You might imagine ninja to be a stealthy sort, and while it's true that Yakumo, the new star of Ninja Gaiden 4, has a quiet, quick step, he's anything but subtle. A tap of the button near an unaware enemy will have him slice them to bits with his blade. But mostly, he'll be dismantling the limbs of large groups of enemies with bloody abandon without a care for who sees. After all, one thing is true – to see Yakumo coming means only one thing for you: certain death.
It would be tempting to call character action games like Ninja Gaiden 4 hack and slash, but that's doing a disservice to the carefully choreographed fights that you'll have no choice but to master. What may appear at a glance to be a spinning top of violence is only possible through careful execution of Yakumo's huge arsenal of ninja weaponry. A deadly dance. Ninja Gaiden 4 is, a lot of the time, close to a fighting game or a rhythm game. Mashing will only get you so far – usually towards your grave.
