Too Bloody For It’s Own Good?

Tomonobu Itagaki is primarily known for the Dead or Alive games and rampant, unabashed cheesecake and fan service. But it seems that he’s moving more into hyper-violence with the sequel to his mega-action title, Ninja Gaiden. Ninja Gaiden 2 ramps up everything- the scale of the enemies, the graphical flair, the bad-ass ninja moves of it’s hero, Ryu Hayabusa… but it also ramps up the blood and gore, almost excessively, if not totally so, in my opinion.

Whereas Ryu’s lethal sword swings and magic attacks could, if done right, decapitate an enemy in the previous game (and variations), Ninja Gaiden 2 has the superninja pretty much dismembering his adversaries with every swing or attack. It’s gotten so much that enemies actually keep coming even though they’ve been cut in half or shorn of every limb. Enemies can still crawl up to you and explode suicide bombs as a last ditch effort to take you down. Skirmishes are a whirlwind of blood, splashing everything in a radius.

Now, far be it for me to say “Foul!” normally. But this may probably put this game at an even more questionable distance from younger gamers who may have been able to play the previous games. Yeah, NG may have already been a Teen-rated game, but maybe this time it’s pushing the limits. Granted, the action is anime-fast and doesn’t dwell on the gore like Mortal Kombat or such, but it’s still brutal to the extreme. Maybe I’m kinda overreacting… I do enjoy the game and appreciate the violent action… I’m just worried this will just open doors to more controversy for videogames. Then again, if some crazy kid goes psycho in a schoolyard with dual katanas instead of your usual submachine gun, it’ll at least be obvious where he got the idea…