When Ninja Gaiden rocked the Xbox in 2004, many referred to it as one of the best, yet most challenging action adventure games of all time. However, when the much anticipated sequel finally makes it way to consoles in its finished form, Tecmo hopes that the ESRB doesn’t call it over the top, and try to dismantle what they believe is a critical game mechanic of Ninja Gaiden II: loss of limbs.
In the confines of a hotel room during the Tokyo Game Show, the game’s director played through a demo — and left jaws on the floor with the game’s beauty and overall level of violence. In Ninja Gaiden II, part of the fun of dispatching foes is by the variety in which you can do it. This time around, you can literally shred the limbs off opponents, thus limiting the attacking power they can unleash back on you.
Tired of getting chased around by those pesky bad guys? Lob off some legs. Is the backup posse going all Wing Chun on you? Separate them from their arms. While this may seem kind of harsh for a videogame, the last time I checked, a torso spinning around on the ground doesn’t pose much of a threat. They sure won’t be in any hurry to pick up a weapon and give chase. Sounds to me like something a real ninja might pull out of his bag of tricks. Hey, nobody said combat was supposed to be pretty.
Catch Tecmo’s rationale, after the jump.
As the project lead for Ninja Gaiden II sees it, this isn’t just random violence thrown in for the shock value. It serves a purpose, and he’s hoping that the ESRB doesn’t drag the game down the dangerous path of beyond a Mature rating:
“We know that we’re going to have to cross that bridge when we come to it,” said the project lead regarding ratings submissions. “But for us, I think that with the way the violence is used in the game and how it works with the gameplay, we’re not using violence of violence’s sake. It’s really tied into how the game plays. We don’t want to compromise on that element at all.”
Boy oh boy… is this game sounding better and better all the time.
[Via NextGeneration]
