[ironcreed]

It CAN be fun. The big problem is that the stripped down systems rob it of some of its involvement. For example, removal of the essence drop system makes combat feel more bland at times since another layer of strategy is gone with player controlled UTs and OTs. The enemies are also more bland with less variety and less interesting scenarios for them. The ninja trials, ironically, are more fun than the main game because they tend to have more interesting scenarios (some even use older levels and enemies from past games! Thus a lot more variety) and they have an actual scoring system in place thus encouraging more thoughtful play. If they added in a new play mode for the campaign that included essence and scoring back, and maybe a few new enemy types, the game would improve dramatically. As it stands it's still a "good" brawler. Just nothing like a prior NG game, or other top games in the genre.

That explains it well enough. The lack of enemy variety kind of sucks, but it ultimately still looks fun to play. As for the Trials, that was actually one of the main reasons I decided to go ahead and buy it. I saw fights against old favorites like Alma and was convinced that I would get some fun out of this.

I even think Clan Battles looks like a fun addition for multiplayer because it just looks... different. I'll take customizable ninjas running around killing each other with Izuna Drops over another frag-fest shooter any day. Sad to hear that hardly anyone is even playing it. :-/

[Kai Dracon]

That explains it well enough. The lack of enemy variety kind of sucks, but it ultimately still looks fun to play. As for the Trials, that was actually one of the main reasons I decided to go ahead and buy it. I saw fights against old favorites like Alma and was convinced that I would get some fun out of this. I even think Clan Battles looks like a fun addition for multiplayer because it just looks... different. I'll take customizable ninjas running around killing each other with Izuna Drops over another frag-fest shooter any day. Sad to hear that hardly anyone is even playing it. :-/

It is a shame what happened to this game, especially due to the multiplayer. Some of the reviewers even dismissed the clan battles as random "nonsense" because they apparently didn't care to figure out how to play it.

Oddly enough, the ninja trials even have an experience system; your build-a-ninja's level and unlocks are persistent between clan battle and trials. You can just play trials to level yourself up if you like; experience from them both unlocks higher trial difficulties, and increases your ninja level. (Your level unlocks abilities, costume parts, and a few other things.)

That does, at least, mean you can have fun leveling up the custom ninja even if live multiplayer is dead :p

[ironcreed]

It is a shame what happened to this game, especially due to the multiplayer. Some of the reviewers even dismissed the clan battles as random "nonsense" because they apparently didn't care to figure out how to play it. Oddly enough, the ninja trials even have an experience system; your build-a-ninja's level and unlocks are persistent between clan battle and trials. You can just play trials to level yourself up if you like; experience from them both unlocks higher trial difficulties, and increases your ninja level. (Your level unlocks abilities, costume parts, and a few other things.) That does, at least, mean you can have fun leveling up the custom ninja even if live multiplayer is dead :p

That all sounds awesome to me. Sucks they are selling all the weapons and stages as DLC, as at least the weapons should have just been in the damn game. That said, I got the game new at a reduced priced, so will probably buy them in order to make it feel more complete.

[Kai Dracon]

That all sounds awesome to me. Sucks they are selling all the weapons and stages as DLC, as at least the weapons should have just been in the damn game. That said, I got the game new at a reduced priced, so will probably buy them in order to make it feel more complete.

The weapons in campaign and multiplayer maps (along with a level cap increase) are free when you download the DLC packages. The pay stuff is just to use the extra weapons in clan battles and trials, as well as extra armor to earn.

[yankeehater]

That all sounds awesome to me. Sucks they are selling all the weapons and stages as DLC, as at least the weapons should have just been in the damn game. That said, I got the game new at a reduced priced, so will probably buy them in order to make it feel more complete.

I really dont think you need to buy the DLC unless you are determined to use the new weapons with the co-op missions.

[ironcreed]

The weapons in campaign and multiplayer maps (along with a level cap increase) are free when you download the DLC packages. The pay stuff is just to use the extra weapons in clan battles and trials, as well as extra armor to earn.

Ah, I see. I knew the Scythe at least was free, but it is good to hear others are as well. As far as paying to use the weapons in trials and clan battles, I'll just have to check it out first. It definitely would be nice to have them in trials especially.

