Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge

It's challenging, brutal and rewarding, so self-professed hardcore gamers should be all over this noise. [Issue#231, p.84]

All in all, if you’re one of the lucky ones that avoided the first version due to low scores or bad word-of-mouth, then this one might just do it for you.

If you're hankering for some highly difficult, ninja-dismemberment action that prizes precision play, it's a pretty good buy. If high difficulty annoys you or you prefer to play as a damage-tank who can soak a lot of hits, avoid at all costs.

Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge is a must-buy for anybody who skipped the initial release, or those still burned by a likely swift trade-in of the flawed original. It’s only forty bucks at launch and offers up a lot of fun gameplay that is back to feeling what it should feel like instead of a neutered version of it. This is the definitive version of Ninja Gaiden 3, and fits in nicely with the best versions of NG and NG II for scratching that action-platformer itch when you’re in the mood for some ninja-based killing sprees.

This is what Ninja Gaiden 3 should have been when it was first released. It's still far from perfect, but it brings back some of the feelings the series used to have.

This version of Ninja Gaiden 3 is the best. It's complete thanks to new modes, Ayane special missions, the free DLC with Kasumi, more violence and, of course, it's more challenging. However, it still has fundamental mistakes.

With some extra features Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge is certainly recommendable. The gameplay is fine and the visuals are nice, even if they're at times a little bland. The voice-acting's also a bit hit-and-miss. On top of that, fans won't like the low difficulty this game displays. Consider these complaints before buying a copy.

Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge is, without a doubt, what the original game should have been in the first place. The AI and battle systems have been nicely revamped, and it also includes all the DLCs that have been released since the original Ninja Gaiden 3 came out. Nonetheless, the absence of Tomonobu Itagaki will still be quite evident for those who faced the extreme difficulty of the first and second titles.

More characteristic of the franchise. [June 2013, p.101]

It might not be the A-level title fans hoped for but my only real complaint here is that I found the combat to get a little tedious. Everything else is pretty good.

This is by far the game that should have been released originally, and even while the giant T-Rex fight is still ridiculous, I had a ton of fun slicing enemies in half as the original ninja warrior.

They took the bad out of Ninja Gaiden 3 and improved the game to "just OK".

Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge is a clear step ahead of the mediocre Ninja Gaiden 3. Team Ninja tried his best to improve the original game and the final result is pretty good. Not awesome, but still good enough.

Switching to a different character named Ayane from time to time does not mend the game's repetitive nature. Ninja Gaiden3: Razor's Edge is about slaughtering hordes of different coloured ninja and very, very little else. [May 2013, p.86]

Those who enjoyed the previous games should give Razor's Edge a chance, the improvements allowing the finer aspects of the series to shine through much clearer, but if it's a Premier Ninja experience you are looking for you might have to look elsewhere.

Team Ninja takes one more stab and tweaks a below par sequel into being barely on the pace. Dismemberment has been reintroduced and shitty button mashing kills are now automated. [June 2013, p80]

Razor’s Edge doesn’t reach the same heights of fast, brutal action that its predecessors did, but it’s a huge step forward and warrants Team Ninja’s flawed sequel one more chance.

All in all this is a Ninja Gaiden fan's redemption of sort, but for those looking for something new and exhilarating, you may want to pass altogether as this Ninja is starting to show his age, and a bit of a limp.

At this point an "enhanced" edition (or editions) of a Ninja Gaiden release are obligatory, but none of the enhancements make this game any more viable as an actual game to enjoy playing. Let's hope the series can bounce back one day.

The cinematic slicing and dicing of enemies, with arms flying around haphazardly makes the game fun to watch, while the repetitive nature of the combat can make the game boring and tedious to play.

Though Team Ninja has certainly spruced up a number of elements, they seem to have avoided the game’s most fundamental issues. The series’ trademark gameplay has always been challenging but never quite so obstructive and un-rewarding.

Razor's Edge attempts to fix Ninja Gaiden 3. In some ways it succeeds, offering an experience with more modes and levels. But even with all of these changes, Ryu Hayabusa's newest adventure is hard to recommend. Ninja Gaiden 3 looks good, but is derailed with uneven difficulty and gameplay that is too fast for its own good!