The core combat in Ninja Gaiden 2 remains largely the same as it was in the original game. The X button is assigned to dealing quick attacks, with the Y button executing slower and more damaging strikes. The beauty of this combat system though is the sheer amount of variety that Team Ninja manages to squeeze out of just two buttons for melee attacks. The combo list for a weapon upgraded to level three is about as complex as a traditional fighting game, with attacks that change depending on whether you’re on the ground, in the air, running along a wall, across water, underwater, etc.



With eight different melee weapons each with their own unique combo list in addition to five projectile weapons, you’ll rarely find yourself at a loss for ways to kill your enemies. The trick is being able to use Ryu’s expansive repertoire of moves and abilities effectively enough to bring down the hyper aggressive enemy AI.

The enemies in NG2 are absolutely relentless. This isn’t a game where enemies come at you one at a time while all of the others dance around waiting for their turn. They will come at you from all sides, breaking your guard, throwing unblockable projectiles, grabbing you and beating you down until you physically make them get off, and intelligently dodging and defending against your attacks.



To make things a tiny bit easier on Ryu this time around though, NG2 throws in a new gameplay feature called the obliteration technique. Now when you are slicing away at an enemy, there is a chance that you might cut a limb off. If you manage to get close enough to an amputated enemy and simply press Y, Ryu will execute a stylish obliteration technique that will kill the enemy instantly, and give you a few seconds of invulnerability while the animation is playing.

You have to be quick to take out a severed enemy however, because now that they lost their limb, their mindset will change to that of one with nothing to lose. They will grab hold of your back and stab through your stomach despite stabbing themselves as well, and sometimes they’ll even grab you and stick you with a suicidal incindiary shuriken to try and take you down along with them.