Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 (NGS2) is a really fun action game. The gameplay is fast paced, smoothly animated, and the combat feels very satisfying. It’s also a lot easier to tell where you’re supposed to go now. Thank you for that, developers at Tecmo and Team Ninja. These games are about combat, not about finding your way.

My biggest complaint about Ninja Gaiden, the Xbox release, was that there were certain stages that were mazes. The first tunnel stage had me wandering around  for hours in order to trigger some convoluted mechanism that would open some door and let me get on my way. There was even a hidden passage, necessary hidden passage, that could only be seen after you had already accidentally found it. NGS2, so far from what I’ve seen doesn’t have stuff like that. Instead, holding the shoulder button for a bit automatically turns the camera to face in the direction you need to go.

When faced with NGS2 I think the first thing most people probably ask themselves is, "Do I really want to spend time/money on a game which is part of a series of games that are known to be extremely difficult?" While I never found the first Ninja Gaiden or Ninja Gaiden Sigma to be unwinnably hard, I think this exact thought crossed my mind with NGS2. For those of you who bypassed this game for these reasons, you should come back and take another look.

NGS2 is a refined version of Ninja Gaiden 2. Part of that statement means that the game is easier than its original 360 release, and rather than see that as a negative, like most hardcore gamers would, I see it as Tecmo and Team Ninja trying to get more people to play their games. For those of you who like the challenge of a good game, NGS2 still has some pretty difficult Trophies to obtain, but now it’s also a game for people who just like cool ninja imagery but have never had the skill to enjoy Ninja Gaiden. This is a good thing. People shouldn’t be afraid to play games because they’re too difficult. There are already plenty of other reasons they wouldn’t want to play a game.

First of all, stop saying it’s a demo. People don’t pay $40 for a demo. People don’t put over 60 cars into a driving game if it’s just a demo. Granted, Prologue is a just a taste of the GT5 to come, but it is not a demo.

I’ve heard a several reviews say that Prologue relies heavily on “grinding” to get the credits to buy better cars. Since there’s only 6 different tracks, not counting alternate setups and reverses, I can see why one might have to play the same race over and over again just to get the 2,000,000 credits for an F1 racer. On the other hand, you can also make money by running the races online; a lot more rewarding, and with human players, the races are a lot more interesting.

On that note, I think I’ve discovered why the announcement that car damage would be patched on as early as the fall came so soon after the game’s launch in Europe. Gran Turismo’s online mode seems to be heavily reliant on people.. well, not driving like a*#holes. But since they do, all that time you’ve spent in the single player learning how to follow the racing line feels pretty useless every time someone decides to just ram you from behind, rather than go around. And why not? The cars don’t break and sometimes you can get a boost by crashing just right. Don’t feel like slowing for a turn? Rub of another car to keep off the railing. The whole thing feels a lot like bumper cars at 110mph (I imagine).

While I can see how realistic damage could deter the crazies from causing so many crashes, it might suck even more when you get taken out of a race by someone who just doesn’t know how to drive.

All that said though, I’m having a blast. Online is great, just not the “real driving simulator” the rest of the game is. See my GTI? It’s not from the game, but who can tell anyways?