[yankeehater]

The Scythe will make the trials much easier. The main challange in the game comes from enemies using grabs on you that wreck your health bar. With the Scythe you can basically stay in the air and make it so most enemies cant grab you.

[SHAZOOM]

Just ordered this for $43.00 new off Amazon Marketplace. Based on all the gameplay I have been watching, I actually think it looks pretty fun for what it is. But that is because I have went ahead and accepted that it is not going to be the NG that we all know and love. While that is sad, the game just does not look 3/10 bad to me at all.

Its a 6/10 for me. Mostly because of the occassional controls not responding. If that was fixed and they add a SoB part to TRAINGING to get a idea of how it works (its definitely based on health), I would give it a 7-7.5/10

Yeh, no way its a 3/10 on a regular videogame scale. For a Ninja Gaiden, its definitely the weakest of the bunch, but compared to say Heavenly Sword, its still a better game.

[MTMBStudios]

Its a 6/10 for me. Mostly because of the occassional controls not responding. If that was fixed and they add a SoB part to TRAINGING to get a idea of how it works (its definitely based on health), I would give it a 7-7.5/10 Yeh, no way its a 3/10 on a regular videogame scale. For a Ninja Gaiden, its definitely the weakest of the bunch, but compared to say Heavenly Sword, its still a better game.

But whose to say Heavenly Sword isn't a 2/10.

[SHAZOOM]

But whose to say Heavenly Sword isn't a 2/10.

On the comparitive scale that IGN used? I doubt they gave it a 3/10. Though honestly, its IGN. Why are we even taking their opinion on this?

[Robot Pants]

eh, the slowdown on master ninja warrants a 3/10 for me.
Maybe a 4.

[Frankfurt]

Demo is out on XBox Live.

What are they thinking?

[SHAZOOM]

eh, the slowdown on master ninja warrants a 3/10 for me. Maybe a 4.

Haven't touched Master Ninja in SP. Just that 1 trial with the pink fiends/white beret knife throwers was enough for me.

[iconoclast]

Just finished Day 1 on Ultimate Ninja. Somehow they managed to make this game even worse than it already is. I honestly hope Team Ninja never makes an action game again - especially one in the NG series. To make a game this bad while having such an incredible foundation to build off takes truly legendary incompetence.

[MCD]

HUGE FUCKING WARNING

You cannot switch your weapon during he final boss so have fun if you switched to the scythe before it because game will be running at 5 fps plus everything is against you.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

With that said, I am done with this turd. Master Ninja completed.

[Veelk]

Just finished Day 1 on Ultimate Ninja. Somehow they managed to make this game even worse than it already is. I honestly hope Team Ninja never makes an action game again - especially one in the NG series. To make a game this bad while having such an incredible foundation to build off takes truly legendary incompetence.

I'd love to see a full review from you.

[danmaku]

lol, what happens at UN? the game runs at 10 fps?

[iconoclast]

I'd love to see a full review from you.

I'm too lazy and bad at writing to put together an entire review, but what makes the game so bad is that there is absolutely no sense of pacing. Almost every encounter is a huge gauntlet of enemies, repeating the same waves over and over and over until you've taken down a small army. Then after the battle finally ends, you spend a few seconds walking to the next 'arena' and do it again. Rinse and repeat until the end of the game.

Even that wouldn't be so bad if the combat were any good, but it's not. It's completely shallow because you're only given a few viable options. Doing a ground combo anywhere near a group of enemies is basically suicide, since they constantly spam invincible grabs that can kill you in one or two shots. So pretty much every battle plays out the same: weaken one of the grunts with an air combo -> slide + steel on bone -> chain kill a few enemies -> OT whoever you can -> repeat until you get ninpo/UT -> back to step 1. There are a few enemies that force you to play a little differently (like groups of alchemists or invisible soldiers), but they're not really fun to fight against either.

The one good thing about the DLC is that the Scythe and Falcon Talons are good for dealing with the most annoying enemies. The Scythe destroys the Regent of the Mask and the snake/gorilla enemies, and the Falcon Talons have two combos that can instakill healthy alchemists (which is great, because your sword doesn't get one until Day 5). Plus the Scythe's Steel on Bone has amazing reach, so it's good for quickly mowing down groups of enemies.

But still, the game is terrible from top to bottom, and Ultimate Ninja just highlights all of its problems even further.

lol, what happens at UN? the game runs at 10 fps?

