"Die, Gameplayer, Die...And Die Again!"

"Ninja Gaiden 2", the much anticipated follow up to an extrordinary game released back in 2005, rolls out this week. As its creator announced he was leaving publishers Techmo due to unpaid royalties, it looks like we won't be seeing anymore of this unique series but hopefully there will be many more creative games from Tomonobu Itagaki to look forward to in the future.


I must admit I found it quite frustrating to play the first Ninja Gaiden game : it clearly wasn't designed with the average gamer in mind (you die very frequently and the first "boss" you meet is frankly impossible!) but, at the same time, it felt really fresh, challenging and rewarding if you had enough patience to keep going. Additionally, I found it very amusing that here was a game that was intentionally difficult rather than accidentally difficult ! My saving grace came from the Internet, where I discovered there was an easy setting you could unlock for the game. In order to unlock it, you needed to die three times in succession right at the beginning of the game : having done this, you were then offered the "Ninja Dog Difficulty" setting : from that point onwards , I was teased, ridiculed and humiliated by the game and left with no illusions that I was a coward and wimp for choosing the setting. Needless, to say, I proceeded to enjoy and finish the game!

From a business perspective, however, its very important not to alienate and frustrate your audience: sales can sometimes be literally doubled simply by ensuring that all players' skills are catered for. I know a lot of people were unaware of the existence of the easy setting and gave up in frustration as a result. On the other hand, lots of hardcore gamers were thrilled and delighted by the unique game challenge. As a game consultant, I know I would have been arguing vehemently for the inclusion of the easy setting from the beginning at the main menu but, looking back in hindsight, sometimes we need to make allowances and exceptions for certain games : this industry badly needs games that challenge the norm, push the limits and move the boundaries : after all, thats how the industry grows and moves forward, not by producing yearly sequels.

UPDATE
The demo was released on Xbox live marketplace (Europe not US) today : much the same game as the original but with enhanced graphics and spectacular new moves and weapons. There are serious camera issues this time around, however. This could have been fixed by simply moving the camera's initial position slightly back/up : or even by allowing the player to push in the left controller stick to set the camera position themselves...maybe this will done for the retail version?