E3 2005: Level Up
Back in Black
Product: Ninja Gaiden Black
Company: Tecmo
Date: 05/27/2005
Avaliable On:

Since popping up in retail computers a few weeks before E3, Ninja Gaiden Black has been stirring up quite a lot of speculation. Despite being listed as a Xbox game, some insisted that it was a brand new version of the game being developed for the Xbox 360. Others said it was merely an add-on pack featuring the two Hurricane packs previously only available to Xbox Live subscribers. In one of their big E3 announcements, the other being Dead or Alive 4 for Xbox 360, Tecmo put all rumors to rest.

Though it will disappoint those holding out hope that Black was indeed a Xbox 360 title, it appears that the add-on pack people were closer to the mark. Ninja Gaiden Black will feature the original Ninja Gaiden in its entirety, as well as both Hurricane Packs. In addition, Ninja Gaiden Black will include two new difficulty levels ? ?Ninja Dog? and ?Very Difficult Master Ninja?. ?Ninja Dog? will be for gamers who found the original's ?Easy? difficulty mode too hard while ?Very Difficult Ninja Master? will likely make you cry.

Ninja Gaiden Black will also feature new additions to the Story mode in the way of never-before seen cutscenes. Around 50 side missions will also be included, giving you a lot of game for your money. New missions will include boss battles, endless enemy battles and even time-attack modes. Xbox Live functionality will also be included, allowing Karma scores to be uploaded to online leader boards. To top it all off, new unlockables will also find their way into Black, including the original arcade version of Ninja Gaiden, Ninja Ryukenden, which joins the three NES versions of the game already found in the original version.

Ninja Gaiden Black ships this September.

Starscream aka Ricky Tucker

GameVortex PSIllustrated TeamPS2