Ninja: a member of a group of mercenaries in feudal Japan who were trained in stealth and the martial arts and employed as spies, saboteurs, or assassins.

We all know that a ninja is that guy dressed in black; we can see only his eyes, moves real fast, walks on the walls, knows a lot of jiujutsu and throws with metal stars called shurikens. Yap, we must be talking about Ryu Hayabusa, a man who was first met in Ninja Gaiden for NES in 1992. Then, in 2004, Ninja Gaiden was released for the Xbox and later Ninja Gaiden Black: an update for the original Xbox game. After 3 years, Team Ninja comes again with their latest product: Ninja Gaiden Sigma for the Playstation 3 console, probably one of the best action game on the market.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma is not a new game. It is a remake after the old Xbox version, with many enhancements.

But first, let me tell you about Ryu Hayabusa. He’s a descendent from the Dragon Lineage who sworn to protect the Dark Dragon Blade. This sword is said to be the most powerful sword ever, so an evil lord comes and steals it. Ryu tries to oppose but he’s injured and his entire village is turned to ashes. With revenge in his eyes and heart, he goes after the one responsible, to kill him and get the sword back.

Although this is a port from the original Xbox game, Sigma features 16 missions plus 3 unlockbable extra missions. Also, the voluptuous blonde girl – fiend hunter named Rachel, who appeared now and then in cinematics, is now a playable character and has her own weapons, fighting techniques and pace. Rachel yields a War Hammer that is slower than a sword but it does more damage and as a range weapon she has a Peluda Tail that can grab enemies. On the other hand, Ryu’s weapons arsenal has more variety, ranging from Nunchaku, Vigoorian Flail, Lunar (wooden stick) to Dragon’s Claw & Tiger’s Fang (dual wielding katana) and a set of range weapons like Shuriken (normal, incendiary and windmill type), a bow or smoke bombs (that can blind enemies in the area). The story is not necessarily that “special thing” the developers were thinking to keep players interested. But the journey itself, with plots and different types of enemies you encounter, skills and weapons you must upgrade or bosses you must defeat is “something”.

Even if Rachel is a “newcomer” to the action of the game, the developers have made her quite “interesting”. The looks are not everything… they say. She’s a real mean fighting machine. The War Hammer is not upgradable and she has only one ranged weapon. But she’s here only to change the pace of the game every once in a while. She can be customized with earrings that will increase her damage, increase the Ultimate techniques and other cool stuff, plus you find different hairstyles for her, to make her look after your own desire (arrrrgggghhhhh matey).

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Ryu is also “special” in his own way. He has the great weapon arsenal I mentioned earlier, and can master different fighting techniques like Izuna Drop (grabs the enemy in the air and slams him down on the ground), Guillotine Throw (grabs an enemy’s neck while jumping) or Flying Swallow (fly at high speed towards the foe and cut their head off – my favorite, especially against undead because then they wonder around like headless chickens). There is also Ninpo (let’s call it magic shields – fire and ice) that protect Ryu from attacks for a few seconds. These can be bought from the blacksmith/shop where weapons can be upgraded for a sum of golden essence.

The enemies are stronger and stronger as you go further into the game, from simple fighters, to ninjas, commando troops or fiends that once you slain, they drop golden essence used for purchasing or upgrading weapons, or they can drop blue essence that refills some health. There are some places where mobs respawn and this can be helpful if you need money, so you can kill them over and over again, but it sucks if you are low on life and have to go back through a hallway filled with pissed ninjas. Golden Scarabs are also hidden in every level, and the more scarabs you find, the more you can trade them to the shop for different items.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma differentiates from the rest of the “pack” by its great gameplay and control scheme. Using simple and intuitive controls, the fight scenes are a delight for everyone. For someone who never played this type of games before it might be a hard in the beginning. Even if you’re an experienced player you may find the action really challenging.

The action is not the only one that makes the game “supreme”. Being ported on the PS3, Sigma takes full advantage from the customized Nvidia graphic processor and can now show the true look of Ninja Gaiden. The characters are really well modeled and look really realistic (except Rachel, they spend too much on her boob job ). The monsters are greatly designed and have that fierce look. Every effect is full of colors and the cinematics are fluid and polished. Same goes for the in-game animations.

If you didn’t had the chance to play the game yet, I suggest to go and buy it now, for Ninja Gaiden Sigma might be the best PS3 game out there.

Gameplay: 91

The new addition of Rachel – The Fiend Hunter as a playable character, new moves and the two-handed katana along with challenging enemies makes the play a wonderful experience.

Graphics: 91

Great models, great textures and the power of Playstation, gives the game a good look. Polished cinematics and animations will catch the eye of anyone who’s looking or just passing by. There are a couple of bugs but nothing that will affect your gaming experience.

Sound: 86

The music is slow and has a gothic style to it, you can hear it in the background so it doesn’t annoy one bit. Walking on water, the sound of the swords clashing, the voices are genuine and add to the feeling of the game.