I just finished Ninja Gaiden Z....and fuck, this game is underrated as all hell.

I cannot BELIEVE the lowball reviews this game got. It has an average in the 47% range. That would make you assume the game is horrible, right? Well its pretty far from it.

I attribute this to two things.

1. The difficulty. Ninja Gaiden games are tough, but this game is brutal....easy mode is like a very challenging "normal" in most games.
2. Just the fact that its not a "true" Ninja Gaiden game will turn some against it...like any other series that has a side game.

Luckily, I played the game on easy mode. And yes, its not that easy. But its not frustrating either, which many reviewers complained about the NORMAL and HARD modes. This is a beef I have with reviewers actually....games that have MULTIPLE difficulty levels, they tend to pretend that it only has the one THEY played it on. I've made the decision to play many of the older titles I need to get done on easy, just to get them done as quickly as possible so I can AT LEAST finish them off. With this game, that choice turned out to be the best choice.

The gameplay is the same kind of quick reflex slashing and dodging that any NG title has, but here its in the form of a more loose, cartoony experience. Its not a long game...only takes about 5 hours to beat. So I'm definitely glad I didn't pay more than $10 for it. But even as a $30 game, it would be a good buy. It has a ton of charm, a cool story and some hilarious banter between the characters which is honestly more welcome than the dry approach the regular NG titles take. And the art style and production values are beautiful, with some great music to boot.

During the ending credits, I found out that Toby Gard the creator of Tomb Raider, directed this game. And Grant Kirkhope of Rareware and Playtonic fame did the audio. That is pretty neat!

The game could have been longer and it has its flaws, but I honestly enjoyed every minute I played it. Hell, it pulled me away from Batman. I can't say that about many games that have an average rating twice as high as this game. I also noticed in the comments section at IGN that most people felt the way I did....surprised that the game was so much better than reviewers led us to believe.

Truthfully, it reminds me of what happened to Zombi U.....high quality game that got slammed by "pro reviewers" because it wasn't what THEY wanted. I give it a solid, enjoyable 7.5 rating. You guys should check it out...its dirt cheap now.

Probably but that is fake they used Comic Sans and the costume is taken from Injustice Gods Among Us.