Ninja Gaiden 4 is what I hoped it would be in a lot of ways. Two of my all-time favorite developers, Team Ninja and Platinum Games, collaborated on it. It builds on the combat from Ninja Gaiden 2, which I believe has the best action in the series. It also has a ton of little details that make it a little more approachable without compromising the hard-as-nails difficulty that die-hard fans like me expect. Although I would even go so far as to say that this battle system is among the best I’ve ever seen, Ninja Gaiden 4 falters in a number of other ways, including its uninspired level design, its predictable plot, and its uninspiring new lead character.
Many of those flaws are deflected like bullets against Ryu Hayabusa’s blade because of the action, but others manage to sneak past that barrier and damage what is otherwise an amazing comeback for Master Ninja.
I wasn’t surprised that Ninja Gaiden 4’s plot was one of its worst aspects because the series has never been known for its compelling story. It presents our new protagonist, Yakumo, a talented Raven Clan ninja whose original plan to murder a Dark Dragon priestess swiftly evolves into a quest to lead her to a number of magic seals in an attempt to actually, truly, slay the Dark Dragon this time.
The result is a remarkably cliched 10-hour campaign that tries to evoke strong emotional responses but fails because the effort to make you care about these folks is never finished. Yakumo, his handler, and the other members of his small Raven Clan team engage in occasional banter, but it’s never engaging or charming, and it never really builds to the point where I ever felt like these guys were truly close. Yakumo mostly uses growls, grunts, acknowledgements of the mission’s goals, and irate threats to communicate. As a result, he frequently comes across as a weak edgelord.
Toward the conclusion, you do get to play a few chapters as Ryu, which feels like a massive squandered opportunity even though it’s a nice break. This time, Ryu has fewer combat options because he only has one weapon, a much less interesting Gleam Form to replace Yakumo’s Bloodraven Form, and only four returning Ninpo super attacks. His levels have him retracing Yakumo’s steps, fighting through the same environments, mostly the same enemies, and the same bosses. Consider Dante’s missions in Devil May Cry 4, but without any of the fun Dante trash talk, his playstyle is nearly identical to Nero’s, and he doesn’t gain any new weaponry.
The fighting in Ninja Gaiden 4 is not only good, but amazing.
If the action in an action game is good, I’m ready to overlook it a lot. Fortunately, Ninja Gaiden 4’s combat is not only decent, but amazing. It’s extremely fast, the enemies are clever and won’t let you do the same thing over and over again, you have a lot of flexibility to change up how you approach each fight, it looks amazing, and it has that signature Team Ninja fluidity mixed with the outrageous craziness for which Platinum Games is known. It simply checks all the boxes.
Enemy hostility is the key ingredient here. The enemies in Ninja Gaiden 4 are incredibly vicious. They attack from off-screen, hit you with unblockables, grab you if you try to turtle up, armor through your standard attacks, and overwhelm you with sheer numbers—they don’t wait their turn graciously. Every battle encounter is an exciting struggle for survival because of the oppressive pressure from foes, which is a combat style that is entirely exclusive to this series.
Although all of that may sound harsh, Yakumo also has a very strong toolkit. Each weapon has a variety of powerful unlockable attacks, such as the iconic Flying Swallow technique that lets you zip towards an enemy and possibly sever their head in a single blow; the Izuna Drop air combo that culminates in a flying piledriver that instantly kills most enemies in a single blow; and, most importantly, ultimate techniques that allow you to charge up a flashy combo that is completely invulnerable, can hit multiple enemies, and deals extremely high damage by absorbing essence from defeated enemies.
In actuality, this is really a summary of the aspects of Ninja Gaiden 4’s combat that have always been excellent. It’s worth discussing, though, because my main worry going into Ninja Gaiden 4 was that it would feel more like a Platinum Games game than Ninja Gaiden. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with it; it’s just not what I would want from a 13-year wait for a sequel. Thankfully, that isn’t the case. With a hint of Platinum flavor to make it even better, this is a Ninja Gaiden game at its core.
With a hint of Platinum flavor, this is essentially Ninja Gaiden.
Yakumo’s Bloodraven Form, a significant enhancement to the combat system, is mostly responsible for that flavor. Yakumo can change his weapon into a slower, more ostentatious version by holding down the left trigger. This will give him a whole new set of maneuvers and the potential to interrupt or break an enemy’s super attack. These strikes, particularly the staff that transforms into a large hammer and the Rapier that transforms into a huge drill, are wicked as hell and absolutely remind me of some of Bayonetta’s Wicked Weave heavy attacks.
In addition to being visually appealing, they give fighting an additional dimension that makes you react to how your adversaries are handling your attack. Enemies will parry your blows and counter with a damaging attack if you switch to autopilot and spam light attacks. However, you can use a Bloodraven Form assault to inflict them significant damage and expose them to further punishment when they breach their defenses if you see that they are flashing white and avoiding your attacks.
I liked the additional layer of resource management that Bloodraven Form moves have, as they are connected to a meter that runs out rather rapidly. It is a little dangerous to attempt to stop a faster armored attack with these blood-infused attacks because they are typically somewhat slow. You must therefore choose whether to risk wasting your meter by trying to catch an armored move during its initial animation with a blood attack, use the meter defensively to try to perfectly block otherwise unblockable techniques, or risk your health by waiting and reacting to one of their slower and more telegraphed armored moves.
Ninja Coin, a money obtained mostly through side missions, optional Purgatory challenges, and as a reward for finishing a chapter, is required for universal upgrades that impact all weapons. However, Weapon EXP, which is earned by merely battling enemies, must be used to acquire weapon-specific tactics. You gain more Weapon EXP the better you perform. Even while I believe Ninja Gaiden 4 is a touch sparse with your first set of improvements, I still liked that there was always something new to unlock during the entire game.
Verdict
There aren’t many fighting games that I would even classify as being on par with Ninja Gaiden 4. Simply put, it’s the most enjoyable 3D action game I’ve played since Devil May Cry 5. Even though its lackluster plot, uninteresting level design, and inconsistent boss fights detract from the overall experience, I haven’t stopped returning for more. Despite its flaws, this is the greatest pure action game since Hi-Fi Rush, and hopefully the next one won’t be released for another 13 years.
