Ninja Gaiden 3 (2012)

Ninja Gaiden 3 is a 2012 action-adventure video game developed by Team Ninja and published by Koei Tecmo for the mh:awesomegames:Xbox 360 and mh:awesomegames:PlayStation 3. It is the sequel to Ninja Gaiden 2 and is overall the third game in the 3D Ninja Gaiden series. Later it received an updated port for the Wii U (later released on PS3/360 as well) titled Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge as a launch title in North America and Japan. it was included in the Master Collection for mh:awesomegames:Xbox One, mh:awesomegames:PlayStation 4, mh:awesomegames:Nintendo Switch and mh:awesomegames:Microsoft Windows.

Plot
Ryu Hayabusa is approached by members of the Japanese military force, who ask for his aid in dealing with a terrorist group called the Lords of Alchemy. Their leader, a mysterious figure known as the Regent of the Mask, places a curse upon Ryu that causes his sword to be absorbed into his arm.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Combat is often broken with QTEs, which kill the pacing, and the camera constantly zooms in whenever you finish off a enemy, coming off as annoying.
 * 2) Whenever you have to climb a wall, the gameplay changes into a QTE minigame for no plausible reason. The QTE minigame itself is also glitchy, sometimes causing the player to fall to his death even when he presses the buttons correctly.
 * 3) There is only one weapon this time, with no way of upgrading it, and the only way to get more weapons is buying them as DLC. That's right; to have more weapons, you got to buy them as literal DLCs! That doesn't make any sense!
 * 4) Only one Ninppo unlike the previous games.
 * 5) The bow autolocks on the opponents requring no effort (using this weapon makes you go into a behind the character third person camera).
 * 6) The gameplay is often slowed down when the player receives a radio call or is afflicted by the curse, causing the player to be forced to move in a very slow pace until the event is over.
 * 7) Very small enemy variety. There are only around 10 basic types of enemies in the game.
 * 8) Boss battles drag on for very long, as you have to wait for a small opening, get a few hits then wait again for a long time for the next opening. And unlike the first and second game, the bosses have no visible lifebars (though thankfully in the Razor's Edge port, they do).
 * 9) The entire plot of the game is shallow and contradictory with the previous titles in the series.
 * 10) The game has a darker tone just for the sake of being darker. The main character, Ryu, appears as a completely different character in comparison from the previous games. Granted the previous two Ninja Gaiden games have dark moments, but those usually have some light-hearted moments to balance out the story.
 * 11) Too easy combat and difficulty, as the game allows you to do button mashing, unlike the previous games in which you needed to be really careful with your attacks and use tactics in order to efficiency make progress.
 * 12) It has less missions than the previous games.
 * 13) A terrible Multiplayer, that consists only of a mindless Deathmach mode.
 * 14) For some unknown reason, the ability to dismember body parts is absent.

Good Qualities

 * 1) The graphics look good.
 * 2) The soundtrack is great.
 * 3) There are some good boss fights here and there.
 * 4) The voice acting is well done.
 * 5) The ending is surprisingly very lighthearted.
 * 6) The enhanced version, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge, is a massive improvement.

Reception
Ninja Gaiden 3 was met with generally mixed reviews, with most criticism aimed at the game being too streamlined. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Xbox 360 version 55.00% and 58/100 respectively and the PlayStation 3 version 54.27% and 58/100 respectively.

Some of the reviews were fairly positive. Official Xbox Magazine gave it an 8 out of 10, praising the combat and graphics, but criticizing the streamlined approach and the ending. The Official PlayStation Magazine UK gave it an 7 out of 10, saying "it's largely fun even if it doesn’t quite deliver on its grand objectives." Computer and Video Games rated the game 8/10, even as "the hardcore [gamers], who previously gritted teeth and suffered through the punishment are unlikely to forgive the myriad concessions to the wider audience."

Videos
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