Well, IGN started the rumor that NG will be delayed to February, GAMESPOT stated that also and all the stores that sell VG has changed the release date in their computers till 04.
What bothers me also, is that it means DOA:O will likely be pushed back, but who knows??
The only thing I can post now is the impression of the person who reviewed the game in the GMR magazine. After reading what he has to say, I am pleased with the delay...
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James Milkman (the guy who wrote the Review) posted this at Gaming Age Forum!
forums.gaming-age.com/showthread.php?threadid=67825&pagenumber=2 To help clarify any questions as to whether we played a 2 level demo, or the finished game, I will go into detail to assuage the hearts and minds of doubters and believers alike.
To start, it is incredibly difficult to get a review of any Team Ninja game, exclusive or not, in a timely fashion, as they are usually reluctant to send out any sort of code before the game has gone gold. For the Ninja Gaiden review we planned this months in advance and was told that the game would be ready for review by the time we went to play it. Based on their original December ship date, the version we played could certainly be considered reviewable. Because of GMR's very short turnaround time at the printers, we were able to play it at the last possible minute, which was only a couple weeks short of going to manufacture.
Apparently Team Ninja decided they wanted to continue to polish the game, and that's hardly a surprise given their obsession in making extremely polished games.
Did GMR review a 2 level demo? No, Olimario, but thanks for asking. I played through all 16 levels, in order, saw all the cinematics, and if I really wanted to, could spoil the whole game for you now. I unlocked all the secrets in the game, have leveled up most of the weapons, standard and unlockable, and have been ranked accordingly according to the game's extremely deep scoring system.
How did I stack up? My overall rank was rather average, and even just short of horrible in the beginning. My rank at the end of the first level (based on a myriad of details: how quickly the level was beaten, how many times I had to retry, my technique and style, how many times I got hit, etc.) was wretched. I was ranked a "genin" which translates to a "lowly ninja."
I will say that by around the fourth or fifth level my proficiency level was significantly different, and that I was destroying major ninja *** , and my rank began to climb.
The only thing I could not actually do was play through Master Ninja Mode and upload my results to the web board, since it's not actually in effect yet. However, everything is in place in that game. The bosses in the game are the most beautiful things you've ever seen in a videogame (wait until you see the giant dragon near the end). If anything, it's a shame that such a beautiful creature only appears for a singular battle.
Every level looks extremely different and amazingly detailed. As you progress through the game you experience a tangible sense of progression, as you get closer and closer to Hell, it's reflected in your environments.
The storyline is also very effective. While Rachel is largely a peripheral character, once you discover her motivations, and the events surrouding them, combined with Ryu's own, you're definitely driven by a sense of purpose not only for yourself, but for Rachel.
When Ayane shows up it gets even better. Seeing another character from another series in the context of a different game is always cool. By the end of the game though — and this isn't really a spoiler — you'll wonder what Ayane's motivations really were though.
In case the review didn't emphasize it enough (I wrote it, jet-lagged, at 2 a.m. the day before I left for home, and 1 day before it had to be ready for the printer), the game is HARD. I think it was so hard that Team Ninja might have decided to tweak the difficulty based on the *** -kicking I was receiving. Some of you may take this opportunity to knock my skills, but the default setting wasequivalent to Devil May Cry on Dante Must Die mode, which as you might imagine, is very goddamn tough.
I know that the Japanese version will be light-years easier than that because Itagaki knows that the J-crowd doesn't like their games hard, let alone "Dante Must Die" hard. Besides, Itagaki said so. So the U.S. crowd should be happy that they're getting the *** -kicking version.
If anyone has any other questions regarding the game since my 540 words apparently did not describe it accurately enough, feel free to fire away. Tecmo did in fact give me a courtesy call to let me know the game was being pushed back for extra finessing time, so I was aware that the game would be delayed to the beginning of February, but even so, the game is essentially complete right now. From what I've heard, some textures will be replaced, and frame-rates are being locked in all over the game at 60 fps. And so for a game that's even better than the one I reviewed, everybody gets to wait. I recall some forum members saying they'd rather wait and get a better game. Well, you got your wish.
EDIT: I forgot to mention how long the game was, and I don't really have an hour-count, but I played it for four straight days, at approximately 8 hours a pop. I suspect that if I wasn't trying to be ultra thorough that I could have beaten it in maybe 20 hours, but it's damn long. It feels twice as long as whatever time you put into it because you're getting beat up on the whole time, but if you're looking for quantity and quality, you're getting both.
That the level design was often overly ambitious. I definitely spent extra time trying to figure out what to do next. Your weapons defiinitely come into play though. And something I didn't mention was how all the weapons are cool. Their moves lists are unique for each weapon and Ryu has all new animations for each one. There is very little that is recycled about this game
My score would remain the same. I'd say that Ninja Gaiden is similar to Knights of the Old Republic in that they're both awesome games with some flaws. As you might know I scored KOTOR a 10/10 despite the bugginess and the rather flat-looking graphics because I thought that it did so much for the RPG genre.
Ninja Gaiden is equally accomplished, with minor gripes. But these gripes are less about polish than the fundamentals of the level design. In one level near the end of the game, there is a hub-style arrangement in which you have to get through a door at the twelve o'clock position. The key lies in a chest at the end of a path at the 9 o'clock position. I asked Itagaki what kind of shiz was that? I suggested they might just make your life easier and put the chest in front of the door that needed unlocking if they were going to contrive their puzzles as such.
He took those comments to heart, and I suspect that things like that might get changed since they had the benefit of an outsiders pair of eyes to judge their game.
Would I change my score? I think not. A 9/10 speaks highly enough about the game as it is, and the problems with the game are too deeply rooted in the game design to change at this point. It's mostly about how the puzzles are rather basic (find the key, open the door) , and a month's delay isn't going to be enough to change that. It's still a great game, obviously, but you just have to overlook some minor Resident Evil-y puzzle designs.
Personally, I can hardly wait til people get to play this game. You're going to FREAK when you see some of the later levels.
I won't go into too much detail, because I know that Team Ninja wants people to discover these things for themselves, but I'll let you know that at least one costume is unlockable, although it seemed as if there would more likely be two. The one "for sure" costume is completely different to anything you've seen before, while the potential second costume is being able to play as a briefly transformed Ryu that you change into late in the game.
Other unlockables are some secret weapons, which I won't describe, except to say that although some are "funny," that they are very effective and can be upgraded (the final transformation of which changes in appearance dramatically) just like any standard weapon. Some weapons aren't available until you beat the game once through. You can also continue to play the game over using the same game save with all your upgraded stuff, so that's pretty fun.
But with Master Ninja Mode, you're started off with the default stuff every play through so everyone is on a fair level. I wouldn't suggest trying to hack into your game saves and making Ryu all powerful as XBL will recognize the various criteria and whether or not it is authentic. Besides, it isn't just about beating one level well and uploading your rank. you have to beat the whole damn 16 levels before you can upload stuff. I know now various things you'd have to do to gain a truly awesome rank, but even so it takes actual skill. What are these things? That I am definitely not going to tell you.
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