"And that's for not delivering my pizza on time!"

“We don’t think there’ve been many [fast] action games that have taken a strong crack at multiplayer,” suggested Team Ninja leader Yosuke Hayashi humbly. He’s right, and the reason may be that jumping into a Ninja Gaiden 3 multiplayer match cold is enough to make your head spin. Ninjas are leaping to and fro, Ninpo magic is flying left and right, and blood is spraying everywhere.

With little to guide us save our own (extensive) history with the Ninja Gaiden series, we hopped into a four-on-four battle in a familiar Japanese village stage — after first customizing our hero. The options to choose from are vast from the color of your robe to Kanji symbols on your back to a V for Vendetta-style jester mask to an ultra-creepy baby-face mask that’s sure to haunt our dreams for the next several weeks.

Ninjas don't "belly flop." They "swan dive."

Once the round began, we felt empowered as our four-man death squad departed together from our spawn point. After all, what’s better than an entire quartet of slicing, dicing ninjas collectively slashing towards a common goal? Turns out the one thing better is that very slashing. Getting the drop on your enemy — either by pouncing on them from the rooftops above or by walking slowly to turn invisible — is a complete rush, equaled only by the blood-brother bond you’ll forge when you hurry over to aid a teammate who’s about to get killed (or, conversely, when you’re the one getting saved by a buddy). Also cool is the ability to button mash in order to press your sword through your victim’s chest for the finishing blow, while the slash-ee is simultaneously hammering on his gamepad to try and repel your attack. 

Walk slowly to turn (mostly) invisible.

The entire complement of Ryu Hyabusa’s moves is here, and it’s up to you to put them to better use than your opponent. We had a tough time blocking attacks once our enemy got the first blow on us, but that might just be our lack of experience with the mode. Perhaps our rhythm will come with time. Also, if you’re mortally wounded, you can actually commit hara-kiri by pressing X. We’re not sure what about running your own sword through your belly is in it for you (hopefully an Achievement for doing it enough, at the very least), but we suspect it keeps your opponent from earning the kill. It was a bit tough to tell in the fracas — that’s how fast and furious Ninja Gaiden 3’s multiplayer is. We can’t wait to spend more time with it, even if half the blades that end up in our chest are our own for a while.

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PUBLISHER: Tecmo Koei  •  DEVELOPER: Team Ninja  •  MULTIPLAYER: Yes  •  RELEASE DATE: March 2012  •  FOR FANS OF: The feeling of cutting into flesh and bone