Playing Ninja Gaiden is like playing a full-fledged fully-fleshed out 3D weapons-based fighting game, only it's been dipped in olive oil and set on fire at the same time. There's no stiff and slow manual lock-on system in this action game, which is amazing considering that third-person action games are still using a spin-off of Zelda 64's camera. Personally, last fall I thought Prince of Persia was a pretty amazing display of a "no-manual lock-on system." Ninja Gaiden is like Prince of Persia's combat system on some kind of sugary crack, only it's smoother and surprisingly fun.

That's right, Ninja Gaiden is fun. I found just running around guiding Ryu on his sixteen-chapter quest was a ballet of mortal combat, and I was a set director from Hell itself. There's a selection of weapons at Ryu's fingertips so vast that even Batman would gag at all the toys at his disposal. While I preferred to cut the heads off the assault-rifle carrying thugs with my katana carved out of a dragon's fang, you might find that busting up demons with a battle-axe the size of a tall man is more to your liking. The beauty of the game is that you are free to approach combat in whatever manner you prefer. Will some weapons work better against enemies than others? Yes. But, you're free to try it the hard way if you wish.

And it will be hard. How hard? Diamond "Damn the gods" hard at times. As the developer, Team Ninja was proud to say more than once, "In other games the enemies are there for you to kill. In Ninja Gaiden the enemies are there to kill you." They weren't kidding, folks. The average grunt in Ninja Gaiden is more than capable of single handily killing you if you're not ready to bring your best to the table. They do this by completely disregarding (especially later in the game) the old Zorro standard of not attacking your back when you're fighting someone else.

Thankfully, the game does have a nice and steady pace of ever-increasing difficulty. It just doesn't have any kind of hand-holding training mode that new-school gamers are used to finding in these types of games. This is a shame, because the high difficulty will probably shut out a lot of gamers unwilling to invest the energy into learning how to play. A kid-mode difficulty option would have really helped out.

One of the main reasons I'm only giving Ninja Gaiden a B- is the high difficulty. The game is just hard enough for me that the frustration factor takes away from the fun factor. It pains me to dock the game on difficulty because the raw mechanics of just running around and fighting grunts is amazing. The simple things: blocking, comboing, decapitating foolish military grunts is fun, but getting sliced in the back by an enemy that dashes in from off screen is not fun.

I am of course talking about the camera, which contrary to Team Ninja's early raving is not the end-all be-all 3D action camera. Was it pretty darn good when battling your average grunt? Yes. Was it acceptable when trying to make precision jumps? No, not in the least. There was no way to make a subtle left or right adjustment, and always looking straight on at your target doesn't help. Platforming in Ninja Gaiden felt like a hit-or-miss element. An odd feeling given the range of moves I had at my command.

Sure I could wall run with ease, or boomerang back and forth between two walls like it was going out of style, but far too often I dramatically undershot or overshot a simple-looking jump. See Metroid Prime for an example of seamless and fun platforming.

Some would say that the camera was the best that could be expected in a game that moves this fast. I say that a little nudge here and there would have greatly helped the camera. Not shooting all of the action during most of the boss fights from a "dramatic cinematic" angle would have helped as well.

Of course if the camera weren't dramatic during the boss fights, you wouldn't get to see all of their lovely attacks rend Ryu asunder. There haven't been boss fights this dynamic and challenging since . . . well . . . forever. Many of the bosses have so many attacks and patterns that it's quite possible to play through (and die multiple times) without ever seeing all of them in one battle. I actually found myself wishing Ninja Gaiden had a "boss battle mode" à la Metal Gear Solid.

Of course by the end of the game I had a lot of wishes. I wished that Team Ninja would let you start your second run through the game with all your goodies from your last play-through. Getting to beat up on the lower-level grunts with a fully powered Dragon Blade would have been a treat. Oh well. It's not something that should factor into your decision to purchase Ninja Gaiden, just something you can dream about for a sequel.

Speaking of sequels, Ninja Gaiden does have the original trilogy (SNES re-vamped versions) as the big unlockable secret. All three are emulated perfectly from what these eyes and ears can tell, and control just fine with the Xbox controller. I'm sure some fanatics would be able to catch a pixel or a beep out of place, but given that the old "line the enemy up with the edge of the screen glitch" still works I'm inclined to believe the games are pixel perfect. Beyond the original Ninja Gaiden there is an unlockable sword and costume for your second play-through.

Those willing to play through the hellfire of Ninja Gaiden will find a Zelda-styled adventure, the best unlockable secret since Metal Gear Solid's stealth camouflage, and the most varied boss fights of this generation. Of course you'll also find puzzles right out of Resident Evil in style, though thankfully not in difficulty. Still, Xbox owners now have no reason to complain about the long wait until Halo 2 is released.

· · · Ross Fisher