Ok, so Ninja Gaiden (my favorite game for xbox) FINALLY has a sequel for the 360. i've played the first 3 chapters and am prepared to say it's awesome. they didnt change many of the controls from the first game so luckily i have a good idea of how to do everything already, including a lot of the badass combos, which makes the game work well for me right from the get go.

A few notes, basically, the game hates you. its hard. really really hard. and it lets you know it. you know how most games have a tutorial? not NG2, the tutorial is a sweet opening cutscene, and all of a sudden you're given control of the main character with like 6 bad guys nearby ready to kick your ass. theres a note at the bottom of the screen that tells you the buttons to attack and what not, but if you take to long to read it you're probably going to be dead. As you run around the first level you find TONS of chests and dead bodies that tell you how to do different techniques, and then soon after you read it there's a situation where you pretty much have to use the new move(s), once you successfully pull it off you get an achievement and go on your way. But the best part is unlike most other games almost all the moves you learn are available from the get go. There are some combos you can only unlock by paying to upgrade your weapon, but for the most part you can pull off a ton of crazy ninja running and flipping from the word go. Not being able to do moves because you havent "learned" them yet has always bothered me. If i know the right combination of buttons to hit, doesnt it stand to reason i know the move already? just let me use it!

Personally i like the lack of exposition. It minimizes the story and gets straight to the mind boggling gore. Thats right, this game is full of blood and guts everywhere. in just about every fight bad guys' limbs go flying off left and right, and the best part is, since they're ninjas it takes more than just a missing arm to scare them away, in fact, baddies can become MORE dangerous after being de-limbed. In my favorite 15 seconds of gameplay yet a 1 armed ninja knocked me over, pinned me to the ground with his sword, then pulled out another sword and FRIGGEN EXPLODED while sitting right on top of me. It hurt BAD, but it was WAY to awesome to be pissed about.

Basically so far the only problem with the game is that the camera is a tad clumsy, but i see it as an added layer of difficulty. instead of JUST flying around a room like crazy chopping off all sorts of limbs and heads, you have to fly around a room like crazy chopping off all sorts of limbs and heads WHILE keeping the camera aimed at where you need it.

but so far theres nothing NOT to love, ill update after ive played more of it.