Slice and dice your way through a dynamic tale of treachery and deceit as ninja hero expert Ryu Hayabusa in Ninja Gaiden 3.  The Ninja Gaiden series has a long history – dating back to the original Nintendo Entertainment System – I’m not sure if we’ll ever see the best and most complete version of this game but for now Ninja Gaiden 3 will have to suffice!

Ninja Gaiden 3 is fast – as expected, it is bloody – as we want and it is exciting – mostly.  We spent a good deal playing through the single-player campaign (thoughts on multiplayer will have to wait) and came away with these thoughts: being a ninja is cool — losing control of the camera and auto-locking on targets is not cool.  I’m down with a fast paced attack from some skillfully placed button mashing but the dynamic camera pops in and out of the action so much that I spend half of my time re-orientating myself to the enemies.  On the flip-side of that coin – some things like tossing shurikens and shooting with your bow are auto-locked on targeting – a near on-rails experience.  There is also quicktime moments that pop up more frequently then you would like.

When you are left to your own devices, camera control and non-quicktime stuff that is when Ninja Gaiden 3 is fun to play.  Plenty of care has gone into the fighting mechanics and abilities to raise the bar on this franchise but is it enough to rise above an already stand-out year of exciting games?  Lucky for you – we’ve provided a handful of gameplay with commentary to see for yourself if you are ready to tackle Ninja Gaiden 3.

Ninja Gaiden 3 is out now for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (with Move support) and supports up to 8 player online action.

Related Videos:

Ninja Gaiden 3 [Commentary 01] Gameplay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pQ-uAzat3A

Ninja Gaiden 3 [Commentary 02] Gameplay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZPexUln35A