Preview: 5 New Things We Learned About "Ninja Gaiden 3"

The Ninja Gaiden games have always been known for their acrobatics and sword fights. But the last couple installments have also been known for their outspoken rock star-esque designer, Tomonobu Itagaki.

Though with Itagaki now gone—he very publicly split from Gaiden publisher Tecmo in 2008—some fans of the series have wondered how things will change in the next Ninja.

But as we learned when we played the game at a recent event at The Box SF in San Francisco, the absence of Itagaki’s influence isn’t the only thing that will differentiate the upcoming Ninja Gaiden 3 from the first two.

For 2004’s Ninja Gaiden and 2008’s Ninja Gaiden 2, the stories were, naturally, the product of Itagaki’s vivid imagination (and that’s putting it lightly).

But Ninja Gaiden 3’s tale is a throwback of sorts, as it’s being constructed by Masato Kato, who previously handled the storytelling duties for the original (and more subdued) Ninja Gaiden games, which came out on the SuperNES: 1989’s Ninja Gaiden, 1990’s Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos, and 1991’s Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom.

But while this suggests the story won’t be as wild and crazy, Ninja Gaiden 3 is still the follow-up to Ninja Gaiden 2, not Ninja Gaiden III. (And yes, there will be a quiz on this later).

Speaking of the game’s story, the developers are, of course, keeping mum on the plot, but Yosuke Hayashi, the leader of the game’s development crew at Team Ninja, did reveal that we will see a different side of Gaiden hero Ryu Hayabusa than we’ve seen before. “Ryu has previously been this masked ninja who’s gone around, doing what he’s been told to do,” Hayashi explains. “But for Ninja Gaiden 3, we are looking at unmasking him, and showing the person behind the ninja mask. So we’re making Ryu into a Japanese dark hero, and you will see, through playing the game, what being a ‘Japanese dark hero’ actually means.”

Though it apparently doesn’t mean, “a guy who slices off limbs,” as Ryu’s slashing attacks now just produce Jackson Pollack-esque spurts of blood, not the loss of an arm or a leg. As a result, enemies no longer keep on fighting after they’ve been de-limbed like they’re The Black Knight from Monty Python’s Holy Grail (a staple of Ninja Gaiden 2 on the 360 but not Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 on the PS3).

Previously, the only parts of Ninja Gaiden 3 that Team Ninja have shown off are from the beginning of the game, which is set in London.

But at the event, they revealed that the next stop on Ryu’s world tour will be Dubai. In the parts of it we played, Ryu runs though both city streets and desert ruins, the latter of which has him fighting it out in larger and more open spaces than he’s previously visited (though it also made it seem like Team Ninja have been playing some Prince of Persia lately).

Not that Ryu had much time to take in the scenery, since both spaces were filled with soldiers who were armed with both blades and guns (and, seemingly, a disregard for the safety of their teammates). And was that Dead or Alive’s Ayane that Ryu was just talking to?

While previous Ninja games have been all about the story mode, Ninja Gaiden 3 is adding two competitive multiplayer modes: Battle Royale (i.e., Deathmatch) and Team Battle (i.e. Team Deathmatch).

In these eight-player modes, you’ll not only hack & slash your pals online, but you’ll be able to run up walls, sneak up behind unsuspecting enemies, and do other cool ninja moves. You’ll also have access to Ryu’s magical Ninpo attacks, as well as special kills that require some button mashing to complete (though your victim can counter them by mashing their buttons faster).

These modes will also employ a leveling-up system, which will unlock new headgear, armor, and clothing colors you can use to customize your character, though these are just aesthetic options. Other weapons will also be unlocked, adding to the katana and flaming arrow-shooting bow you start off with, though it was not announced, or revealed in the multiple Team Battle matches we played in the aptly-named “Hidden Village” level, whether these would also be unlocked as you rank up or through some other means.

Finally, the Team Ninja crew announced that Ninja Gaiden 3 will be released on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in March, though they didn’t offer up a more specific date. But they did reveal that a version of the game for Sony’s PlayStation Vita, called Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus, will come out around the time that the Vita is released in the U.S., which puts it ahead the 360 and PS3 editions.

In addition, Sigma Plus will utilize the Vita’s unique motion controls and touch screens, though they didn’t go into any further details about how you’ll use them to slice and dice your enemies.