Unit 72: C4 - Game Fundamentals

In this post I am going to identify the different fundamentals within the game entitled Ninja Gaiden Black.

GOALS

This game's goals usually involved slaying various enemy creatures until eventually reaching the boss character of each chapter and then finally defeating them to advance to the next chapter and progress through the story. Disregarding the obvious, there are other goals in NG that require skill and patience to accomplish these goals are: collecting Golden Scarabs and completing Fiend Challenges.

CHALLENGES

Ninja Gaiden's challenges usually consist of running through the main city's environment scaling multiple types of terrain and ledges to find artifacts that'll allow you to solve puzzles that'll lead you to that level's (or chapter's) boss room. Most areas in NG generally have swarms of enemies that spawn to impede you (possibly respawning in areas that have been cleared already or even constantly spawning for a set amount of time in which you will have to survive). One of the many reasons NG is so popular within its fanbase is due to how overwhelmingly challenging it can be when dealing with NPC's; enemy AI's are quite intelligent and force players to devise strategies and utilise their skills with their most favourable weapons available to defeat them.

PLAYER ACTIONS

As this game is a hack 'n' slash/ adventure to be able to travel anywhere you must either defeat multiple enemies in each level or scale difficult platforms within a time limit. One of the many things that makes Ninja Gaiden so fun, adventurous and challenging is also mastering the multitude of combos for each individual weapon, not only does mastering combos allow for a more enjoyable playthrough (making the fighting seem less repetitive) but also reawrding the player by dealing out massive amounts of damge to enemies. Ryu Hayabusa is an amazing ninja capable of many feats: he is able easily run walls and climb ledges, jump and land from great distances, wield very hefty weapons and use mystical ninjutsu that harnesses the elements (all of these skills are essential to his survival as well as progression through the game).

REWARDS

Ninja Gaiden has items placed all around the world (generally in chests however not limted to), these items allow the player to replenish their health and nimpo and on rare occasions obtain weapons or magic scrolls. In NG there are optional challenges in the game that although difficult are very rewarding, giving the player special items that cannot usually be found in buildings or chests. These special items usually bring Ryu from the brink of death or boost Ryu's powers (health, nimpo, attack, defense, etc.) but they can also give the character even more rewarding items, such as: if you find and return the Golden Scarabs that are scattered throughout the game to Muramasa (the items merchant) he in turn will gift Ryu with special bracelets and weapons that cannot be obtained otherwise. Like I mentioned above challenges like collecting Golden Scarabs can seem quite tedious when aiming for a particular item such as 'The Dark Dragon Blade' because you need all 50 to obtain it and they are quite easy to miss or forget about but for the players that are determined to get them all the rewards are more than beneficial.

GAME MECHANICS

The game mechanics in NG usually revolve around clearing obstacles until being stopped in certain areas and having to defeat every single enemy there to proceed. Whilst in battle the score you bank will be calculated by the amount of Karma you gained from enemies killed with bonuses being added for higher combos, more kills and faster times.