Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge
This was the improved version?!
Looking at it, it does come from that era of Armored Core V, and Ace Combat Assault Horizon, and it follows them in that, more "western" style, more cutscenes, more story, QTEs, a darker grittier look, "cinematic" slow motion shots, "cinematic" climbing, "cinematic" everything!
The problem is that none of that is Ninja Gaiden, the base gameplay isn't that bad all things considered, and is the greatest improvement over vanilla 3, though that is a pretty low bar to clear lol. The Steel on Bone mechanic is neat, and it does lead to some cool moments, but it also becomes the only way to clear certain fights since all enemies are now faster and more agile, evading, blocking or parrying most of your attacks. Some of the new animations are pretty cool, the Lunar Staff in particular, has a really cool one that is the perfect example of overkill.
But then there's all the other stuff, the climbing mechanic was pretty annoying, there's a stealth ability that's only used in a couple of places, QTEs are everywhere and they make boss fights more frustrating than they need to be, the lack of healing items is pure madness and I have no idea who the hell thought that was a good idea, the obsession with having several enemies with rocket launchers led to some pretty cheap feeling deaths, the last boss is one of the worst last bosses I've seen, and a more personal pet peeve, upgrades now being in a generic menu instead of the Muramasa shop was disappointing.
The story is also the worst of any of these games, yes, the story in the Ninja Gaiden series was never award worthy, but it did its job, it was silly and cheesy in all the best ways and was all about being a badass Ninja saving the world, the story in this one is pretty bad, the English voice of Ryu is also the worst of the series lol, IMO 2 had the best one, Josh Keaton >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Troy Baker, for this role.
The Ayane chapters weren't that bad though, I def enjoyed her gameplay and how brutal some of her attacks are. \m/ \m/
Grade: D-