By David Craddock
Fans of [i]Ninja Gaiden[/i] who just can’t get enough after finishing the first Hurricane Pack-released two months ago-need not worry: Team Ninja has no intentions of letting you forget Ryu Hayabusa’s first Xbox adventure just yet. Hurricane Pack Vol. 2 is official, and we’ve got the goods on it just for you!
The first major change to note is that Volume 2 provides a much shorter scenario than Volume 1. In fact, this new scenario will be able to be finished in under an hour of real-time gameplay. Of course, just because it’s short doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. After all, this is [i]Ninja Gaiden[/i] we’re talking about; “easy” is not in this game’s vocabulary, much less the vocabulary of its creator, Tomonobu Itagaki. In Volume 2, the monsters have evolved beyond what you’ve seen before, and the new “Shadow” enemies will make you yearn for Volume 1. Ah, but never fear: the ninja enemies previously in the game are still around with new weapons, to boot.
However, while Volume 1 gave us the new Lunar weapon, Volume 2 will [b]not[/b] provide gamers with any new weapons. The main focus of Volume 2 is on evolving the enemies to give the player a greater challenge with the weapons already at his or her disposal. One new creature type actually appears from meteorites, and the old techniques you applied to all the other creatures can’t help you with this one.
Essentially, the overall theme of Volume 2 isn’t adding new features, moves, weapons and enemies, but on the evolution of all preexisting content. In other words, Itagaki-san wants to take what he’s already implemented and refine it to near perfection. And because of this, rumors are already circulating that despite just being announced earlier today, Volume 2 will not be the end of this particular [i]Ninja Gaiden[/i] game. The goal of Hurricane Pack Volume 2 is essentially the same as Volume 1: to add a sense of refinement to [i]Ninja Gaiden[/i].This is way Team Ninja and Itagaki-san are focusing more on refinement instead of new additions with Volume 2.
But what of the users who only enjoy [i]Ninja Gaiden[/i] offline? There are many people out there who haven’t even gotten to experience the coolness of Volume 1, which means many of them probably aren’t too excited about the announcement of Volume 2. To address this, Itagaki may release a “director’s cut”-or something similar-of [i]Ninja Gaiden[/i], but this is only a rumor presently.
Not much more is known at this point, but you will definitely want to stay tuned to MyGamer.com for more Hurricane Pack Volume 2 news in the near future. [i]Ninja Gaiden[/i] is by far one of the best games of 2004, but is it one of the best ever? Quite possibly-so we’ll definitely be bringing you more news as it develops.