But why has a franchise that stood right up there with the best action titles around been without a mainline instalment for so damn long? We think Ninja Gaiden 3 may have had something to do with it, despite the way in which Team Ninja tried to fix the problems that came with its initial release.

That’s a story that has us thinking that it was perhaps a good idea for the studio to wait until it was ready to bring in a new instalment to the franchise. But what made Ninja Gaiden 3 fall so flat in the eyes of its players and critics alike? How did Team Ninja attempt to turn things around for the game with Razor’s Edge? Did things work out for it eventually?

Read on and find out as we turn back the clock on Ryu’s adventures!

The Third Time Wasn’t The Charm

We’re going to preface this section by saying that it’s quite hard to bring in a third title that achieves the highs of its predecessors for any studio. And while Team Ninja’s talents are certainly there for all to see, Ninja Gaiden 3 faced a monumental task as it had to either measure up to or exceed the success of the franchise’s widely praised second title, which is no easy feat.

It’s worth mentioning that the ambitions the studio had for Ninja Gaiden 3 were quite evident. It aimed to bring fresh new touches to its formula, with the Steel on Bone technique, for instance, being a great way to counter enemy attacks, complete with a great camera angle. But it essentially replaced the dismemberment mechanic from the previous game, which didn’t make sense. It could have been great to have the new technique alongside one of the previous title’s best features.

The new Kunai Climbing mechanic was a similarly creative touch that was ultimately a let down thanks to how slowly Ryu actually climbed when using it. It was more of an annoyance rather than a nice touch, a symbol of a good idea marred by poor execution, which was something Ninja Gaiden 3 was notorious for.

While most people weren’t picking up a Ninja Gaiden game for its story, the plot in Ryu’s third adventure was so disparate and all over the place that it deserves to be mentioned among the reasons for the game’s failure. It actively limited the potential for more weapons, for instance, while taking away Ryu’s iconic Dragon Sword thanks to the curse that was placed on him by the Regent. It brought betrayals at every turn, making each one feel less impactful than the last until the end of the story.

It also brought some tedious moral considerations into the equation, having Ryu haunted by all the lives he had taken up until that point. While that might have been a great way to inject some life into the story in a game where it wasn’t really a priority, it was irksome that there was no weight assigned to the fact that it was either kill or be killed for our protagonist.

Considering that exposition often came at the cost of more action, it was a particularly egregious part of our complaints about the game back in the day. It added no emotional heft to the story, although that might have been what it was intended for, and failed to bring some much-needed nuance to the table, providing a narrative framework for the action like in past titles.

Furthermore, we would argue that it was a part of the reason why the game’s combat felt so lackluster, as it provided the narrative scope for Ryu to face hordes of enemies, but removed so many of the things that made facing those enemies worth it. Team Ninja’s efforts to make the game more appealing to a wider audience also contributed to this, since it took away a lot of the challenge that franchise veterans came to expect.

It was a middle ground between the franchise’s brutal difficulty and a more approachable combat system that the studio failed to find, and things did not end well for the final release build of the game. It was unfortunate, but not entirely unexpected, that the game was so poorly received by its players and panned by many critics alike. Perhaps the game’s new directors went too far with their ambitions, or simply failed to capitalize on the creative vision that put the franchise on the map in the first place.

When all of these factors were taken into consideration as a whole, Ninja Gaiden 3 was an experience that felt like a drastic departure from the franchise’s traditions and winning formula, one that went in entirely the wrong direction.

But then there was Razor’s Edge.

Turning Things Around

It’s a testament to Team Ninja’s tenacity and resilience that it refused to give up on its title and decided to try and make a better game out of it. Although Razor’s Edge initially made its way to the Wii U, a solid port of the game for other consoles soon made it a version of Ninja Gaiden 3 that brought it closer to the original vision its creators had for it.

For starters, Ryu had access to a bunch of cool new weapons over the course of the campaign. That was an immediate plus, since it brought back the Karma system and made it quite useful while also giving players a bit more incentive to play through the numerous battles they were faced with. Since each weapon had its own moveset and a bunch of additional moves to unlock, it was the perfect way to add depth to the original release’s one-dimensional combat, removing repetition in favor of a more dynamic loop.

