Post by ΨBarnacleBrainBrantΨ on Mar 24, 2007 10:48:06 GMT 6
Previews: Ninja Gaiden Sigma
Once upon a time it was foretold that we would one day get our hands on a buxom blonde bondage male-fantasy archetype named Rachel, to manipulate her with analog sticks and play with her Warhammer. Today was that day. In our first hands-on time with Ninja Gaiden Sigma's peroxided heroine, we saw just what kind of foil she would play to Ryu Hayabusa's super ninja status.
Of the game's 19 levels, Rachel stars in three. For those not keeping count, the original game (Ninja Gaiden, Ninja Gaiden Black) featured 16 levels, so the new ones have been added to flesh out the story. While the game's director, Yosuke Hayashi, remains mum on how many weapons Rachel will control overall, we tried her out using her signature Warhammer. Hayashi told us in a previous interview that Team Ninja was going to great lengths to ensure that Rachel's play style was tangibly different from Ryu Hayabusa's.
Hayabusa is a "super ninja," according to Team Ninja, and Rachel is a "fiend hunter," so there's no reason for them to play alike. In terms of animations, Rachel definitely offers a different appearance, standing upright and moving with articulation that's distinctly feminine, in contrast to Hayabusa's crouched, feral attack stance. Taking enemies down with the Warhammer is comfortingly familiar, though.
Like Hayabusa's palette of action commands, Rachel attacks using Square for weak but fast attacks and Triangle for strong attacks. Triangle also functions as a charge attack, provided you have the space and time to pull it off, while X is used to jump and evade (in conjunction with the left trigger), and Triangle and Circle held down together unleashes a magic attack, similar to Hayabusa's ninpo. Rachel's powerful attacks -- in one stage we played -- took out entire marble columns as she fought two red dragons, while a quick spin of the left analog stick and a press of the Square button hooked an enemy before lasso'ing it around and slamming it on the ground.
Another accessory exclusive to Rachel is a sort of grappling hook that she can use to both swing from objects and pull them crashing down to the ground, as she did with one unfortunate chandelier. Her magic attack, which we jokingly referred to as "fiend-po," was decidedly crucifixion-esque, with Rachel hovering in mid-air in a glowing cross-like pose that exploded with energy.
If you're not fond of the girl's default get-up, Hayashi ensures us that many new hairstyles (including both long and short-haired brunette options) will be available, although the "costume select" option on the mission screen is specific to Hayabusa alone, as Rachel will remain in her default outfit.
But Rachel isn't the only one with new stuff to play with. Ryu Hayabusa also gets a new pair of katanas, which provides an interesting new play dynamic for those who feel they've mastered everything he has to offer. Using the dual katanas (which are more samurai sword-length than the typically smaller katana) offers not only a more enveloping damage arc, but also forms something of a protective phalanx as the basic Square, Square, Square combo creates a deadly 180 degree attack in front and to the sides of him.
Visually, the game now runs at a solid 60 frames-per-second at 720p (and, interestingly enough, 1080p in the final product as well), which looks phenomenal on an HDTV. People who might by now take Team Ninja's graphical prowess for granted only need see this running on a high-def setup to appreciate how much work the developer has put into making this a true next-gen title.
Ninja Gaiden Sigma further gives you that new car smell via all new enemy animations, and new animations for Hayabusa, like the new looks given to his evasive maneuvers. Previously, if you rolled out of the way, there was only one animation for that move. But now, depending on the direction you're moving, the man in black will react differently. Enemies too recoil from Hayabusa's attacks in a variety of ways, giving Sigma a more organic feel.
Besides the higher polygon counts, the high-definition fidelity of the graphics, and the new real-time cut-scenes, an abundance of self-shadowing is evident on all of the game's characters. While there are currently no plans for the game to support rumble functionality, Ninja Gaiden Sigma does support Sixaxis functionality. When using Hayabusa's ninpo or Rachel's magic, shaking the controller vigorously results in a stronger magic effect. Hayashi rationalizes this by saying that the moments in which you need to use magic are probably high stress situations in which you'll probably already be shaking your controller as you frenetically try to kill as many enemies as possible, so shaking the Sixaxis while using ninpo is a logical extension of that.
