In addition to the obliteration techniques, the other big addition to the gameplay of NG2 is the regenerating health bar. In NG2 you have two colored health meters. The blue one is like a traditional health bar that depletes every time you get hit. After every battle concludes, your blue meter will refill all the way to where the red meter is. The red meter represents Ryu’s severe wounds and will slowly get larger every time you get hit, thus making the amount of health you can regenerate smaller and smaller. The only way you can get rid of the red meter is by using a health potion when your blue meter is full or by healing at a save point.



It may seem like this would make NG2 much easier than its predecessor, but the game balances things out by making healing potions much more expensive, limiting the number you can carry to only three of each kind, and by making them less common in treasure chests.

Ultimate techniques have been tweaked a bit as well. Previously, if you were to charge your ultimate technique to level one, you’d simply do a strong dashing slash that was likely to decapitate a few enemies. However in NG2, connecting with a level one ultimate technique will cause Ryu to execute a flashy and destructive combo attack just like you would find from a level 2 ultimate technique in the original Ninja Gaiden. A level two ultimate attack in NG2 on the other hand… Well just take a look at the video below.

Unfortunately several things keep NG2 from being the "definitive action game" that its creator, Tomonobu Itagaki, hails it to be. The biggest problem lies in the game’s management of its camera. The camera is actually both a blessing and a curse because on one hand, it helps add to the sense of satisfaction and style of the game by giving you really cool close up shots during ultimate and obliteration techniques. On the other hand though, by changing the camera angle to show off the action, it neglects showing you where other enemies are and what they are doing. This will lead to many frustrating moments where you’ll wind up dying due to some unseen enemy leaping halfway across the level and pummeling your face in without giving you any time to react.