You can make the girls boobs jiggle by shaking the Six Axis.

That seems to be the first thing which comes to mind when people mention the latest installment of the Ninja Gaiden series. But thankfully, Tecmo have put a fair bit of effort into the Playstation 3 version of 2008's flawed but intense (and at times, thrilling) Xbox 360 game Ninja Gaiden II. The problem with Ninja Gaiden II was that even though it featured some of the best ideas ever brought to the series, it was hindered by a number of problems, framerate issues, glitches, a sub-HD resolution and for the first time in the 3D Ninja Gaiden games, cheap, unfair difficulty.

But, Tecmo, after huge internal changes (the controversial Tomonobu Itagaki leaving Team Ninja, rejecting a takeover bid from Square Enix to instead merge with Koei, yes Koei) have decided to right the wrongs of the original version and release Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2. This isn't simply a relaunch of Ninja Gaiden II, but a relauch of the series itself, and of the creators, Team Ninja. Yosuke Hayashi, a geeky looking fellow with thick, black rim glasses replaces the rock star like Itagaki, and Hayashi-san seems to want to strip away the excess of the Ninja Gaiden series (and of Itagaki) and focus on a more streamlined approach, lets find out how he's done...

Sigma 2 features new areas, characters, enemies and weapons, as well as numerous tweaks and changes, so the single player is considerably different to the Xbox 360 game. Now you can play as three buxom ladies, Ayane (from the Dead Or Alive series), Rachel (from the original Xbox Ninja Gaiden and playable in the original Sigma) and Momiji (from Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, on DS). Believe it or not, these characters do add quite abit to the gameplay, they are all very different, and using them adds variation to the games excellent combat. Ah yes, the combat. By far and away the crown jewl of the series, the depth, fluidity and satisfaction of the combat is what makes Ninja Gaiden worth playing, chaining moves together, at lighting pace, surrounded by enemies, it's an intense and extremely satisfying experience.

As i was saying earlier, Hayashi has created a far more balanced game. Some hardcore fans may critisize this as "dumbing it down", and i must admit that on my first play through (on Path Of The Acolyte) i didn't die a single time, beating every boss in one attempt. But, i think it's about time Ninja Gaiden opened it's doors to the outside world and stopped being so pig headed. That's what the Acolyte setting is for, new players, and that is absolutely fine by me. Anybody who wants an "authentic" Ninja Gaiden experience simply needs to start on Mentor difficulty (which is, of course, insane).

Everything which made Ninja Gaiden II a frustrating experience has been corrected here. Gone are the projectile spamming ninja, overpowered enemies and lack of direction. Now you won't have to run around looking for a door or a ledge that is difficult to see, you can simply press R1 and the camera will switch to the direction you are supposed to go. Simple, and welcome. And then there is the camera, always a problem in the Ninja Gaiden series (and for some, a deal breaker). The camera isn't perfect, but it is the best it's ever been, very rarely did i struggle to see what what was going on like i did in Ninja Gaiden II or Ninja Gaiden Sigma. This also makes the light platforming and jumping wall to wall sections far less annoying.

Unfortunately it's not all roses in the garden. There are a number of weeds Team Ninja were unable to pull out of the ground. These are inherent problems with the design of Ninja Gaiden II and the series in general. First, the story, or lack of. It's the usual nonsense about an ancient Arch Fiend being resurrected and ruling over mankind... AND ONLY RYU OF THE DRAGON LINEAGE CAN STOP THEM!!! To be fair the story in this one does have a certain camp value, with the Japanese voices on at least. It's all very laughable, but at least it's not incomprehensible like the other games.

The enviroments are also a problem, they range from cool (the first chapter with it's shimmering Tokyo sky scape and glittering Cherry Blossom trees, the Tim Burton-esq underworld) to turgid (the underground enviroments, with lots of lifeless brown textures and recyled corridors). Unfortunately the 3D Ninja Gaiden games have always suffered from sterile enviroments in general.

Another issue i had with the design of Ninja Gaiden II was how it lazily reused the same bosses over and over, i mean you must fight Genshin (leader of the evil Black Spider Ninja clan) about 5 times. Even though Sigma 2 does add a few new bosses they do stick to Itagaki's original and recycle the Greater Fiends toward the end of the game. Once again it just reeks of laziness.

But that is really the only area where Hayashi and Team Ninja were lazy, because from a technical point of view, Sigma 2 is a big improvement over the original. To their credit, Team Ninja rebuild the entire game for the Playstation 3, and it shows. The fact that enemies in Sigma 2 can't be butchered in the same way as NGII is actually a clever way of improving the framerate. With less blood and body parts to render the engine can maintain a much steadier framerate. Is the framerate perfect? No. But it's never been perfect, in any previous game, but you will only encounter minor framerate dips, and even then it's very rare. Sigma 2 is now native 720p as opposed to the 1120x585 resolution the Xbox 360 version ran at. Textures and lighting are also improved, Sigma 2 is a very nice looking game overall.

And of course, the biggest change, for the first time Ninja Gaiden features online co op play. Not in the main story of course, but in the the form of Team Missions, and boy are they fun. It's amazing how enjoyable it is to share the unique Ninja Gaiden experience with someone else, working together to wipe out hordes of enemies is very cool. Overall the matches run smoothly, i've had near perfect games and some laggy games, so it's like any of game you take online really.

So... In conclusion, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 is the best overall Ninja Gaiden experience money can buy. It's more friendly to non fans while offering tons of new content and the same old enjoyment to long time users. It has it's flaws, which some people just won't be able to get along with, but if you REALLY love Ninja Gaiden, with it's fantastic combat, great variety of challenging enemies and frenetic pace, add another point to my final score.

Oh and by the way, you can jiggle the girls boobs by shaking the Six Axis.