There was also Akane, making her way over from Dead or Alive, and immediately brought more variety to the game. With her own missions, unique playstyle, her presence in Razor’s Edge was very welcome indeed. She was fast, stylish, efficient at dispatching enemies, and a decent alternative to Ryu. The Black Spider Clan’s return was also a nice touch!

Keeping in line with its title, another addition was the return of dismemberment and several other mechanics from previous titles that immediately made the game feel and play like a Ninja Gaiden title instead of a confused mess that didn’t really know what it was about.

Another significant improvement that it brought to the table was the improved enemy AI. They were more aggressive and willing to attempt attacks if they lost a limb, making combat feel more like a desperate struggle for survival on both sides, just as a Ninja Gaiden title should be. The hidden skulls and Tests of Valor built on that very well, making the combat feel as brutal and challenging as it was in the franchise’s past.

But did all of these additions manage to turn things around for Team Ninja? The answer is yes for the most part. They showed that the studio paid attention to the feedback it received and acted on it quite intelligently. There’s a reason that this was the version of Ninja Gaiden 3 that was on the Master Collection, after all. It’s also a potential reason for Ragebound being as good as it was, with it having all of the lessons Team Ninja had to learn the hard way at its disposal.

A New Chapter Begins

Those lessons are kind of evident in the approach that Team Ninja has taken in the new twists it has brought in Ninja Gaiden 4. Multiple protagonists, weapons, enemy types, and a seemingly better narrative this time around are all direct results of its past mistakes and indicate a more nuanced approach to an ambitious new title.

There’s a definite balance between the old and the new that has impressed early previewers of the new game, earning it a lot of goodwill ahead of its release. We’d say that Ninja Gaiden 3 crawled more than a decade ago just so that its successor could fly in our present.

Of course, we’re going to have to wait and see if the new entry to the long-standing franchise can live up to the hype that it’s generated. But given Team Ninja’s obvious penchant to learn from its past mistakes, things are looking very good for Ninja Gaiden right now, and we couldn’t be happier.

All that’s left is to dive into Ryu’s latest bout with the Dark Dragon next week and find out for ourselves!

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Here are the 15 biggest ways Ninja Gaiden 4 carves its vision anew – sharper, swifter, and deadlier than ever.  

Shift in Combat Philosophy

By attempting to make the series more approachable, Ninja Gaiden 3 shipped with simplified combat mechanics and combos criticised for “button mashing”. The result: longtime fans felt the series’ signature depth strip away. Ninja Gaiden 4 represents a shift in philosophy, with brutal precision and creative flair ensuring combat feels both punishing and stylish. It’s a return to survival against all odds, but this time with countless tools for self-expression and playstyle mapping in every player’s locker.

Fluid Weapon Switching

Weapon selection was one of Ninja Gaiden 3’s weakest points. The system forced players into a mid-action sub-menu where they could swap to a secondary weapon; the process was clunky and disruptive. Ninja Gaiden 4 flips the switch; fluid, on-the-fly weapon switching is restored, with players able to chain combos seamlessly between blades, claws, and scythes without breaking stride. No longer does weapon switching pause the action – it’s now a part of its flow. 

Bloodbind Ninjutsu and the Blood Raven State

Ultimate Techniques in Ninja Gaiden 3 were stylish but limited in scope. To combat this, Ninja Gaiden 4 introduces two entirely new systems: Bloodbind Ninjutsu, allowing new protagonist Yakumo to charge his weapons through combat momentum into new forms, and the Blood Raven State, a powered-up mutation dealing devastating finishers. These systems embed tactical, high-risk, high-reward depth into Yakumo’s moveset, with powerful attacks offset by players managing a chargeable meter. 

Evolved Gleam Form

In Ninja Gaiden 3, Ryu’s “True Dragon Gleam” was a one-shot, auto-targeting manoeuvre that automatically swiped through enemies. It provided the game’s most powerful moments, yet felt shallow overall. Ninja Gaiden 4 evolves Ryu’s Gleam Form into something more dynamic by breaking the idea down into a collection of Active Skills. After charging a gauge, Ryu can unleash attacks with speed and precision, fuel magic abilities, execute perfect counters, and enter a separate ‘Ultimate Gleam State’. 

