Includes Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge

The three core titles in the trilogy are here…sort of. The Master Collection includes the Sigma versions of Ninja Gaiden 1 and 2 along with Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, which itself is an enhanced version of the third game. While this may not seem like a huge deal, Ninja Gaiden Sigma changes levels, bosses, puzzles and so on along with adding more save points and vendors. Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, on the other hand, reduces the number of enemies (and raises the health of those remaining) and removes Karma Scoring in the Story Mode and Tests of Valor. It also heavily tones down the violence. As for Razor’s Edge, it actually looked to improve on several issues with its predecessor, adding new weapons, the Karma Counter and an upgrade menu among other things.

Long story short, the Master Collection doesn’t offer the original versions of the classics, which are often cited as being the rest. The reason, as per Team Ninja’s Fumihiko Yasuda to Famitsu, is that the original code for Ninja Gaiden Black and Ninja Gaiden 2 couldn’t be salvaged.

Stories and Settings

The story in each title remains more or less the same as their base versions. Ninja Gaiden Sigma sees Ryu Hayabusa seeking revenge for the raid on his village by Doku, who also stole the Dark Dragon Blade. Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 has Ryu working with Sonia, a CIA agent, in order to stop Elizebet, the queen of the Greater Fiends, after Hayabusa Village’s Demon Statue is stolen.

Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge takes a slightly different approach. Ryu works with the Japanese Self-Defense Force to battle a terrorist group but is subsequently cursed by their leader, the Regent of the Mask. With the Dragon Sword now part of his arm and slowly killing him, Ryu must stop the Regent and his plans to annihilate the world.

Combat

Ninja Gaiden at its core is a difficult, fast-paced hack and slash series of games. Unlike other similar titles at the time, you couldn’t cancel out of attacks. However, Ryu had a number of different techniques and weapons at his disposal, from wall-running to flying slashes and spinning piledrivers. Along with swords, he could utilize staves, heavy weapons, shuriken, arrows, Ninpo and Ultimate Techniques for annihilating foes. Blocking and evading are key but so is moving and reacting fast. Of course, it’s also worth noting that in terms of exploration and puzzle-solving, Ninja Gaiden Sigma is a fairly big step back from the original and Ninja Gaiden Black.

Ninja Gaiden 2 introduced limb severing, which could weaken but not outright kill some foes – Obliteration Techniques were thus necessary to finish them off. Several new weapons have been added along with lasting damage which provides some manner of healing after each battle. Ultimate Techniques also return and are charged by absorbing essence. Along with toning down the gore, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 tweaks the controls slightly, adjusts some weapons and adds new ones. As noted before, enemies are fewer but have more health to compensate.

Ninja Gaiden 3 made several controversial changes to the series’ formula. Ryu now only has one Ninpo spell in single-player; items have been mostly removed; and his Ultimate Techniques have been replaced by the Grip of Murder which is charged by slaying enemies. He can also throw kunai onto and climb up certain walls. Razor’s Edge speeds up this mechanic while also adding new weapons, more aggressive foes; limb severing and Obliteration Techniques; less quick time events; and much more. In short, it’s more like the previous games (which is a good thing).

Hero Mode

Added in Ninja Gaiden 3 and brought over to the first two games with Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus and Sigma 2 Plus, Hero Mode makes the game easier. When enabled in the first game, it triggers when a player’s health falls low with automatically guarding and evasion active. Unlimited Ninpo is also available, allowing the player to turn the tides. In the second game and third games, it’s more about blocking and evading automatically, making the games easier to get through.

Multiple Playable Characters

Each of the Ninja Gaiden titles included in the Master Collection features additional playable characters. Ninja Gaiden Sigma had Rachel with three new chapters and new bosses to tackle. Rachel also had her own chapter in Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 while Ayane and Momiji were added, each with their own unique chapters. All three guest characters returned in Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge with Kasumi also added to the mix. Each could be played in Chapter Challenge and Ninja Trials while Ayane received her own two story chapters.

Ninja Race and Tag Missions in Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2

Introduced in Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus, Ninja Race is about clearing a map as quickly as possible. Attacking enemies and creating a “chain” will increase one’s attack, allowing for faster clear, while items could also increase speed and grant additional time. Tag Missions are also available, letting you choose from Ryu and one of three other characters – Ayane, Rachel or Momoji – to complete a mission with the ability to switch between them. Aside from Ryu, all three guest characters can also be used in Ninja Race.

Ninja Trials and Tests of Valor in Ninja Gaiden 3

Ninja Trials in Ninja Gaiden 3 offer challenges to beat a set number of enemies and are grouped into different difficulties, Acolyte being the easiest and Ultimate Ninja being the toughest. Earning Karma will unlock subsequent trials for play. Then there are Tests of Valor where players must locate Crystal Skulls hidden in each chapter that lead to tough challenges with powerful foes.

