Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge

Despite the inconsistent difficulty and the terrible camera, it’s still a vastly superior game to the original release – by a long, long way. It’s infinitely more fun to play, looks and runs better and features buckets upon buckets more blood and gore.

Razor's Edge is a better game than the original Ninja Gaiden 3 and a worthy option for Wii U users.

The most definitive version of Ninja Gaiden 3, complete with DLCs and limb severing.

The best version of the game, but it still has flaws.

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.

Team Ninja has done everything to please fans short of making a brand new game, but despite its successes this too often feels like an awkward compromise.

The updated Wii U version improves on many issues that irked fans when Ninja Gaiden 3 originally launched, but repetitious battles and a hokey story knock the experience down a few notches. [Dec 2012, p.86]

Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge plays great, with fast, fluid combat that's gruesome and satisfying. Still, you'll often wish there was a little more to it than just fighting waves of enemies in predetermined spots, and even with the campaign a little over five hours long (excluding cutscenes) it starts to feel a bit tired towards the end. That certainly shouldn't put you off it, though, as the game is still a worthwhile purchase and a great example of Nintendo's willingness to shirk their "kiddy" perception.

At the end of the day if you are a fan of the Ninja Gaiden franchise and were let down with Ninja Gaiden 3 on Xbox 360 or PS3, give Team Ninja another chance, especially if you are looking for a fairly enjoyable action oriented launch title for your new Wii U.

Razor's Edge doesn't fix all of Ninja Gaiden 3's problems, but it does make some significant improvements.

Even with a few improvements such as additional weapons and more challenging enemies, the Wii U edition of Ninja Gaiden 3 still falls short. Questionable level design, a confusing storyline and strangely balanced difficulty levels are all examples of things that is wrong with this game. With that said, it's better than the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions and can be pretty fun at times.

Razor’s Edge delivers more content and more gore compared to the original, but nonetheless the fearless Ryu Hayabusa is still miles away from his former self.

This is almost a whole other game than the previous Ninja Gaiden 3, in a good way. The fighting, variation and difficulty level have all improved a lot, but some of the old flaws like boring level design and dull story are still there. Razor's Edge sure is worth playing if you like Ninja Gaiden, but keep in mind that it's still the weakest link in the series.

Combat is fast and fluid, but it's also wearyingly repetitive, and even with the new weapons, there's a distinct lack of variety.

Razor's Edge has its moments, but they are so few and always the same way that never impresses and exceeds the level of mere satisfaction.

It's a more clued-up committee that's in charge for Razor's Edge, for sure, but for a series that once felt like a singular, twisted and brilliant vision it's still a depressing turn. This is a better game than Ninja Gaiden 3, and one that does commendable things in atoning for Team Ninja's past sins - but sadly it's far from a brilliant one.

So, there's little doubt that Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor's Edge is a superior game to Ninja Gaiden 3, but in a console market that's about to be assaulted by Dante, Raiden and even Kratos, it's seriously lacking in precision and balance. And considering the subject matter, you'd think that would be paramount.

Razor's Edge makes a myriad of fractional improvements that address many of the main complaints leveled against the original release. It's a welcome gesture, and one that makes for an improved action game--yet a hundred small fixes are no substitute for a game built from the ground up to be a challenging, fluid, and fulfilling action extravaganza.

If you really want to give Ninja Gaiden 3 a shot, Razor's Edge is surely the way to go. Yet, despite the undeniable improvements, we're still dealing with a mediocre action game and a chapter of a (once) glorious series we really hope to forget as soon as possible. Itagaki, we desperately miss you.

Nothing this Wii U release does can improve upon the core gameplay, which remains as dry, disaffected, and banausic as ever before. Razor's Edge gives us more, but when the original serving exceeded that which the player could stomach, "more" isn't a very tasty prospect.

A failure to inspire.