Reviews:--Don't matter
Media:--Don't matter
Controls:--Slaughter
--See
--Survive
Demo impressions:
--Play through ryu on Acolyte or Warrior
--Beating it unlocks Ayane and Mentor mode
--Beating Ayane's stage unlocks Team Missions (2 acolyte, 1 Warrior so far...3 different stages. CPU partners only, no online.)
That's about an hour+ worth of content right there and I'm sure Master Ninja is in there too, which will be an hour in itself.
That aside, this feels much better than regular NG2.
What i've noticed:
--Speed is toned down + longer recovery animations, so the game has a weightier feel. This applies to enemies too. It's closer to NGB and Sigma...somewhere in between that and NG2.
--Limbs don't come off as easily, not as many OTs
--The bow is mapped to R2, shurikens to O. So you will always have shurikens equipped and your other projectile to R2.
--Try out this combo: flying swallow> bow shot on recovery> shurikens after the bow shot> triangle for the down strike.
--Pressing L1 goes into First Person mode and auto locks to the closest enemy, making long range foes easier to deal with. Unfortunately you can't auto lock on and fire immediately...there's a 2 second pause that keeps you from doing that. Would be cool if they took that pause out, but it's probably there for balance.
--The bow is not as strong as before, for balance reasons probably.
--Haven't messed with Enma's Fang much, but I took down the boss on Warrior pretty easily with it. Seems dabilahro-esque.
--Life of the Gods is used instantly and doesn't fully recover health! Oh shi-- no saving them up
--Ayane is fucking awesome. Exploding kunai seem to be her default projectile. They're not as strong as exploding shurikens in NG2 and Black, but they make for some awesome set ups. She's fast and brutal, but takes more damage. I like playing as her a lot. and boob jiggle. She has a lot of her moves from DOA.
--Enemies don't come in as large of packs and seem smarter.
--The projectile spam was not bad in Mentor, but I didn't make it through the whole stage and am about to go to bed...
--Off screen projectiles weren't nearly as accurate in ayane's level or the Team Mission I played. As in, they almost always wiffed and weren't nearly as frequent. The lock on makes dealing with them much easier.
--There's no score kept in Story mode. They just said fuck it, probably because NG2's scoring system is distinguished mentally-challenged. Team Missions are scored.
--The colors are much warmer, seems like it's actually running 1280x720 (that weird upres haze is gone), though there are some lower res textures here and there.
and the bad:
--Loading out the ass. Huge loading time when you boot it up, loading when you open chests like in Sigma 1, loading when you open the weapon/item mini menu, loading all over the place (hopefully not while in battles this time.) I guess it's just something about the Sigma engine. The fact that this isn't running on a disc is not so encouraging.
--Light screen tears every once in a while.
--Light frame rate drops when shit got hectic in team mode and ayane's stage.
and yeah, the violence is very very toned down. No holes getting blown through dudes by that albino chick at the beginning. The OT's are still brutal, but there's a whole bunch of purple haze and a little blood. All the sound effects are intact though, like the awesome head smash sound when you izuna drop someone.
day 1.