Includes All DLC

The Master Collection includes all of the DLC released for each title, which ranges from new costumes for Ryu, Ayane, Rachel, Kasumi and Momiji to new hair-styles. You’ll also experience new battle scenarios, surviving against as many enemies as possible, in Ninja Gaiden Sigma’s Speed Master, Weapons Master and Rachel Master DLC.

No Online Multiplayer

Not everything has made the jump over though. Turbo Mode from Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus isn’t here and players can’t engage in online play for Tag Missions in Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 or for Ninja Trials and Clan Battles in Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge. In an interview with GamingBolt, Team Ninja’s Fumihiko Yasuda said that implementing the exact same multiplayer systems would “require a great deal of time and money” along with placing “limitations on the platforms we could release it on. And given that dilemma we decided to increase the number of platforms we would release the collection on in order to reach as many players as possible rather than pursue the multiplayer feature.”

Runs at 4K/60 FPS on PS4 Pro, PS5, Xbox One X, Xbox Series X/S and PC

Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection will run in 4K resolution at 60 frames per second on PS4 Pro, Xbox One X, Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. PC performance ultimately depends on one’s hardware. Switch players will have to be satisfied with 720p resolution on both docked and undocked modes at 60 FPS. While there may be fluctuations during gameplay, the focus is on a stable frame rate.

No PS5, Xbox Series X/S Enhancements

Unfortunately, Xbox Series X/S and PS5 players won’t be seeing any enhancements – the Master Collection is playable through backwards compatibility and won’t have any specific features for any of those consoles. Yasuda confirmed this while speaking to GamingBolt and even dashed hopes for a proper current-gen version. Doing so “would actually require a complete remake. We did consider it, but we also wanted to get the games into the hands of players sooner than later. Also, if we had the time and resources for a remake we felt it would be a better served opportunity to create a new game, so that’s why we decided to go with this collection at this time.”

No 120 FPS or Keyboard/Mouse Support on PC

PC players should also note that there won’t be any options for 120 FPS or ultrawide monitor support. Yasuda confirmed to PC Gamer that the Master Collection will run at 1080p/60 FPS for standard systems and 4K/60 FPS with the appropriate hardware and display. It also can’t be played with a keyboard and mouse – you need a controller for the PC version.

Deluxe Edition Details

In terms of Deluxe Edition content, there isn’t much beyond the ordinary. Along with the Master Collection, purchasers receive a digital art book and soundtrack with still images and music from across the series. On the flip side, it’s $44.99 compared to the Standard Edition’s $39.99 so why not?

Total Playtime

Playtime for games like Ninja Gaiden can be difficult to gauge. HowLongToBeat.com notes that Ninja Gaiden Sigma 1 and 2 will require 14 hours and 12 hours to complete respectively if you’re just focusing on the story. Meanwhile, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge only requires 7 hours. A completionist run for all titles would amount to about 120 hours of gameplay in total. However, playing on the standard difficulty for the Sigma titles can drive that up quite a bit (depending on one’s skill, of course). Even attempting to complete the toughest challenges in Razor’s Edge should keep you busy for a while. Either way, if you can get into its gameplay, then the Master Collection has plenty to offer.

The latest slate of free games coming with Xbox Live Gold in October 2019 has been revealed. To say that it’s not as impressive as Sony’s PlayStation Plus offerings would be an understatement. Xbox One players are getting Tembo the Badass Elephant and Friday the 13th: The Game. Check out the trailer below.

The former is available for the whole month while the latter must be claimed between October 16th and November 15th. Offerings for Xbox 360 aren’t much better – Disney’s Bolt is available from October 1st to 15th. Meanwhile, Team Ninja’s Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge is available from October 16th to 31st.

Both games are playable on the Xbox One though they’re hardly the creme of the crop in terms of quality. At least the Xbox Game Pass offerings for the coming months are looking good. Titles like Cities: Skylines and Saints Row IV: Re-Elected are on the way along with Yooka-Laylee, The Escapists 2 and Dead by Daylight.

Microsoft has been adding games to their backwards compatibility at a pretty steady pace since announcing it for the Xbox One. Now, we’ve got two more Xbox 360 era titles coming to the service, and both are interesting choices in their own right.

Ninja Gaiden 2 was added not too long ago, and now the enhanced version of the sequel, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, has come followed suit. While Ninja Gaiden 2 is remembered as a fantastic action game held back by a barrage of technical issues (the game is obviously unfinished in several areas), its sequel is remembered much less so, despite being much more polished and complete. But with Razor’s Edge, the entire rebooted Ninja Gaiden series is now available to play on Xbox One.

