8th February
Hello and welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we’ve been playing this week. This week, we rediscover the button-mashing charms of Ninja Gaiden 2; we also rediscover the uneasiness of an iconic survival-horror; and we delve into the game one of Dragon Age’s key people made next.
What have you been playing?
Catch up with the older editions of this column in our What We’ve Been Playing archive.
Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, Xbox Series X
Ninja’s are elegant. Graceful. Precise. Sexy. But not here – at least, not when I’m playing.
I put this in part down to my own gameplay. The Ninja Gaiden games have a slightly awkward dodge mechanic, where you block first and then flick the stick; it never quite clicked with me. I’m also enjoying button mashing with each of the game’s torturous weapons, though the brutal flail and the whip-like chain sickle have proven favourites. It might not result in pretty or stylish combos, but I’ve found it as cathartic as it is mindless. After rage-quitting the previous game, I’m racing through this sequel and finding it, dare I say, quite easy.