Game review: Ninja Gaiden 3: Razors Edge

Imagine forking out £35 on a brand new video game that you have been waiting for for months, playing it to death until completion, then find that the developers are releasing an enhanced version of that very same game.
Ninja Gaiden 3: Razors EdgeNinja Gaiden 3: Razors Edge
Ninja Gaiden 3: Razors Edge

It leaves you feeling like you’ve wasted money on a game you will never play again as the enhanced version is a million times better.

Well this is the very feeling I felt when Team Ninja and Tecmo Koei announced Ninja Gaiden 3: Razors Edge.

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It promised a ton of new features that were missing from the first outing just titled Ninja Gaiden 3, making it an all-round bigger and better game.

Ninja Gaiden 3: Razors Edge follows the legendary ninja Ryu Hayabusa, who finds that a mysterious clan are looking for him.

He soon decides to assist Japan’s Self Defence Force to take down the clan led by a masked terrorist leader who induces a curse upon Ryu named “Grip of Murder” which slowly kills him.

The player, as Ryu, has to fight these terrorists and its leader before this curse sees Ryu to his demise.

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It’s a pretty standard plot but it’s set worldwide, starting off in our capital, London, and what better way to kick off a cool badass action game than a Falcon Dive off of Big Ben!

Ryu is as cool as he has always been, however his co-workers aren’t so with cheesy dialogue and bland personalities, but due to the relentless onscreen action, it’s easy to look past.

Razors Edge sees the inclusion of Ayane who has her own set of story missions which involves the return of the Black Spider clan.

The gameplay has been tweaked in a huge way, the tough unforgiving combat from the past games have returned and luckily it has been assisted with Hero mode from the Sigma games.

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Hero mode makes things easier with Ryu automatically guarding when his health is low, a breath of fresh air for casual gamers.

Ryu’s moves are all here, along with brand spanking new ones thanks to the return of The Lunar Staff, Dual Katanas and the Kusari-gama (or claws), each have their own move set and superb looking Obliteration techniques.

When I played Ninja Gaiden 3, I noticed immediately that there was no gore or limbs flying everywhere, even though Ryu’s sword was chopping enemies up like it was whipping up a salad.

Morbid people rejoice as blood is back along with decapitations and mutilations and it looks great.

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New to Razors Edge also is the ability to upgrade Ryu’s weapons, armour and Ninpo (you have to earn his dragon spell now), online mode now comes with new characters Ayane, Kasumi and Momiji who also has their own chapters unique to the story. Ninja Gaiden 3: Razors Edge looks just as incredible as before in all Ninja Gaiden 3s cinematic greatness along with new areas and missions providing fresh visuals to gorp at.

It has a huge sense of scale and each location looks fantastic and authentic (apart from big robot spiders) along with the huge intimidating and scary looking bosses which provide intense challenges and also impressive visuals.

Cut scenes are a joy to watch and the female characters are just as a joy to look at as they did the first time around. Even though Razors Edge gets fast and frantic, it impressively succeeds in keeping the textures sharp making players not want to look away at least until the action subsides.

Summary

Well Team Ninja and Tecmo Koei have definitely listened to the complaints about Ninja Gaiden 3 and delivered a perfected port of this action classic. Each and every new and returning feature fits nicely with the already brilliant story making things a hell of a lot more enjoyable and makes it worthwhile for players who have already played the first outing to buy and play through again.

Ninja Gaiden 3: Razors Edge

Developers: Team Ninja

Publishers: Tecmo Koei

Playstation 3®

Xbox 360®

WiiU

Genre: Action Adventure

Release date: 5th April 2013

Story – 4/5

Graphics – 5/5

Gameplay – 5/5

Overall – 5/5