Also released was Trials Evolution, a racing/stunt game in the popular Trials series. One of the most well-received entries in the series, it’s remembered fondly for a great many things, including one of the strangest and out-of-nowhere ARGs ever done. Unfortunately, even with it being added to the Xbox One backward compatibility program, the winners in that area will still have to wait until 2113 for their reward.

Both games are available for purchase and playable on Xbox One systems now. You see the tweet from Major Nelson below that confirms the two releases.

https://twitter.com/majornelson/status/1123980741044469762

Milestone Interactive, distributor of games and services, has announced that they will be releasing three Tecmo Koei games in the Indian market.

These games are Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus, Dead or Alive 5 Plus and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, scheduled to release on 22^nd April 2013.

The first two games are for the PS Vita and will be available for Rs. 2,199. Meanwhile, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge will be available on the PS3 and Xbox 360 and will also be priced at Rs. 2,199.

It was originally released on the Wii U and was announced for the PS3 and Xbox 360. It includes all downloadable content from the original title, as well as additional enhancements made to improve the game.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus and Dead or Alive 5 Plus belong to the hack and slash and fighting genre and Vita’s d-pad will come in handy while playing these games.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

inja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge is an enhanced ported version for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 with all the additional downloadable content and improvements to the game. The game originally launched for Wii U as a launch title in 2012 (check out the Wii U version review here). How does the enhanced port fare over to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360? In short, I am quite happy with the port and had a ton of fun with the game. However, I will be discussing the game’s presentation, gameplay, trophies and overall verdict in a more detailed manner as usual.

Presentation:

Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge looks a little bit dated. The characters and monsters for the most part look nice, but they do not blend in well with the environments. The environments look rather bland compared to the characters, due to lower poly count and texture resolutions. It is not very bad though, the game still looks decent and most importantly fun to play.

The levels in the game are varied and you will be visiting different parts of the world such as islands, tech labs and more throughout the course of the game.

"Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge looks a little bit dated. The characters and monsters for the most part look nice, but they do not blend in well with the environments."

The music in the game does the job fine; some of the voice acting can get cheesy due to the dialogue of the game. The story in Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge is simple. Ryu Hayabusa is visited by the Japan’s Self-Defense Force and ask him to aid them against the terrorist threats in London. As you can imagine, things start to happen as you play through the game and the story continues.

To be completely honest I did not care about the story as it was just not interesting to me and I believe it will not be for others either. Ninja Gaiden was never known for a great story or fantastic characters, the game was always about the challenging gameplay and combat. If you are looking for a deep storyline with excellent narrative then look elsewhere because you will not find it here

Gameplay:

Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge truly shines in it’s gameplay and its awesome combat. The Ninja Gaiden franchised was always about the challenging and smart enemy AI, difficult boss fights and fast-paced adrenaline pumping combat. Thanks to flash animations and responsive combat controls, the gameplay feels smooth and fun. There are different weapons that you can get throughout the game, but as always, you start with your default dragon blade katana. Later on you will unlock a Lunar Staff, a giant scythe called Eclipse that acts as a slow heavy weapon, dual katanas and more.

Each weapon is unique; all of them have different styles and combos and serve a particular purpose. One of the weapons can be more effective against a particular enemy as opposed to a different weapon and so on. Best part of the combat system is that it is just never gets old thanks to the beautiful gory and bloody executions that you can trigger when an enemy is missing a part of their body.

Throughout the game you will also encounter hidden collectable items such as Golden Scarabs and Skulls. You gain 5000 Karma for every Golden Scarab collected. However, every time you get 5 Golden Scarabs you unlock new character traits, ninpos and of course weapons. There are a total of 50 Golden Scarabs to collect in the entire game and they are essential to the player if they plan on beating the game on Ultimate Ninja difficulty.

As you slay humanoids and fiends throughout your challenging adventure, you will start gaining something called “Karma”. Karma is an in-game experience currency that is used to unlock special moves for Ryu, level up his weapons and Ninpos. Ninpos are your magical based attacks that can only be used when your ninpo energy bar is full.

"There will be many times where you will just escape a combat segment with a small inch of your life bar still on the screen. "

Players can restore some of their health by using their Ninpo attack during combat if they are in a sticky situation. There will be many times where you will just escape a combat segment with a small inch of your life bar still on the screen. There are four different Ninpos that are available in the game. The first one is unlocked at start of the game; the other three will be unlocked later.

