
The camera is broken end of discussion. Yuu can argue other things make up for it but for me it's enough to forgo even renting the game.
6-07-2008 @ 3:07PM
BananaBoat said...
The camera is probably about as good as it could possibly be. It's a tradeoff...you get frenetic action, at the expense of a camera that you have to fight at times. If only it could switch to an infront view when you enter a new room (so you could see yourself coming in, and the enemies that were waiting). Oh well, the game is still ridiculously awesome.
Someone else was correct in saying that the camera isn't any worse from the original, but that the indoor environments make it stand out more as a problem.
All of that said, the camera is customizable in the menu before you start the game (in-game when you could see the changes you've made in action would have been a nice design choice...but...whatever). So you can absolutely try to tweak it to your personal preferences. I'll admit that you shouldn't have to, but Ninja Gaiden is still the premiere (IMO) game out of the three juggernauts in it's genre (Devil May Cry and God of War being the other two).
6-07-2008 @ 4:17PM
Mike said...
"The camera is probably about as good as it could possibly be."
No, it's not even close. It's constantly too low to see where you're going in the first few chapters (causing me to miss quite a few jumps since I couldn't tell there was a hole in the ground), random objects on the side of the level keep obscuring your view (like the fence posts at the beginning of the first level), and certain wall jump areas have the camera completely freak out and glitch through walls and stuff.
If you want to see how good the camera *could* have been with a little more time in the oven, play through the end of chapter 4 and marvel at how many of the special platforming areas have unique camera angles built-in. The camera is significantly better in chapter 4 than it is in the first three chapters.
6-07-2008 @ 4:58PM
BananaBoat said...
The menu has an option to move the camera higher. I know it's inexcusable for them to think people will quit out of their game, go back to the menu, and then to options, to toggle the setting that makes it happen, but it's atleast an option.
First complaint I've heard about the camera being too low, but I guess team ninja thought that some might feel that way, and added the menu setting. For me, I'd have liked some way for the game to hold off on sending enemies your way till you can actually see inside the room you've just entered, but I thought the height of the camera was fine. All in all, NGII's camera seems more zoomed into Ryu by default than the original (maybe it's just my imagination).
6-08-2008 @ 2:09AM
Arnon said...
I thought you could switch the camera just by pressing the back button and going into the system menu lol.
6-08-2008 @ 7:09AM
Mike said...
"The menu has an option to move the camera higher"
Really? Man, I should have used that earlier.
And yeah, the camera is definitely closer to Ryu in this game. I guess they wanted to show off all the extra detail!
6-08-2008 @ 8:55AM
BananaBoat said...
This is the part where I bang my head into the wall. Why the hell is that not in the start menu? Who would think "Oh! Maybe the back button brings up a menu!" Gahhhh.
6-09-2008 @ 2:07PM
ryan said...
if it's so broken why hasn't it been fixed in 2 games and 2 expansions?
6-07-2008 @ 12:28PM
Adam said...
This game is the best i have played this year.The action is non stop and it never gets repetitive like dmc4.The graphics are A+ as well im really impressed.As far as the other gaidens go i like this one and the first the best.
Finally a game thats challenging.
Reply
6-07-2008 @ 3:34PM
Kelvin said...
This game rocks running out and buying it. Nice way to cool off in this NYC heat!