Ninja Gaiden Sigma: Interviewing Team Ninja’s Hayashi-san

It’s been almost a month since we picked up any news on the PS3 release of Ninja Gaiden Sigma, but this time around, more info’s popped out of the shadows. 1up game’s James Mielke interviews NGS Yosuke Hayashi on what fans can expect from this latest installment of the Ninja Gaiden franchise, from graphics, gameplay, and to how it’ll match up to other upcoming action game genres like Capcom‘s Devil May Cry 4.

First up, Hayashi points that while NGS will still be main plot from its Xbox kin, it is slated to make full use of the PS3 ‘s computing power. He further adds that one indicator of this usage is the cut-scenes. Pre-rendered in the Xbox installment, the cut-scenes for NGS will re-done in real-time gameplay graphics, and the player will enjoy a more immersive game atmosphere as they play along in-game, like being able to duke it out in the famous cut-scene between Ryo and Goku in the Xbox release (Hmm, sounds like MGS3).

Another major upgrade in this game’s performance will be the addition of playable characters – players can now use the feisty, warhammer-wielding (and S&M dominatrix-looking) Rachel. Hayashi reports that she’s gonna have her own unique move list and and weapons – special attention is going to her warhammer, given its lackluster performance in Ryo-kun’s hands (Ninja+Heavy Weapons? Naah). Team Ninja plans to interlace her with Ryo’s story, with players switching between her and Ryo during major plot points to give them a better perspective of what’s going as the story moves on, a bit like Ada Wong’s scenarios from RE4.

More on this interview after this jump!

It’s been almost a month since we picked up any news on the PS3 release of Ninja Gaiden Sigma, but this time around, more info’s popped out of the shadows. 1up game’s James Mielke interviews NGS Yosuke Hayashi on what fans can expect from this latest installment of the Ninja Gaiden franchise, from graphics, gameplay, and to how it’ll match up to other upcoming action game genres like Capcom‘s Devil May Cry 4.

First up, Hayashi points that while NGS will still get its main plot from its Xbox kin, it is slated to make full use of the PS3 ‘s computing power. He further adds that one indicator of this usage is the cut-scenes. Pre-rendered in the Xbox installment, the cut-scenes for NGS will re-done in real-time gameplay graphics, and the player will enjoy a more immersive game atmosphere as they play along in-game, like being able to duke it out in the famous cut-scene between Ryo and Goku in the Xbox release (Hmm, sounds like MGS3).

Another major upgrade in this game’s performance will be the addition of playable characters – players can now use the feisty, warhammer-wielding (and S&M dominatrix-looking) Rachel. Hayashi reports that she’s going to have her own unique move list and and weapons – special attention is going to her warhammer, given its lackluster performance in Ryo-kun’s hands (Ninja+Heavy Weapons? Naah). Team Ninja plans to interlace her with Ryo’s story, with players switching between her and Ryo during major plot points to give them a better perspective of what’s going as the story moves on, a bit like Ada Wong’s scenarios from RE4.

And of course, what’s a ninja game without dudes in black pajamas walking on water? Hayashi also notes another element they’re planning to add this game is more water-running, with certain scenarios and monsters specifically built to let players interact and adapt to this new environmental effect.

Speaking of gameplay, Hayashi also detailed how this game was going to be different from other action games it may be facing of against on release, like the previously mentioned DMC4. He mentioned that while it’s a fast and furious game, it’s more built for aesthetics, its combat system designed for player to simply rack up more and more combos for hotdogging’s sake.  What about NGS?

Hayashi makes this point: “Whereas for us, Ninja Gaiden is a combat game and an action game. You’re here to fight and you want to have real opponents to fight and that’s our philosophy. The enemy should fight back and should be trying to kill you just as hard as you’re trying to kill them.”

As for his sentiments on the differences between the PS3 and 360, Hayashi takes the prudent approach, not saying that either was superior, simply noting that each has its own merits, and it will fall mainly on how the game designers decide to make use of their tools to show their vision on screen, or HD-TV for that matter. “If you have an incredibly talented artist and give him a set of charcoals and a set of oil paints he’s going to come up with two images that look very different, but it’s going to be hard to say which picture required more skill.“

There hasn’t been any further news on NGS yet or what exactly we can from Team Ninja’s latest project, but Hayashi does say this game will be carrying over elements of the Ninja Gaiden Black game as well. Well, considering that it’s only at the 20% mark with regards to completion, it’s gonna be a while before we hear any major developments on NGS. For now, we’ll trust Hayashi-san’s word, and hope this installment gets as warm a reception as it did for its Xbox predecessor.

Via 1UP