The Fatal Flash Parry

Where Ninja Gaiden 3 offered Steel on Bone, Ninja Gaiden 4 introduces Fatal Flash. Both are counterattacking manoeuvres, but whereas Steel on Bone cleaved opponents in two after evading red-glowing attacks, Fatal Flash demands precise parry timing – rewarding success with stunned foes and invisibility frames to chain devastating counters. Mistime it, and damage lands instead, reminding players that Ninja Gaiden 4’s combat is as much about measured risk as it is speed and skill. 

Advanced Defensive Toolkit

Ninja Gaiden 4 builds on Ninja Gaiden 3’s defensive toolkit by expanding dodge ability. Just Dodge – the perfectly timed evasion – returns, while Just Guard blocks attacks at the precise moment, and Dodge Offset lets players continue combo strings whilst evading. Slow-Motion Dodge’s dramatic slo-mo gives skilled players cinematic breathing room. These new mechanics streamline the transition from defence to attack, with guards, dodges, and counterattacks made even more expressive as Yakumo and Ryu’s new offensive moves are woven in. 

Expanded Traversal Mechanics

Ninja Gaiden 4 replicates manoeuvres found in Ninja Gaiden 3 – wall-running, wall jumps, dodging – but extends their verticality with new tools. Grappling hooks, pole vaults, and a wingsuit inject speed and dynamism to traversal, while grinding fluidifies movement like a true ninja. Ninja Gaiden 4’s expanded traversal integrates seamlessly into combat, vaulting from platforms or swinging into enemies mid-grapple without missing a beat. 

Enemy Variety Worthy of a Ninja’s Blade

Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge fixes vanilla 3’s shallow enemy pool, and the enhanced version provides the platform Ninja Gaiden 4’s enemy variety builds on. Yakumo and Ryu’s adventure features three enemy factions: paramilitary organisation Divine Dragon Order provides a return to human-on-human combat, while Zombie and Oni Fiends, and folklore-inspired Daemons, insert nightmarish horror. Multi-tiered enemies embed each faction, each with contrasting designs which demand specific approaches to kill. 

Reinvigorated Boss Battles

Repetitive, overly long, and reliant on quick-time events – Ninja Gaiden 3’s boss battles are consistently derided. Ninja Gaiden 4 restores cinematic aplomb, providing evolving, multi-stage battles to be mastered. It’s worth pointing out that, based on feedback, the game’s producers believe NG players prefer hacking and slashing through enemy hordes rather than scaling bosses. That said, they confirm boss battles have received as much attention as the rest of the fourquel – they’ll provide ample proving ground for the game’s expanded combat toolkit. 

Co-development with PlatinumGames

Ninja Gaiden 4 marks the first collaboration between Team Ninja and PlatinumGames, with a partnership that blends the former’s mastery of punishing, technical swordplay with the latter’s stylish, visually arresting edge. The results are a perfect blend: kinetic, combo-driven action across a series of eye-catching backdrops, all while retaining the series’ brutal legacy.  

Grandiose, Functional, “Oppressive” Level Design

Ninja Gaiden 4 embraces vertical level design with semi-open arenas where tactical navigation matters. Rather than the corridor-like design of Ninja Gaiden 3, 4’s levels provide multiple planes to fight on, destructible elements to exploit, and optional routes to flank or escape. Further, stylistically, Ninja Gaiden 4’s levels are designed to reinforce a feeling of oppressiveness, represented by towering structures and plethora of seemingly bottomless pits.

Embracing Visual Fidelity

Built from the ground up for modern hardware, Ninja Gaiden 4 pushes the series to its most visceral limit yet. Textures and lighting are sharp, weapons gleam, and particles pop, while animation fidelity gives tactile weight to every landing blow. Crucially, these visual upgrades aren’t just cosmetic but they give players a better read on combat, where milliseconds split the difference between scything an enemy’s limbs off or meeting your own bloody demise. 

