Team Ninja's enigmatic mastermind Tomonobu Itagaki is a well known fan of Halo. But last week, when he went to the offices of Microsoft Game Studios in Seattle, it wasn't to convince his pals at Bungie to make Halo 4: Gravemind's Revenge. He was there to show off an early version of Ninja Gaiden 2, which Microsoft will publish for Xbox 360 later this year. And while mum about whether the game will feature a second playable character (rumored to be a woman who isn't Rachel), support downloadable content like the last Ninja Gaiden or have battles set in a certain city known for large fruit, he did go into more detail about other aspects of the game that he hadn't before.
Taking a cue from the Capulets & Montagues (or J. Lo and Mariah Carey), the story of Ninja Gaiden 2 is centered around a feud. "As you know, our hero [Ryu Hayabusa] is from the Hayabusa clan," Itakagi explains, "but there's another ninja clan that's been fighting with them for as long as anyone can remember. So what you're going to see is the intense conflict between these two clans."
Heading this enemy clan is Genshin, a guy who doesn't take "no" for an answer. Which makes Ryu's job that much more difficult. "Genshin is so focused on killing Ryu that if one of his lesser ninjas doesn't kill Hayabusa, Genshin will kill them for failing," Itakagi says. "So since they have nothing to lose, they're still going to come at you even when they get an arm chopped off or a leg chopped off."
SCREENS: Talking to Itakagi, it's obvious he's a game designer who listens to his fans. And corrects them when they're wrong. "I'd actually like to clear something up," he tells us at one point. "A lot of the hardcore fans on the forums have been getting upset because they think the dual katanas [in NG2] are the ones that were in Ninja Gaiden Sigma. But they've actually been greatly improved and they're not very different. We're actually treating them as a whole new weapon." Click the image above to check out all Ninja Gaiden 2 screens.
It is then that Ryu will get to employ his newly learned Obliteration Techniques, which are like the moves you do in Mortal Kombat when you're told to, "Finish Him." Except Obliteration Techniques aren't meant to humiliate your enemies, they're meant to honor them. "In the Japanese warrior tradition," Itakagi explains, "it's very important to finish an enemy off in an appropriate way. The most vile thing you can do is kill someone in a way that takes a long time to die. If you're going to kill a guy, you should do it as swiftly and as painlessly as possible." (Which Itakagi illustrates by cutting one enemy ninja into neat little cubes.)
Finishing off your enemies with an Obliteration Technique doesn't just honor your enemies, though. "It will not only increase your standing at the end of a stage, when you're ranked on your performance," Itakagi points out, "but also, like in the first game, when you finish off an enemy you get essence, and the amount of essence increases if you use an Obliteration Technique."
Of course, ninjas from Genshin's clan will also be hoping to give you a warrior's death. Luckily, this sequel features a new regenerating health system. "Because Hayabusa is a super ninja," Itakagi explains, "he's able to concentrate and focus his energy to regain some of his health back. But you can't get it all back."
The thinking behind this, Itakagi notes, is because, "I wanted to reduce the number of times that you're taken out of the gameplay, like when you want to heal or use an item." Though he also cites the health systems in such games as the Call of Duty series as being an influence as well. "There are a lot of FPSes where, if you stand still, you get all your health back," he says. "But if you can always get all your health back at anytime, no questions asked, you're always able to approach any enemy, any situation, at the optimum conditions, so there's no risk involved."
"But in our game," he continues, "if you have a save point where all your health is restored and then have five encounters before the next save point, and in the first two you screw up and your permanent damage is really high, you really have to batten down the hatches to get through the other three or you're not going to make it to the next save point. We wanted to add that level of unpredictability."
Unlike Ninja Gaiden, NG2 takes place in such real-world locales as Venice, Italy and Tokyo, Japan, which is where the game begins. But Team Ninja isn't afraid to take a few liberties with the zoning laws. "We're not going to be 100% faithful," Itakagi admits. "We're changing them around and adapting it to our game."
The final way in which NG2 distinguishes itself from its predecessor, Itakagi tells us, is how magic, or ninpo, is now an offensive tool instead of a defensive one. Additionally, Itakagi points out, "In the previous game, it was an all-or-nothing thing; when you used it, it effected every enemy on screen equally. But now, if you jump into a throng of enemies and use your ninpo, it might kill some enemies, injure other, and might throw others off their feet, giving you the opportunity to finish them off."
很暴力，就是不知道黄不黄 