The game’s combat sections get difficult as you get further in the later levels. Players will eventually start fighting with harder enemy combinations and will be forced to use strategy in order to live and continue on to the next save point. Luckily, after every combat section, the game saves a checkpoint so you do not have to fight again if you lose the next battle. Developers did a good job with the balancing of passive checkpoints and actual game saves throughout the game.

Another cool thing about the game is that throughout the story you will also play as the female characters. Girls like Ayane, Kasumi and Momiji are all playable in Ninja Gaiden 3: Razors Edge. Each of them has their own unique weapon and fighting styles. This makes the game more varied just because Ryu is not the only badass around the block and there are other characters and weapons to play with.

Overall, the single-player campaign is divided into 8 days (8 chapters to be more precise). However, some of the days you also play as one of the female characters as part of the game’s main storyline. Each day takes about 30-40 minutes to beat depending on your play style, difficulty and skill. I probably spent though a couple of hours on each level due to the fact I was playing on Mentor difficulty.

Multiplayer:

Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge also packs in Ninja Trials and multiplayer options on top of the single-player campaign. Ninja Trials are awesome and can be played both solo and co-op online. You can pick which character you want to play online, level up your ranking, and unlock weapons, character traits and costumes that are completely separate from the single-player campaign.

Clan Battles are a new addition to the Ninja Gaiden series; these are online team death-matches that are up to eight players, 4 on each team. However, I did not really enjoy the clan battles. The online combat between players’ feels somewhat clunky. Majority of the time I was trying to figure out if it was due to latenc, skill or if it just did not feel right. I think overall, this versus mode can eventually work but maybe in the future titles of the franchise but not in this one. I can see this as an experiment for the developers rather than an actual legit versus mode.

Trophies:

Trophies in Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge is perfect in my opinion. They range from beating the game on each of the difficulties, completing a certain amount of Ninja Trials on particular difficulty and leveling up to level 50 online which can actually be done solo through the Ninja Trials if you don’t want to play co-op or clan battles.

Collecting all of the Scarabs and Skulls will also reward you with trophies. This is probably one of the more challenging platinum trophies to get due to the difficulty of the Ninja Gaiden franchise. About 90% of the trophies are all skill based.

Overall Verdict

"The game costs only $40 and includes all of the downloadable content, improved AI and enhanced gameplay. You cannot go wrong with this purchase."

Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor’s Edge is an excellent single-player third-person action game. It provides a great challenge for those who are looking for enjoyable combat, ninja trials provide plenty of replay value for the game and the addition of a completely separate online ranking system and characters is nice.

However, the game’s dated graphics, non-interesting story and some of the camera issues can bog down the experience just a tad bit, but it is not that bad. If you are a fan of the series you will enjoy this game, I also recommend it to those that have never played a Ninja Gaiden game before. The game costs only $40 and includes all of the downloadable content, improved AI and enhanced gameplay. You cannot go wrong with this purchase.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 3.

Cicada Surge is one of the new Ninpo and can be used even when taking damage. The three kunoichi each have their own unique abilities as well, including Ayane’s Phantom Spead, Momiji’s naginata and Kasumi’s Mugen Tenshin attacks. Of course, to unlock Kasumi, you’ll need to clear Story Mode first.

The demo is available for free and even better, the save file can be transferred over to the full game so you can pick up where you left off with your Karma and Skills when Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge releases on April 5th for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Though receiving average reviews on the Wii U where it first released, Razor’s Edge has us suitably excited just because of the improvements made to the original game. It’s interesting to see how much higher Team Ninja can take the visuals on the Xbox 360 and PS3, but there’s always hope.

Also, the Xbox 360 version will feature support for SmartGlass on the Xbox 360 to allow players to keep track of their stats and view walkthroughs for areas on their smartphones.

Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge is currently set to release on April 2nd in North America and April 5th in Europe.

It is somewhat interesting, since the feature is obviously only unique to the Xbox 360 version. Using your smartphone or tablet, you can check out your states and even brow videos for showcasing how to effectively clear a route or section within the game.

We’d point out that it’s kind of unnecessary for what has been dubbed the easiest Ninja Gaiden in the series but we digress.

Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge will be releasing for both Xbox 360 and PS3 on April 2nd for North America and April 5th for Europe. The game is currently available for the Nintendo Wii U.

Check out the screenshots below.

We don’t know how far Team Ninja would go to bump up the visuals, but the game already contains a fair amount of extra content with extra playable characters like Kasumi and Ayane, new boss fights, bumped up levels of gore and violence, less quick time events and just a general revamp of the game to make it more appealing.

And for all that Nintendo invested in the game, going so far as to publish it in North America and Europe, it’s scored roughly 69 out of 100 on Metacritic and sold a rather timid number of copies last time we checked. Hopefully it gets the appreciation it deserves on other consoles.

Source: Siliconera