The framerate is worse than ever, especially in Day 1 where there's constant slowdown. But if you want to really kill the framerate, get a big Steel on Bone chain going with the Scythe. SoB attacks instakill enemies, but it leaves them lingering for a while so you can OT them. But since they're technically dead, it spawns another enemy to replace them. So if you get a big chain going, you can get way more enemies on screen than they ever intended, which gives you some serious slowdown. It's kinda funny actually.

[Demon Ice]

Just started up the demo, and I have to say, who in the fuck thought that whole sideways menu thing was a good idea?!


Edit: Did a Ninpo, and the surviving enemies actually threw down their weapons and surrendered.


Fuck Team Ninja Dog.

[MjFrancis]

While not a full review, that's still the best review of Ninja Gaiden 3's shoddy game mechanics that I've read anywhere, Iconoclast. A little more elaboration on graphics, the environments and the MP and you have the publication-ready piece that game reviewers should have been able to do in the first place. Your explanation is succinct and firmly cements the qualities where NG3 fails the franchise.

Thank you.

[Ninja Dom]

I'm playing the demo.

How do you get your karma score and combo counter displayed on screen?

[Robot Pants]

Oh Ultimate Ninja Mode is out?
Ha. So they just throw more enemies at you? Do they do more damage? One-hit kills?
What is the difference from Master Ninja?

I'm playing the demo. How do you get your karma score and combo counter displayed on screen?

Can only use the Karma counter on Master Ninja, and I'm assuming, Ultimate Ninja.
Lower difficulties don't have it.

[SHAZOOM]

I'm playing the demo. How do you get your karma score and combo counter displayed on screen?

You know, I had the game from Gamefly for 4 days and never found out how to display that in the Campaign. It does show up during Solo Trials.

[iconoclast]

Oh Ultimate Ninja Mode is out? Ha. So they just throw more enemies at you? Do they do more damage? One-hit kills? What is the difference from Master Ninja?

Seems like there are way more enemies to me, and yeah they do more damage and spam more grabs. I don't think I've been one hit killed yet, but a grab + one or two attacks is usually enough to do the job (or two grabs).

The enemy spawns are different from Master Ninja, so they did put some effort it into it at least. So far it just means that you have to fight more alchemists, dogs, rocket ninjas, and helicopters (on Day 2). I'm uploading my playthrough to youtube if you want to check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLgchR40J_c

[BadWolf]

Don't know if its okay to ask here but is NGS2 better than NGS1?

NGS1 was my first encounter with the series and I really didn't much care for it (eventhough I usually love the genre, God Hand being king and Bayonetta queen). I played it half way through and lost interest.

Since NG3 clearly doesn't seem to be a good game I'm considering giving the series another shot with NGS2. Is it much different/better than the first one or more of the same?

[Revan]

Don't know if its okay to ask here but is NGS2 better than NGS1? NGS1 was my first encounter with the series and I really didn't much care for it (eventhough I usually love the genre, God Hand being king and Bayonetta queen). I played it half way through and lost interest. Since NG3 clearly doesn't seem to be a good game I'm considering giving the series another shot with NGS2. Is it much different/better than the first one or more of the same?

NGS2 is different - it's more focused on being offensive then defensive. You don't need to be precise all the time when chaining combos and clearing out rooms - it's all attack attack attack - whereas NGS1 was built around the concept off of "defense is the best offense" stragedy. NGS2 is a little bit easier as well on the higher difficulty settings.

That being said I'd really suggest giving NGS1 another go around before up picking up NGS2....but stay away from NG3. It's fuckin terrible, even as a generic action game.

[Robot Pants]

Seems like there are way more enemies to me, and yeah they do more damage and spam more grabs. I don't think I've been one hit killed yet, but a grab + one or two attacks is usually enough to do the job (or two grabs). The enemy spawns are different from Master Ninja, so they did put some effort it into it at least. So far it just means that you have to fight more alchemists, dogs, rocket ninjas, and helicopters (on Day 2). I'm uploading my playthrough to youtube if you want to check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLgchR40J_c

Nice I'll check it out.
Did they ever fix the Ninja Cinema glitch? There were two that I saved and uploaded to the leaderboards on my last Karma run on Master Ninja. The thing is, on my harddrive I watch it and it shows me surviving the entire encounter (because obviously the only way to save the clip is to survive and reach the save point), however when I upload it and watch it, it shows most of what actually happened, then all of a sudden it shows me doing weird stuff and ultimately dying???

