Ninja Gaiden 2 is a near perfect game. Considering the amount of stuff which has been added, it's a surprise that I think Ninja Gaiden -Sigma- 2 is only very good.

I don't know if they had complaints that the game was too hard, too bloody, or that it crashed a lot but Sigma 2 has been rebalanced. There are now less enemies on the screen at any one time and there is less, or no blood. As a result, it doesn't quite feel as frenetic, bloody or chaotic as it should, but it's still a blast to play.

As for what they added, there are new weapons, new characters and new levels, which all sounds great but the downside is that they are -mandatory- You have to play a couple of levels as Ayane, you have to play as Momiji, and with the way weapons are now unlocked, you -CANT- pick your favourite weapon and focus on it, upgrades now come slowly. All this means is that the game isn't the same, pure, visceral fun as it used to be.

I really do think that the game is wonderful, sigma or not, but I do think it's a little bit disappointing that this is the definitive version. (I hear there is a patch which sounds great)

Ninja Gaiden II except it's ass. All of the main missions have been dumbed down with not nearly as many enemy encounters. Difficulty scales differently in that enemies just become way tankier, to the point that on Master Ninja, one or two hits/grabs and you're just dead, meanwhile they take so many hits to go down.

The extra chapters are the only thing that make this version worth anything, but unfortunately you only get to play as the extra characters in ONE chapter each (though there are a couple of extra modes that you can play them in which is cool, I guess).

Very disappointed with this as I really enjoy the original II despite its flaws. I would have respected them toning the game down slightly as the original was very imbalanced, but as is, I have a hard time recommending this game.

They don't make games like this anymore..