That’s for not being a busty chick in a Team Ninja game!
By: Casey Curran
There have been many times when playing my Vita, or even Nintendo 3DS, that I just think to myself, “Wow, this is actually on a portable.” Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus, a second re-release of Ninja Gaiden 2, definitely gave this impression; only for some technical issue to rear its ugly head that would cause me to think, “Well yeah, of course this is not on a console.” It is not enough to ruin the experience, but it makes it hard to recommend this installment over the console versions.
CONTROLS (3.5/5)
One of the best parts of Ninja Gaiden has always been how smooth and fluid the combat felt. This is referring to the console versions, however, which run at a stable 60 frames per second. On the other hand, the Vita only runs it at 30 frames and struggles at it. This causes the controls to feel less responsive and creates instances with many enemies to feel very clunky and unpolished. That said, the game does handle well for the most part, and the controls offer a wide variety of options for combat.
However, while the controls work fine in combat, once the game has you move to the next area they take a nosedive. Anything beyond just running to a new area feels awkward and makes any instance where the game tries to add variety a chore.
GRAPHICS/SOUND (3.5/5)
When at its best, Ninja Gaiden 2 is a very stunning game to see on the Vita’s small screen. While it is not the looker the console version was, the graphics are still smooth with a lot of detail put in and a wide variety of areas. Unfortunately, the detailed nature of these graphics proves to be their downfall as well, as their quality ends up like a roller coaster.
If more than two enemies are on screen at once, the graphics are always the first thing to take a hit. This caused moments where the game would have a lot more jagged edges in a very unappealing way. This would also occur every time I would exit a menu for a few seconds, which made the game inconsistent. Music is excellent while the sound effects fit the game very well, especially when they accompany the gorier moments.
GAMEPLAY (3.75/5)
From a combat standpoint, Ninja Gaiden is about as good as it gets. The game gives you an absurd amount of weapons — to the point that I would expect that number from an RPG rather than an action game. Most of them feel different from each other and have enemies and scenarios in which they are useful rather than just being there to add variety. I was always thinking about what to use on groups versus a one-on-one fight, what to use depending on the enemy’s weapons and armor, and what works on fast versus grounded enemies, which made combat never grow even a little stale to me. There is also a neat gimmick where certain attacks will cut off enemy limbs without necessarily removing them from the fight. This gives combat just a little more uniqueness and strategy while also making the gore even more enjoyable.
However, as I noted earlier with the controls, once the gameplay starts to slow down it is very noticeable and a lot less fun. In the early levels it was not enough to hurt the game, but later on there were battles where I had to strategize in a way to minimize the slowdown even with the in-game setting set to minimize the effect. This seems like more of an issue than it really is because it was infrequent and never lasted too long, but it’s still very noticeable. There was also a serious issue with the camera as it zooms in a little too far and lets objects in the background get in the way a bit too often for it to simply be a minor annoyance.
Outside of the combat the game also has issues. Platforming is imprecise, swimming sections feel like the control scheme changes every five seconds, and aiming a projectile weapon is either very slow and out of place or needs a tap on the touch screen that requires way too much precision for a game this fast paced. In other words, if the combat is not for you, there is nothing else here for you.
OVERALL (3.25/5)
If this were the only version of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus, I would have given it an extra point. The combat is very deep and fun with a lot of different modes and replay value. Knowing that there is a better version out there makes this hard to recommend unless you love Ninja Gaiden that much and/or travel a lot. Otherwise, just get the PS3 or Xbox 360 version.
RotoRob GAMING 
Even if this isn’t the best version of the game, I am glad you got into it and ended up enjoying the combat as much as you did. The more weapons, moves and spells you get, the better it gets.
The slight hit to responsiveness was what ultimately made me stop playing the first Sigma Vita game. I also think it is just a little more comfortable to play on PS3 since I have to hold block so often.