Ninja Gaiden 4 is the perfect place to jump into the series

When the first 3D Ninja Gaiden Released on Xbox in 2004 truly He wanted to play it; Although the game seems a bit dated now, at the time, I thought ninja hero Ryu Hayabusa was pretty cool. But unfortunately, I didn’t have an Xbox, and I don’t think I could have convinced my parents to let me play such a violent game (at the time). Even as an adult who can buy any game I want, I’ve never been able to play the series. Twenty-one years later, I’ve finally scratched that itch.

Ninja Gaiden 4 It stars a new character named Yakumo instead of Ryu. Yakumo is a complete punk. Imagine a person with a short and unaffected personality Final fantasy‘s Cloud Strife but as a very capable and acrobatic ninja who always wears a mask and has hair sweeping across his face. It’s silly, but it works for a super action game. His personality helps me justify the path internally Ninja Gaiden 4 Encourages aggressive, in-your-face fighting.

You have a light and heavy attack that you can mash to hit your enemies, and well-timed dodges help put you in the right position to continue your barrage of attacks. You can unlock new skills and moves that require certain button combinations, but I never used them consciously and usually relied on standard attacks. During combat, you will also build up energy to be able to transform into “Ravenbound” mode with stronger attacks that can disorient enemies.

After you deal enough damage to an enemy, they will be dismembered and then, with a single tap of your heavy attack, you can initiate a powerful finishing move with satisfyingly gruesome animations. I never tired of seeing Yakumo turn one of my weapons into a ferocious drill and jump on it to kill enemies. Although it’s ironic, it makes sense considering the game was jointly developed by action game experts Team Ninja and PlatinumGames. Sometimes, I felt like I was playing Bayonetta Game, which is a compliment.

The absurdity goes beyond the battles, too. When you’re not fighting waves of enemies, you’ll traverse the game’s levels by running along walls, jumping off poles with a grappling hook, grinding on rails, catching wind currents to fly through the air, and surfing through the water. There’s also a part where you can do all of this while moving through interdimensional portals. Between battles and moving, there’s always something interesting going on as you move around the world, and when you need a break from the action or to restock your items, in-game stores tend to put them right where you need them.

I was constantly flying towards enemies, keeping pressure with waves of weapon strikes, and jumping around levels like… Coolest ninja ever. There are even parts of the game where… You can play as Ryuwho has his own playstyle that’s a little different from Yakumo’s – although I liked playing as him less because his heroic personality is much more boring than Yakumo’s emo vibe.

Despite the chaotic movement, the game has a relatively old infrastructure. Generally speaking, you’ll play through a few levels, face a main boss, get a new weapon, then rinse and repeat. There’s no open world, which helps keep things focused, although some areas give you more room to explore. While the back third of the game takes a step down a bit due to some repetitive levels and boss fights, I appreciate how easy the whole thing is.

Ninja Gaiden 4 It’s one of my favorite action games I’ve played in years, and one I always envisioned as an authentic 3D game Ninja Gaiden It will be. I didn’t feel like I missed anything by jumping in so late in the franchise. There are a lot of great things Ninja Gaiden Games I’ll be playing next: I loved this year’s fantastic new 2D entry; Ninja Gaiden: Rageand for some old school 3D vibes, there’s a new one Remastered from Ninja Gaiden II For modern consolesalso. After two decades of waiting, I now have a lot of work to do.

^{Ninja Gaiden 4 They will be released On October 20 at 8 PM ET On Xbox Series}