Ninja Gaiden Black

We’re just going to lay this one out on the table –  we’re stuck. How do you score a package that includes Xbox’s best action game bundled together with more unlockables and additions than you can shake a Vigoorian Flail at? Do you take it at face value and score it without the knowledge of the original? In the end, it might not really matter – Ninja Gaiden Black does what the original did best, then hits the elevator button and ascends to an even higher floor.

Basically, the standalone game in Team Ninja’s beefed-up, tricked-out Ninja Gaiden Black is nearly an exact replica of the original – just as tough (depending on your skills and selectable difficulty level) and just as satisfying. But Tecmo’s added all the bells and whistles from the first Hurricane Pack, which was originally only available to Xbox Live subscribers. Stronger, faster enemies lurk in areas that were already challenging enough; some slight additions of story flashes (mainly concerning the purple-haired Ayane) flesh out her involvement in the game’s plot; and bosses get a leg up on your sorry ninja heinie with subtle variations. In other words, the full game in Black may not be completely retooled (when you’re playing through the Normal difficulty setting for the first time, changes may not be apparent at all) but trust us, when you nab the formerly Hurricane Pack–only Lunar weapon or go up against two eel bosses where previously there was only one, it’s clear that the landscape has changed.

So what’s the draw to Black if you already own the original? Plenty. In fact, we have 50 reasons why you’ve got to, and they’re all contained in the game’s punishingly brutal Mission Mode – where the ass kickings are delivered straight to your door like clockwork. Once you complete the standalone game, the missions in this mode start rolling out in fives. As if the initial ten that are unlocked weren’t rough enough, once you beat five, another five will unlock – and so on. If you want to see all 50 missions – to quote RuPaul –  you’d better work.

Each of the mission groupings works within a quasi-theme. The first set pits you against ninja after ninja in a last-man-standing format of objectives before capping off with a tweaked battle royale against the nunchakus-wielding heavy, Murai (who’s brought friends this time). The rest of the mission “groups” pretty much follow in the same stead – four challenges of the “destroy every enemy” variety with a boss-filled dessert, culminating in the very last set of challenges…Hurricane Pack Vol. II’s controller-smashingly difficult tower trial.

So to say that Ninja Gaiden Black is a game best reserved for connoisseurs of the original is a bit of an understatement. Even with the addition of a Ninja Dog bottom-rung difficulty setting (it’s really not that much easier) for the main adventure, mastering your Izuna Drops and essence-absorbing attacks is essential to making any headway into the all-new Mission Mode challenges.

But for those who graduated from gaming’s old school (and even some of you who haven’t), it’s hard to deny the pleasure, satisfaction, and illicit-substance level of addiction of an adventure this well designed and challenging. Gutting a boss after your fourth try is cool –  but clearing an entire room of demonic chumps with a few well-timed über-attacks is even cooler.

Rewards in the form of a fully playable arcade version of Ninja Gaiden, along with bragging rights await those with the skills to pay Team Ninja’s demanding gameplay bills. We’ve said it before, but this time we really, really mean it – Ninja Gaiden Black is a game made for and by fans. And for a $30 price tag, you don’t even have to be a rich fan.