You’ll earn points in online matches that’ll help your ninja level up.

***UPDATE (3/23/12): At the end of the review we've added some news — and hands-on impressions — about a couple of extra in-game weapons that will be added via free title updates in April.***

Normally, we have an unwritten rule at OXM that we don’t review developers. We evaluate games and whether they’re worth your $60, because at the end of the day that’s all that matters. But when behind-the-scenes happenings with franchise creators become so dominant that they have a quantifiable, inarguable effect on your next purchase — such as the Infinity Ward scandal that led to a Modern Warfare 3 made by a very different Infinity Ward than the previous entries in the series — we believe it merits discussion and dissection. Such is the case with Ninja Gaiden 3, a fast-action romp created by a new generation of Team Ninja developers in the wake of a massive studio shakeup that included the controversy-drenched departure of team leader Tomonobu Itagaki.

And like MW3 before it, Ninja Gaiden 3 is an excellent follow-up that’s well worth your time and money. Its problem, as we’ll explain, is that perfection is a tough act to follow.

Ninja Deathmatch: we can only imagine the online trash talk.

The differences between Ninja Gaiden 3 and its predecessors are immediately apparent. As soon as you press Start, you’re greeted with a button-mashing quick-time event (QTE) as part of the intro sequence. If you’re worried this sets a bad precedent for the rest of the game, well…you’re half right. Whether it’s a short slow-motion knee-slide, a slice through an enemy as part of the game’s core “steel on bone” tenet (more on that later), or a scamper up a wall with your Kunai blades, these loathsome, smack-dab-in-the-middle-of-the-screen QTEs are frequent. Most of them serve the gameplay well, except for those Kunai climbs, in which the precise alternating trigger-presses required are always annoying. Fortunately, you can turn off the QTE prompts in the options menu. We highly recommend doing so, although you may run into a boss or two that requires such a unique button combo that you’ll want to temporarily turn them back on.

But what of the action — the rapidly beating heart of any Ninja Gaiden game? Laudably, it still pulses with an unmatched vigor. Ninja hero Ryu Hyabusa is, for all intents and purposes, a superhero, and you feel like one as you dash about each area, slashing, stabbing, and plunging your sword through a series of partially wounded foes to finish them off in rapid, successive, glorious fashion. You’re nearly unstoppable; to that end, Ninja Gaiden 3 doesn’t walk the line of challenge versus fun as carefully as the previous games. Here, Ryu’s foot is clearly on the fun side of things, meaning you won’t die nearly as often as you’re used to in this series. However, tougher tests of your mettle are available for masochistic franchise fans.

Mash the attack button to send your steel through bone. Just turn off the QTE prompts first!

The deeper you get into combat, the clearer the differences are between Itagaki’s Ninja Gaidens and this one. Whereas the earlier titles offered a deep, customizable experience through a full weapon and economy system, Ninja Gaiden 3 presents a much more streamlined campaign. Gone is every primary weapon save for Ryu’s single sword. (You still have shurikens.) Nor is there the yellow-essence currency earned from opening chests and killing creatures; in the earlier games, you could use it to buy gameplay-altering death-dealers such as a scythe, a staff, or claws. Moreover, while the older games let you become proficient with your favorite weapon or strategically choose the right one for a given group of enemies, here you’re stuck with a non-upgradable sword. This paring-down also applies to Ryu’s health: it regenerates after each battle, so health-restoring items have been excised. Even Ninpo magic has changed from a valuable, ohmigod-when-should-I-deploy-it consumable to a use-it-or-lose-it perk that powers up during each encounter.

Finally, we’re puzzled by the removal of, well, limb removal. For a game built on the prospect of conveying what it feels like for a ninja to “cut someone down” through the aforementioned steel-on-bone QTE finishing moves, Ryu’s inability to slice off arms, legs, and heads makes Ninja Gaiden 3 a lot less empowering than its gory predecessor. After finishing Ninja Gaiden 3, we went back and played Ninja Gaiden II to remind ourselves how it truly felt to cut people down.

Co-op scenarios don’t last very long, but it’s great fun to get your buddy’s back.