Team Ninja says a Ninja Gaiden 2 Black patch with 'balance adjustments' will arrive in a few weeks, and hopefully kill us all that little bit harder

(Image credit: Koei Tecmo)

Last week saw the surprise announcement of Ninja Gaiden 4, and the simultaneous release of Ninja Gaiden 2 Black. The latter's subtitle had me incredibly excited, channeling as it does the definitive version of the original game and promising that, after the disappointing NG Sigma 2, it was time to chop up some baddies properly.

Well, turns out that NG 2 Black gets very close to that, but does have some hangovers from Sigma and is not quite the more direct remaster of the 360 original some were hoping for. As PCG's review said on the way to awarding it a very respectable 85%, this is "not the exact remaster some were hoping for, but Ninja Gaiden Black 2 is still an action game with few equals."

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."