Gore

Gore to Ninja Gaiden is like sheaths to a sword; the latter loses its edge without the other. Ninja Gaiden 3 dialled back the series’ signature brutality, and fans begrudgingly noticed. Ninja Gaiden 4 restores gore, not just for shock value, but as mechanical and atmospheric building blocks. In other words, slicing foe to ribbons sells feelings of lethality. 4’s reintroduction of stomach-churning dismemberment and shining blood splatter isn’t just aesthetic, but it’s crucial to enforce the series’ ninja power-fantasy  

Cinematic Direction

Ninja Gaiden 3 often stalled its action with long cutscenes, slow set pieces, and non-impactful exposition. In contrast, Ninja Gaiden 4 is set to keep the pressure on with tighter cinematic direction deployed to reinforce momentum. Furthermore, 4’s gritty environments are used as a tool for the game’s cinematography. No longer are backdrops set dressing, it’s architecture designed to work against players. A world that’s an opponent as much as the enemies lurking within.  

Respect to Ninja Gaiden’s Legacy

Ninja Gaiden 3 was, in large part, an attempt to reinvent the series, but many players left feeling alienated. Ninja Gaiden 4 is a course correction. Despite wholesale reinvention itself, notably in combat design, visual spectacle, and dual protagonists, Ninja Gaiden 4 realises something 3 never did: the importance of staying true to legacy.

LAIR

An obvious pick for a list such as this one, Lair is forever going to hold the dubious crown of being one of the most bitter disappointments in gaming. Factor 5’s excellent track record and promising pre-launch showings suggested that Lair was going to be a huge early PS3 hit, but upon its release, the game turned out to be sort of a broken mess, thanks in large part to its frustrating motion-heavy controls. Even now, close to two decades later, it’s hard to get over the disappointment that was Lair.

METAL GEAR – METAL GEAR SURVIVE

You’d think that Konami couldn’t have given the Metal Gear franchise a worse sendoff than it did with the troubled launch of MGS5 and the acrimonious departure of series mastermind Hideo Kojima, but the company decided to follow up on those disasters with another major screwup. That came in the form of Metal Gear Survive, an abomination of a survival game with mindless, repetitive mechanics, uninspired design, and an unimaginable misuse of a beloved IP. Metal Gear Survive isn’t mainline, of course, and as such easily ignorable- which is good, because that’s exactly what you should do with it.

POKEMON SWORD AND SHIELD

Most Pokemon fans will tell you that the series has been on a downward spiral ever since Black and White, and Sword and Shield are probably its lowest point to date. Even if you ignore the controversies surrounding the whole National Dex fiasco, Pokemon Sword and Shield are still disappointing games. The shocking lack of ambition, the almost complete lack of challenge, the excessive linearity- for all of these reasons and more, Pokemon’s mainline console debut fell severely short of expectations.

MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA

No one needs to be told about the massive legacy of the original Mass Effect trilogy. Barring some missteps here and there, BioWare’s first three Mass Effect games are collectively probably the best work they’ve ever done. Then there’s Mass Effect Andromeda, which is… not. To be fair, Andromeda is a good game in its own right, and it certainly has a lot going for it, but it just doesn’t do justice to the magic of its predecessors. Even if we ignore the overblown criticism the game was subject to at the time of its launch, we still have to accept that Andromeda is a pretty big step back from the Commander Shepard trilogy.

Hitman Absolution

To be perfectly clear, it’s not like Hitman Absolution was terrible. It just failed to really capitalize on what made the series so popular – the sandbox levels that encouraged experimentation and all manner of interesting assassinations. The story was fine and the visuals top-notch but without its rich sandbox, Absolution felt like a stop-gap rather than a real step forward.

Hoyt – Far Cry 3

After Vaas, one would think a showdown with the bigger bad of Far Cry 3 would be more bombastic. Alas, the final battle with Hoyt is a knife fight. One isn’t generally opposed to knife fights (they have knives!) but you’re doing little more than pushing a button at the right time. If you’re lucky, you can actually “skull and crossbones” Hoyt, shoving a knife through his throat and forehead at the same time.

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.

A new DLC is out for Ninja Gaiden 3 that will add a higher difficulty level to the disappointing game. The “Ultimate Ninja” difficulty DLC will be free till May 24.

Ninja Trails, which are based on this new difficulty level, are also available. They can be bought individually, or together in a pack that costs $9.99 or 800 MS Points on PSN and Xbox Live respectively.

A multiplayer update has also been added to the game via a free new update.

Have a look at all that’s available in the new update via the trailer above.