Ninja Gaiden 4 Review – Cyberpunk Carnage and Combat Perfection

Ninja Gaiden 4 Review

If all you want to know is this Ninja Gaiden 4 rids the franchise of the disappointment that was Ninja Gaiden 3, it does. Have a good day. For everyone else, read on. The arranged marriage between Team Ninja and Platinum Games has produced a game that definitely combines what these two studios do best. Ninja Gaiden 4 is an action game that stays true to its roots while incorporating some interesting new ideas.

Elevator platform

Now you can be the one who simultaneously writes Ryu Hayabusa fanfiction and names your dog Dark Dragon Sword. Without a doubt, there are a lot of references and references to the story in Ninja Gaiden 4 that I didn't catch. I also don't mind that for most of Ninja Gaiden 4 you play as Yakumo, a surly upstart ninja with an edge-lord attitude. You also get to spend some time as Hayabusa, in a sort of extended cameo that unfortunately feels structurally unnecessary. After all, they are both masters of monosyllabic characters and can hack, chop, slice and dice. When you finish the game, you can replay the chapters with any character.

A cyberpunk version of near-future Tokyo is under the ravages of a supernatural rot thanks to the husk of the Dark Dragon in the sky, which may not be entirely dead after all. With the help of your unlikely ally Sorey and a few others, your ultimate goal is to kill the Dragon for real and forever. Yakumo is from the Crow Clan, enemies of the Hayabusa Clan, so when Ryu appears, sparks fly. I'll leave the rest of the story up to you.

Overall, Ninja Gaiden 4's narrative does what it needs to do. In other words, it gives Yakumo a reason to move from one area and fight to another. Neither the characters nor the dialogue are as interesting as in the games Nioh, Bayonetta or NieR, but everything is voiced with meaning. It is often a rather thin porridge, but for now it is quite tasty.

Scope

With Soulslikes dominating the genre, it's sometimes easy to forget that games like Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, and Bayonetta were once the epitome of action. Fast, frenetic, impressively fluid and acrobatic combat is the heart of Ninja Gaiden 4. If nothing else, the game is a reminder that, when done well, damn good combat is all you need. It's very nice.

The basics are still pure Ninja Gaiden. Yakumo has four weapons, each serving a very specific role. He has a set of dual blades, a spear that transforms into a drill, a double-bladed staff that becomes a hammer, and a shrike that transforms into claws. Using Blood Raven form (called “Radiance” form by Ryu), each weapon's light and heavy attack deals additional types of damage, and each weapon has a long list of unlockable abilities.

Of course, it wouldn't be Ninja Gaiden without the incredibly long and deep list of fighting moves and combos that can be purchased and unlocked at frequent terminals. Some variations of your favorites from previous games—izuna drops, guillotine throws, flying swallow attacks—are likely present and more polished than ever. The inclusion of additional weapons combined with dozens of combos means the combat is incredibly varied and fluid. By the last hours of the game, the number of possible combinations of weapons and techniques becomes enormous. All weapons are fun and viable. Combat almost always requires constant switching between the two.

Level set

The influence of Platinum Games' design is really felt in Ninja Gaiden 4's emphasis on mobility. This time, Yakumo's basic parkour repertoire includes a grappling hook and the ability to glide through air currents and over water. It can grind along winding rails. When Ninja Gaiden 4 is at its most fun, the sequence will have the player doing all of these things in sequence, such as furiously jumping between rails and running along a wall, then sliding downstream before grabbing another rail. This is truly action at its best, much of it very finely tuned and polished.

I'm easily frustrated by bad platforming, but Ninja Gaiden 4 almost always felt easy. Sometimes it's annoying when the camera makes it difficult to track where to look. Failure means an immediate reboot of the episode, often right at the moment the camera decides not to behave. The biggest culprit was the aerial gliding scenes.

The levels themselves are clearly designed with increased player mobility in mind, often at the expense of gullibility. In Ninja Gaiden 4, you rarely forget that you're playing a video game. Nothing—the levels, the enemies, the movement, the environment—feels tied to any recognizable reality. And that's just great. From the rotting skyscrapers of Tokyo to the daylight caves of demonic reality, we're in the ultimate video game playground.

Endurance competition

Part of Ninja Gaiden's design philosophy has always been long, challenging combat, and Ninja Gaiden 4 goes in that direction. Groups of tactically savvy enemies are larger and come in endless waves. Just when you think the battle is over, another party appears. There are many bosses replacing each other.

While the combat is visceral (the dismemberment comes back great and bloody), there were a few instances where things felt repetitive. It was never truly boring. However, a dozen fights in a row with the same enemies in the same environment were common. The boss design is good most of the time. There are enough adjustments available in the difficulty settings to easily adjust the balance between the brutal and the trivial. This is the first game in the series to have a heroic (easy) difficulty setting. This is a great way to attract new players to this demanding franchise. The extreme challenge is still there if you want it. On easier difficulty levels with things like auto-blocking, dodging, and healing enabled, button mashing is a viable strategy. But not very profitable.

Outside of the campaign, there are many small combat missions you can complete to earn extra coins or consumables. Although the game is completely linear, there are quite a few little nooks and crannies with loot or collectibles. There is quite a lot of post-game content in the form of new modes and difficulties. DLC is probably around the corner.

Visualize it

Ninja Gaiden 4 may not be a true graphics showcase, but like most Platinum and Team Ninja games, the graphics are clean, not overly cluttered with detail, and are crisp and memorable. The lighting and weather effects are well done and the character models are excellent. The combat sound is extremely effective. The music, especially for many of the boss battles, is an interesting stylistic mix.

On PC, technical performance was exceptional, with no glitches and only a few very minor bugs towards the end. Moreover, it worked perfectly on Asus ROG Xbox Ally X.

Overall, I think Ninja Gaiden 4 is a major step forward for the series. But in the last few chapters the game makes what I think is a structural mistake. I don't want to spoil the narrative, but this decision hurts the momentum, feels a bit like obligatory fan service or padding, and almost literally repeats sequences and resources.

It's hard to imagine Ninja Gaiden 4 not entertaining any action game fan. Its combat is intuitive and incredibly fluid. Navigating the environment is more fun than ever, turning every battle into a ballet of acrobatics and combat. Some episodes drag and there is some questionable storytelling towards the end. Breathe a sigh of relief. Ninja Gaiden 4 is a return to the damn good times that fans have been hoping for.

***Xbox code provided for review by publisher***