Ninja Gaiden III Will Be Completely Different

Third game looks to be more accessible for players.


Ninja Gaiden III will make you feel what it's like to cut through someone's bones.

That's what Team Ninja studio head Yosuke Hayashi told us during an interview today. He says the third game, which was first revealed at this past Tokyo Game Show, will give a new meaning to the term "slicing and dicing."

"Ninja Gaiden I was all about cutting people and in Ninja Gaiden II it was about dismembering enemies," Yosuke told IGN. "In Ninja Gaiden III, you're going to experience something new regarding the feeling of cutting people.

"You'll actually feel how it feels to cut through someone; you'll feel the bones breaking. We're going to focus on the feeling of cutting someone more than dismembering them."

Yosuke says it won't be so easy to cut down your enemies this time around. In Ninja Gaiden III, players will actually experience a type of physical resistance when cutting through an enemy.

"You'll have to press buttons, things like that, to have your katana go through the bodies. There will be force-feedback to reinforce the idea; There will be work to cutting somebody," he explained.

"The intention for this title is to focus on the feeling of cutting someone instead of just going through entire armies of bad guys."

The story for Ninja Gaiden III takes place after the second game. Yosuke explained the team wants players to experience protagonist Ryu Hayabusa's personal history and background, and explore his darker side.

"We're going to focus on all aspects of Ryu as a human being rather than a generic ninja character," he said.

The Ninja Gaiden series has become infamously known for being extremely difficult. Yosuke said Ninja Gaiden III will be more accessible but contends it will still be a Ninja Gaiden game through and through.

"We are trying to design the game so that anyone can take on the game and experience the action," he said. "You can expect it to be less demanding than Ninja Gaiden II, it won't be as hard as that."

"It might taste a bit different, but it will still stay Ninja Gaiden, and we don't think the difficulty is a big issue."

While Yosuke couldn't go into detail about Ninja Gaiden III's combat, he did say the team is addressing the camera issues that plagued the past games. He explained that while the team wants to make a smoother camera, they still want to keep it close to the action.

"We consider Ninja Gaiden I and Ninja Gaiden II's design to be old," he said. "We are trying something new for the gameplay and starting over from scratch."

Ninja Gaiden III will be shown at E3 2011 this June.


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