[BadWolf]

NGS2 is different - it's more focused on being offensive then defensive. You don't need to be precise all the time when chaining combos and clearing out rooms - it's all attack attack attack - whereas NGS1 was built around the concept off of "defense is the best offense" stragedy. NGS2 is a little bit easier as well on the higher difficulty settings. That being said I'd really suggest giving NGS1 another go around before up picking up NGS2....but stay away from NG3. It's fuckin terrible, even as a generic action game.

Thanks man, I'll give the second a shot.

Dunno about giving NGS1 another go, i really tried to get into it but it just wasn't clicking on every level, from the design and characters to the gameplay.

[sixteen-bit]

Don't know if its okay to ask here but is NGS2 better than NGS1? NGS1 was my first encounter with the series and I really didn't much care for it (eventhough I usually love the genre, God Hand being king and Bayonetta queen). I played it half way through and lost interest. Since NG3 clearly doesn't seem to be a good game I'm considering giving the series another shot with NGS2. Is it much different/better than the first one or more of the same?

What didn't you like about it? NG2 took out all the Metroidey bits of NG1 and made the game much more linear, so that might appeal to you. The fighting is much faster paced too.

[BadWolf]

What didn't you like about it? NG2 took out all the Metroidey bits of NG1 and made the game much more linear, so that might appeal to you. The fighting is much faster paced too.

When I played God hand, Bayonetta, DMC etc. I enjoyed them whole, the characters, visuals, bosses, music and the excellent gameplay. I felt non of that with NGS1, it felt bland and lifeless all around with completely forgettable bosses and characters. It also didn't seem to have a mechanic that grabbed me, like the evasion/dodge-cancel systems in God Hand for example.

The lack of checkpoints and need for save spots didn't help (could you save after a chapter ended? I didn't see the option and had to redo an entire stage once because I fell off a ledge by accident at the beginning of the new one), not to mention the time it took you to get back in the game after dying (iirc it was something like load time > do you want to continue? yes > do you want to bring the difficutly down? no > load time> unskippable title screen for the chapter. Every time.

[ironcreed]

Got my copy and started playing last night. It is definitely... different. That said, I went in expecting as much and still find it to be fun, despite the watering down. It is still fast and visceral and some of the old combos are there. Too many random QTE moments, though. They kind of went overkill with that mess.

Other than that, it looks nice, seems to run well and is fun to play through. No, it is not good old Ninja Gaiden, but it is not a terrible game for what it is. It certainly is not deserving of scores lower than that of games like X-Blades. It is a far better production than something like that. I mean, come on now, lol.

[Rhazer Fusion]

Just finished Day 1 on Ultimate Ninja. Somehow they managed to make this game even worse than it already is. I honestly hope Team Ninja never makes an action game again - especially one in the NG series. To make a game this bad while having such an incredible foundation to build off takes truly legendary incompetence.

Wait what? Day 1 on Ultimate Ninja? There is a difficulty in story mode beyond Master Ninja?


EDIT: Guess so........ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLgchR40J_c


I'm stuck on Day 6 on Master Ninja. :(

[Rhazer Fusion]

People seem to almost always exaggerate about this game. Not near a "3" folks. Seriously. Play some Philips CDI games, Vampire Rain, Shadow Warriors, WCW Nitro if you want truly horrendous games. It definitely isn't perfect especially on higher difficulties, but it is still fun and the combat is quite deep once you actually learn the actual moves and combos. Look at some Master Ninja videos for examples. Sorry, but I actually like this game. Not as good as NG1 or NG2(hardly anything is...), but it isn't near as bad as everyone makes it sound. People were expecting a direct sequel to the previous NG's obviously and were disappointed because things were stripped out for some peculiar reason. If this was called Ninja Dynasty or something, I think the ratings and feedback would of been much more positive. Maybe they took things out to DLC them in the future?? Who knows? Strangely enough they were working on two weapon patches after the game came out so soon.

