{"id":1296,"date":"2024-10-04T20:00:17","date_gmt":"2024-10-05T00:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/?p=1296"},"modified":"2024-10-04T19:58:40","modified_gmt":"2024-10-04T23:58:40","slug":"ninja-gaiden-3-razors-edge-issue-50","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/2024\/10\/04\/ninja-gaiden-3-razors-edge-issue-50\/","title":{"rendered":"Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor\u2019s Edge \u2014 Issue 50"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Nin\u00adja Gaiden 3 fin\u00adish\u00ades comeback<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Mod\u00adern\u00adized tril\u00ado\u00adgy finale falls short of masterpiece<\/span><\/p>\n

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I would be fool\u00adish to not acknowl\u00adedge one of the most leg\u00adendary nin\u00adjas in video game his\u00adto\u00adry. Ever since the appear\u00adance of the \u201cTec\u00admo Presents 1989\u201d screen herald\u00ading the Nin\u00adja Gaiden series, Ryu Hayabusa has tak\u00aden up his fam\u00adi\u00adly\u2019s leg\u00adendary Drag\u00adon Sword against many demon\u00adic foes and their lack\u00adeys who desire Earth to fall under their rule. Through many 8- and 16-bit adven\u00adtures, Ryu has con\u00adquered many foes that were not just fuel that cre\u00adates night\u00admares but those who were sci-fi adja\u00adcent with foes who were half-demon and half-tech. Ryu took a hia\u00adtus and even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly returned to his role as a nin\u00adja guardian defend\u00ading his home vil\u00adlage (and the world) through new adven\u00adtures on next gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion con\u00adsoles. I was able to expe\u00adri\u00adence Mr. Hayabusa\u2019s lat\u00adest feat in Nin\u00adja Gaiden 3: Razor\u2019s Edge.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Razor\u2019s Edge, Ryu, now the head leader of Hayabusa vil\u00adlage, is called upon by the Japan\u00adese Self-Defense Forces to deal with a ter\u00adror\u00adist group known as the Legion of Alche\u00admy whose leader has a deep grudge against the beloved drag\u00adon nin\u00adja. When the LOA<\/span> launch\u00ades a bru\u00adtal assault on the British prime min\u00adis\u00adter\u2019s home, Ryu responds and destroys the LOA\u2019s foot sol\u00addiers but arrives too late to save the prime min\u00adis\u00adter and is attacked by the Regent of the Mask. The Regent of the Mask places a curse called the Grip of Mur\u00adder on Ryu\u2019s right arm, which absorbs the souls of Ryu\u2019s ene\u00admies and takes the Drag\u00adon Sword into his arm. To make things worse, the Regent makes a threat to world lead\u00aders to either sur\u00adren\u00adder in sev\u00aden days or be destroyed. With time of the utmost essence, Ryu along with long\u00adtime ally Ayane and JSDF<\/span> agent Mizu\u00adki McCloud must stop the LOA<\/span> to pre\u00advent fur\u00adther glob\u00adal chaos.<\/span><\/p>\n


\nRazor\u2019s Edge\u2019s graph\u00adics are like cur\u00adrent hack-and-slash games on the mar\u00adket but also have sub\u00adstance. Team Nin\u00adja devel\u00adoped each stage with care and kept ele\u00adments that make Nin\u00adja Gaiden a fan favorite. Start\u00ading in Lon\u00addon the roads are instant\u00adly rec\u00adog\u00adniz\u00adable as are the back\u00addrop of Big Ben and the Knight bus\u00ades instead of a copy and paste insert\u00aded stage. The cut scenes, stage start, and recap areas are beau\u00adti\u00adful\u00adly done and add pol\u00adish to all char\u00adac\u00adters with\u00adout going too far to explain who\u2019s good and evil. A small gripe about the pre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtion and graph\u00adics is that the stage start\/recap areas were too sim\u00adi\u00adlar to the Met\u00adal Gear and Tom Clan\u00adcy series where it\u2019s a bit too dra\u00admat\u00adic in some areas and they don\u2019t allow the awe\u00adsome graph\u00adics to set the tone. <\/span><\/p>\n

The con\u00adtrols to guide our hero are sim\u00adple but need prac\u00adtice in some areas that require park\u00adour-type jumps to get to oth\u00ader parts of some stages. In some parts of the game where Ayane is called upon, she is a lit\u00adtle more flex\u00adi\u00adble than Ryu, but that does\u00adn\u2019t make the con\u00adtrols more dif\u00adfi\u00adcult. I did have a few issues with con\u00adtrols regard\u00ading bat\u00adtles with boss\u00ades that require more focus to strike var\u00adi\u00adous spots. Also, when Ryu is required to use his kunai to climb, tim\u00ading to focus on climb\u00ading is need\u00aded while var\u00adi\u00adous ene\u00admies fierce\u00adly attempt to elim\u00adi\u00adnate you. It taxed my patience and was kind of tedious. <\/span><\/p>\n

The music is paired per\u00adfect\u00adly with each stage and has a bal\u00adance from slow-ris\u00ading to ener\u00adgetic when fac\u00ading off with var\u00adi\u00adous ene\u00admies. The LOA<\/span> muse\u00adum is my favorite stage; while bat\u00adtling through the stage, ene\u00admies, includ\u00ading attack dogs, pop out to attack you with fierce music. When defeat\u00aded, the music goes back to a light rock style. The game music is excel\u00adlent all-around, and the voice act\u00ading is per\u00adfect with Troy Bak\u00ader as Ryu and Ali Hillis as Mizu\u00adki. The cast includes well-known voice actors such as Yuri Lowen\u00adthal, Stephanie Sheh, Jan\u00adice Kawaye and Michael McConnohie. <\/span><\/p>\n

While I enjoyed Razor\u2019s Edge, I do have a few dis\u00adlikes. First, its tar\u00adget\u00ading sys\u00adtem for Ryu when he uses his nin\u00adpo has hit and miss accu\u00adra\u00adcy, tak\u00ading out some ene\u00admies while miss\u00ading oth\u00aders. My oth\u00ader prob\u00adlem is that while the game has var\u00adi\u00adous dub and sub\u00adti\u00adtles includ\u00aded, the Eng\u00adlish sub\u00adti\u00adtles were not timed well with its audio, which made the sto\u00adry dif\u00adfi\u00adcult to fol\u00adlow in some cut scenes. Notic\u00ading that, It was\u00adn\u2019t a deal\u00adbreak\u00ader, but it was disappointing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nin\u00adja Gaiden 3: Razor\u2019s Edge breathes new life and new adven\u00adtures into a leg\u00adendary nin\u00adja in video games. Ryu Hayabusa is a prime exam\u00adple of being able to teach an old dog a few new tricks and they suc\u00adceed. The third game in the remake series puts the Hayabusa name back at the edge of greatness.<\/span><\/p>\n