I can’t believe that Matt’s off gallivanting at Silverstone, leaving me to review one of the most important titles for the PS3 to date, let alone one that technically falls in line with everything we stand for. I say “technically” due to my inability to run along walls and backflip my way up side passages. And he’s slightly better dual wielding swords than I am of course. Sigh. Well, it’s not all that bad at all actually, unless of course you’ve played the first version of Ninja Gaiden for the Xbox and found it abysmally hard to the point of tears. If that’s the case, well, there’s the door. Off you go.

Sigma is basically a rehash of the original Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden Black, the sequel that added a new Mission Mode and upped the difficulty (Nutters!). Sigma has gone back to the original difficulty (Although this is still pretty damn tough) and some new enemies and areas have been added. One of the big changes has been the ability to play as Rachael - the busty blonde from the previous version.

It’s great though, to be able to play the game again with some new bits and bobs; I mean what’s it been now? 3 years? And yet the main game concept and playability still hold up really well. Not only new textures on some of those recognisable enemies, but some nice reworking of the original models. Upon playing it I was still having as much fun as I did back then and more. But as said previously, if you didn’t get to grips with the game, or your lame in some other unfortunate way, then Sigma probably doesn’t offer enough for you to welcome it back arms open.

The story goes that Ryu Hayabusa, a direct descendant of the Dragon Lineage and member of the Hayabusa Clan is out training when his village is attached. Kureha, his friend from childhood is killed and the evil Dark Dragon Blade, a legendary sword sealed by those of the Dragon Lineage since the dawn of history due to it being Uber-Evil, is stolen. Hayabusa, wielding the Dragon Sword, another legendary sword that has been handed down from generation to generation amongst the Hayabusa Clan, travels to the Vigoor Empire to kick some ass.

The gameplay of course will accommodate your needs at ass kicking if you can get to grips with everything that’s going on and pull off your wide arsenal of moves in rapid response. This, for the best part is what you’ll find to be your challenge. The game will throw a handful of elite ninjas with an explosive shuriken or two at Ryu and it’s your job to run along walls, slice through your enemies and dodge their attacks with a variety of flips and parries. It’s about as easy as it sounds, but it looks awesome once you get to grips.

Ryu of course starts off with his Dragon Sword, a weapon that will remain with him and can be powered up at shops along the way. The Dragon Sword offers Ryu his own sets of moves while wielding it and likewise when you start to find new weapons like Dragon’s Claw and Tiger’s Fang, the exclusive dual-wielding swords for the PS3 version, you’ll gain a new set of moves to suit. One of the nice things this provides is the ability to play NGS the way you want to. You can use powerful charge attacks or rely on your agility to outwit your opponents, but each style can work just as well.

Different types of Nimpo attacks can be found in the game. These are your magical attacks and are extremely powerful, offering the player the chance to shake the SIXAXIS™ to “Nimpo Power-Up!” which ups the damage dealt out. Although you deplete your Nimpo gauge when doing this, you can refill it by taking an elixir of Devil Way or by killing lots of enemies.

The new feature added to the PS3 that allows you to play as Rachael is a nice little touch, although actually playing her levels, or playing as her for that matter aren’t the highlight of Sigma. Don’t get me wrong; she’s fun enough to play being a more stoic character that has power attacks and combos, she’s just not as fun as Ryu. Even the little evasive flip she can do across the back of a fiend, with the option to decapitate it on the way becomes your default move for getting out of most situations. You’ll probably find, like I did that you just want to get back to Ryu’s stages again. Not that this is a problem; she is an addition after all.

There have been lots of little gameplay tweaks from the previous version, and they’ve managed to get rid of a lot of the things that bugged me in the last version. For example, you can now automatically climb up little ledges! Whereas before you’d try doing this and have to jump up onto it, no doubt missing and falling to an annoyingly previous point in the level on the other side. The level layouts have somewhat been improved, although a couple of sections are still maze-like in their making, which can lead to some frustration, particularly when you’ve gone the wrong way and bump into some sharp-toothed fiends that have just re-spawned. This doesn’t really detract from the overall greatness of the game, as we already knew it was hard. A further sign of this is in sections where you’ve just fended off 100 enemies to only find out it was an optional fight, even if it does give you a nice reward. This in itself is a change from the previous version where it might actually be a mandatory requirement to progress through the level.

Whereas I amongst many others might rack their brains with regards to what the storyline actually is, the visuals for one thing are easy to appreciate. 60 FPS even at 1080p is the best part; we love eye-candy but love it more when our console doesn’t lag!

It’s an improvement on the previous versions and it’s nice and shiny on the PS3. Even with a few little gripes, it’s still a fab game. As far as UltraGN is concerned Ninja Gaiden Sigma is a Must Buy – the best thing the PS3 has seen to date. Grab yourselves a copy if you can handle it.