[iconoclast]

Lol, this game is a broken piece of shit. On the final boss fight in Ultimate Ninja, and I start the battle with the Scythe equipped because I just used it to kill RotM before her (it kills him in like 30 seconds lol). Thing is, once you start the final boss, you can only change your weapons the first time you fight her. If you die, you can't change your weapon any more. So I died with the Dragon Sword equipped, but restarted the fight with the Scythe. Now the Scythe's OT is absolutely horrible, since it misses as a follow-up to the flying swallow a lot, AND it leaves Ryu vulnerable for a moment after completing the OT (and you have to OT the imps in order to ninpo the boss). So you either luck your way through the battle, or go back to the previous check point which is about 30 minutes away. edit: Actually, I forgot you could use the Scythe's aerial SoB to build ninpo, which should be safe enough to get through the fight. But you won't get as much karma if you do it that way, so screw it.

This is seriously one of the worst games ever created. Hayashi needs to find a job more suited to his skillset, like as a cashier at McDonalds.

Nice I'll check it out. Did they ever fix the Ninja Cinema glitch? There were two that I saved and uploaded to the leaderboards on my last Karma run on Master Ninja. The thing is, on my harddrive I watch it and it shows me surviving the entire encounter (because obviously the only way to save the clip is to survive and reach the save point), however when I upload it and watch it, it shows most of what actually happened, then all of a sudden it shows me doing weird stuff and ultimately dying???

I'm not sure, I haven't used the NC in this game and there hasn't been any patches. The NC has been bugged like that since NG2 though, so at this rate they'll probably never fix it.

[MCD]

Lol, this game is a broken piece of shit. On the final boss fight in Ultimate Ninja, and I start the battle with the Scythe equipped because I just used it to kill RotM before her (it kills him in like 30 seconds lol). Thing is, once you start the final boss, you can only change your weapons the first time you fight her. If you die, you can't change your weapon any more. So I died with the Dragon Sword equipped, but restarted the fight with the Scythe. Now the Scythe's OT is absolutely horrible, since it misses as a follow-up to the flying swallow a lot, AND it leaves Ryu vulnerable for a moment after completing the OT (and you have to OT the imps in order to ninpo the boss). So you either luck your way through the battle, or go back to the previous check point which is about 30 minutes away. This is seriously one of the worst games ever created. Hayashi needs to find a job more suited to his skillset, like as a cashier at McDonalds.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost...postcount=2365

Warned ya!

[iconoclast]

Finished Ultimate Ninja, got 3.3m karma. Worst game ever.

[MCD]

Finished Ultimate Ninja, got 3.3m karma. Worst game ever.

A true masochist.

:Bow

[Robot Pants]

This is seriously one of the worst games ever created. Hayashi needs to find a job more suited to his skillset, like as a cashier at McDonalds.

I laughed pretty hard.

[ViewtifulJC]

I don't understand how you guys can keep playing this stupid piece of shit. I forced my way through one playthrough just to say I did it, then sent that bitch back to Blockbuster Video.

[MechaX]

This is seriously one of the worst games ever created. Hayashi needs to find a job more suited to his skillset, like as a cashier at McDonalds.

Ice burn.

Man, now I'm reconsidering even eventually picking this game up at a super-budget price down the line. This just sounds like a fuck-up from top-to-bottom.

[MTMBStudios]

Ice burn. Man, now I'm reconsidering even eventually picking this game up at a super-budget price down the line. This just sounds like a fuck-up from top-to-bottom.

You can play the demo to get a small sense of how shit it is.

[Y2Kev]

I played the demo. This game is SUPER fucking bad. I couldn't even beat the demo. What a DISASTER.

[Liferebooted]

I played the demo. This game is SUPER fucking bad. I couldn't even beat the demo. What a DISASTER.

haha same, I think i'm going to pass at $20 even.

[Seraphinianus]

I think Tecmo just told the guy to make the game simpler, more casual, with full online play suite, DLC weapons, and blah-diddy-current-gen-blahblah. The guy can't be completely oblivious to how this game came out vs. NG1+2.

All things considered-- Itagaki having a butt ton of leverage to endlessly delay games until they were perfect because he saved Tecmo, the shake up, acquisition of Tecmo, and maybe a slice of good ol' Japanese insecurity about the genres they are actually great at causing them to make WTF decisions-- I can't believe that Hayashi was just like "herp derp make actiong game time!" and plopped out this.