The game is scheduled to ship sometime in late June, which is a short three month wait before both Ninja Gaiden fans and new players alike will be able to get their hands on the ultimate version of Team Ninja's acclaimed action game. Check back in a few days for a full transcript of our latest interview with Yosuke Hayashi on the state of Ninja Gaiden Sigma, but in the meantime, peruse our exclusive screens and video footage (see sidebar above) to get a taste of what the PS3's first real action game will be like.
www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3158174
Once upon a time it was foretold that we would one day get our hands on a buxom blonde bondage male-fantasy archetype named Rachel, to manipulate her with analog sticks and play with her Warhammer. Today was that day. In our first hands-on time with Ninja Gaiden Sigma's peroxided heroine, we saw just what kind of foil she would play to Ryu Hayabusa's super ninja status.
Of the game's 19 levels, Rachel stars in three. For those not keeping count, the original game (Ninja Gaiden, Ninja Gaiden Black) featured 16 levels, so the new ones have been added to flesh out the story. While the game's director, Yosuke Hayashi, remains mum on how many weapons Rachel will control overall, we tried her out using her signature Warhammer. Hayashi told us in a previous interview that Team Ninja was going to great lengths to ensure that Rachel's play style was tangibly different from Ryu Hayabusa's.
Hayabusa is a "super ninja," according to Team Ninja, and Rachel is a "fiend hunter," so there's no reason for them to play alike. In terms of animations, Rachel definitely offers a different appearance, standing upright and moving with articulation that's distinctly feminine, in contrast to Hayabusa's crouched, feral attack stance. Taking enemies down with the Warhammer is comfortingly familiar, though.
Like Hayabusa's palette of action commands, Rachel attacks using Square for weak but fast attacks and Triangle for strong attacks. Triangle also functions as a charge attack, provided you have the space and time to pull it off, while X is used to jump and evade (in conjunction with the left trigger), and Triangle and Circle held down together unleashes a magic attack, similar to Hayabusa's ninpo. Rachel's powerful attacks -- in one stage we played -- took out entire marble columns as she fought two red dragons, while a quick spin of the left analog stick and a press of the Square button hooked an enemy before lasso'ing it around and slamming it on the ground.
Another accessory exclusive to Rachel is a sort of grappling hook that she can use to both swing from objects and pull them crashing down to the ground, as she did with one unfortunate chandelier. Her magic attack, which we jokingly referred to as "fiend-po," was decidedly crucifixion-esque, with Rachel hovering in mid-air in a glowing cross-like pose that exploded with energy.
If you're not fond of the girl's default get-up, Hayashi ensures us that many new hairstyles (including both long and short-haired brunette options) will be available, although the "costume select" option on the mission screen is specific to Hayabusa alone, as Rachel will remain in her default outfit.
But Rachel isn't the only one with new stuff to play with. Ryu Hayabusa also gets a new pair of katanas, which provides an interesting new play dynamic for those who feel they've mastered everything he has to offer. Using the dual katanas (which are more samurai sword-length than the typically smaller katana) offers not only a more enveloping damage arc, but also forms something of a protective phalanx as the basic Square, Square, Square combo creates a deadly 180 degree attack in front and to the sides of him.
Visually, the game now runs at a solid 60 frames-per-second at 720p (and, interestingly enough, 1080p in the final product as well), which looks phenomenal on an HDTV. People who might by now take Team Ninja's graphical prowess for granted only need see this running on a high-def setup to appreciate how much work the developer has put into making this a true next-gen title.
Ninja Gaiden Sigma further gives you that new car smell via all new enemy animations, and new animations for Hayabusa, like the new looks given to his evasive maneuvers. Previously, if you rolled out of the way, there was only one animation for that move. But now, depending on the direction you're moving, the man in black will react differently. Enemies too recoil from Hayabusa's attacks in a variety of ways, giving Sigma a more organic feel.
Besides the higher polygon counts, the high-definition fidelity of the graphics, and the new real-time cut-scenes, an abundance of self-shadowing is evident on all of the game's characters. While there are currently no plans for the game to support rumble functionality, Ninja Gaiden Sigma does support Sixaxis functionality. When using Hayabusa's ninpo or Rachel's magic, shaking the controller vigorously results in a stronger magic effect. Hayashi rationalizes this by saying that the moments in which you need to use magic are probably high stress situations in which you'll probably already be shaking your controller as you frenetically try to kill as many enemies as possible, so shaking the Sixaxis while using ninpo is a logical extension of that.
The game is scheduled to ship sometime in late June, which is a short three month wait before both Ninja Gaiden fans and new players alike will be able to get their hands on the ultimate version of Team Ninja's acclaimed action game. Check back in a few days for a full transcript of our latest interview with Yosuke Hayashi on the state of Ninja Gaiden Sigma, but in the meantime, peruse our exclusive screens and video footage (see sidebar above) to get a taste of what the PS3's first real action game will be like.
www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3158174