Even though Itagaki was there, hayashi was project lead/director on NGB, Sigma, and even Dragon Sword was a pretty good game with some fun gameplay. NG3 stinks to high hell of some retarded suits telling the team how to make the game.

I don't wish the guy to lose his job over it, i'm hoping instead it'll make Tecmoei/TN reevaluate and try to make a game in the vein of 1 or 2. They need to drop the online crap too and just focus on a solid single-player game.

[SHAZOOM]

I think Tecmo just told the guy to make the game simpler, more casual, with full online play suite, DLC weapons, and blah-diddy-current-gen-blahblah. The guy can't be completely oblivious to how this game came out vs. NG1+2. All things considered-- Itagaki having a butt ton of leverage to endlessly delay games until they were perfect because he saved Tecmo, the shake up, acquisition of Tecmo, and maybe a slice of good ol' Japanese insecurity about the genres they are actually great at causing them to make WTF decisions-- I can't believe that Hayashi was just like "herp derp make actiong game time!" and plopped out this. Even though Itagaki was there, hayashi was project lead/director on NGB, Sigma, and even Dragon Sword was a pretty good game with some fun gameplay. NG3 stinks to high hell of some retarded suits telling the team how to make the game. I don't wish the guy to lose his job over it, i'm hoping instead it'll make Tecmoei/TN reevaluate and try to make a game in the vein of 1 or 2. They need to drop the online crap too and just focus on a solid single-player game.

This seems like the most likely situation. The game definitely needed at least 6 months to iron out the control lag, level design, and general performance. I know folks hate the new mechanics, but honestly I prefer the game be different in some way vs just rehashing NG1/2 UT centric gameplay.

If the game was called Hayate Gaiden or something, I feel most NG fan wouldn't hate on it as much. It would still get points docked for the issues above, but not 3/10 from every reviewer playing on HERO difficulty.

[Seraphinianus]

This seems like the most likely situation. The game definitely needed at least 6 months to iron out the control lag, level design, and general performance. I know folks hate the new mechanics, but honestly I prefer the game be different in some way vs just rehashing NG1/2 UT centric gameplay. If the game was called Hayate Gaiden or something, I feel most NG fan wouldn't hate on it as much. It would still get points docked for the issues above, but not 3/10 from every reviewer playing on HERO difficulty.

i think it needs to be scrapped 100% or add like 20 more enemy types, a bunch of weapons, and smooth out the AI/enemy move sets if it's going to take the same arena-after-arena layout that it has.

and this would be a bad action game no matter what it's called. In fact, the only reason I bought this day 1 in the face of 3/10s and other crap was because it's a mainline NG game. I even gave it a fair shot and took plenty of shit in the first couple days after release before getting to a point where I realized the game's progression was going absolutely nowhere.

[ViewtifulJC]

You buy it, the vendor gives YOU money.

[R_thanatos]

I played the demo. This game is SUPER fucking bad. I couldn't even beat the demo. What a DISASTER.

i find it funny that the sowrd in the worst weapon in the demo and that they made a demo that included dlc weapons

[Y2Kev]

I feel like I have no control over what is going on. Everything feels automated and random because of the aggressive camera cuts and the constant QTEs. Ninja Gaiden is about control. I felt like this was just an abortiony mix of special effects and grunting.

Hated it. HATED it.

[ironcreed]

Just completed day 5 and it felt more like Ninja Gaiden here than at any point thus far. A cluster-fuck of Spider ninjas and it can get pretty cheap. Cool looking, but easy boss at the end as well. Easily the best level so far.

Yeah, the game is watered down and stripped, but you can still pull off some of the old combos and it starts to ramp up a bit by the time you get to day 4. There are moments when it very much still feels like Ninja Gaiden, aside from the steel on bone and QTE shit. Which I very much could do without.

All in all, it is not what it once was, but it is not a 3/10 game either. It gets better than what the demo shows and there are still glimmerings of the old games in spots. In short, if you go in with lowered expectations, you can still have fun with it. It is not some broken game that deserves to be rated lower than stuff like X-Blades. I mean, get real.

Like I said, there are spots where you can easily see that if they wanted to, Hayashi and Team Ninja could make it like the old games. They just chose to go after the masses and failed with what they chose to implement. In fact, I would be willing to bet that the next Ninja Gaiden sees a return to form. That is, if they even make another one.