Much like Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition, Ninja Gaiden Black includes not only the original game in its entirety, but both new content exclusive to this package and content derived from online-only expansions - Hurricane Packs 1 and 2 - which incorporated a number of additions, most notably an improved camera.

Despite what some people may have you believe, the camera works in almost exactly same way as before, using the right trigger to centre the view and the right analogue stick to control the first-person perspective, although this is really only used to study your surroundings and snipe enemies with arrows. Why they didn’t choose to just incorporate a standard third-person control scheme with the right-analogue stick panning the camera around is a mystery - it would have made scoping out enemies during confrontations a lot less hassle. While not a huge improvement, this tweaked camera does make platforming sections more tolerable and manages to keep up with Ryu’s movements with relative ease. Boss fights are also less stressful as you no longer find yourself struggling with the camera as much as the enemy.

Players of the original game will know what to expect visually, but newcomers will be in for a real treat. The graphics are generally excellent with an attention to detail that’s become Team Ninja’s forte in recent years with very few visible jaggies. In the higher resolutions that Black offers over its predecessor, the game looks great putting to shame even many current-generation Xbox 360 titles, including Team Ninja‘s own Dead or Alive 4. However, there’s very little point in having a great-looking game and controlling a gorgeous (strictly in art terms, I assure you) character if the animation isn’t up to snuff. Fortunately, the game doesn’t disappoint in this department either with all of Ryu’s actions animated in a lifelike and fluent manner.

Ninja Gaiden Black makes good use of the original Xbox’s controller S although some players may well prefer to play this game on an Xbox 360 using that system's remarkably improved controller. In fact, the only area in which control becomes laborious is during the many ill-conceived platform sequences that litter the game. These sections are both dull and rudimentarily designed with instant deaths triggered with alarming frequency. In a word, they’re frustrating.

The game's sound design is a mixed bag. The soundtrack is brilliantly cinematic and full of incidental tunes that only add to the brooding atmosphere within the game. However, the voice-actingshares similar problems with Dreamcast classic Shenmue. The western voice-acting is droll, while the Japanese-language audio track makes everything sound completely alien. Players can experience the game in either its native Japanese with English subtitles, or an English audio track. The game does seem more cinematic in its native tongue, but the characters are deprived of emotion and personality.

On the technical side of things, Ninja Gaiden Black has a problem that wasn’t present in the original release. The game is prone to bouts of slowdown at impromptu moments and these aren’t particularly hectic instances either. In fact, Ninja Gaiden Black seems to perform a lot better when the action is at its most intense - it’s obvious the engine can withstand the heat which makes these issues all the more puzzling. To compare, the game was also tested on an Xbox 360 with the most recent backwards-compatibility patch installed and apart from the nuisance mentioned, no significant problems were encountered.

The major new additions to the game are undoubtedly the inclusion of two new difficulty levels: an easy mode called ‘Ninja Dog’ and, on the other side of the difficulty spectrum, a super-hard mode known as ‘Master Ninja’. ‘Ninja Dog’ may bill itself as being easy, but in truth it isn’t much easier than the game's default difficulty. Unlike other games, Ninja Gaiden Black's easy mode doesn’t dramatically alter the game by, for example, limiting the number of enemies you’ll face. Instead restoration items are more readily available and special coloured arm bands are acquired at key junctures throughout the game. By equipping one around Ryu’s wrist, these armlets as they’re called perform certain services to the player such as increasing the amount of orbs retrieved from downed foes and decreasing the amount of Ki power needed to perform special attacks. While they do seem like a good way to introduce newcomers to more than just the main mechanics of the game, they’re all pretty useless with the exception being the yellow orb armlet which, through collecting ridiculous amounts of said orbs (the game's currency), allows users to upgrade their weaponry extremely fast. Due to this, boss fights become outrageously easy and any sort of challenge derived from the combat is kept minimal making ‘Ninja Dog’ the most unbalanced of all the difficulty levels. ‘Master Ninja’ mode is, for want of a better word, insane. It’s basically the original Xbox Ninja Gaiden game on steroids with the action turned right up to 11. Players who struggled on other difficulty levels shouldn't think about attempting this because chances are, they won’t make it past the first stage.

Aside from tweaked difficulty levels, Ninja Gaiden Black also includes a new ‘Mission Mode’ incorporating content from the Xbox Live-only Hurricane Packs. Mission Mode sets the player with the theoretically simple task of defeating all enemies within a specific area in as stylish a manner as possible to garner the most Karma points. Instead of having free reign over what weapon you use, the game appoints you with a set of weapons at random depending upon the stage and challenges you to make do. This adds a layer of strategy all too absent from the main game as you figure out what weapon is suitable for what situation. For example, do you use perhaps the easiest weapon to master within Ninja Gaiden Black’s arsenal - the Dragon Sword - its Flying Swallow technique allowing decapitation of fiends from afar, or do you use an up-close-and-personal weapon such as the Nunchucks which will administer as much damage as the Flying Swallow but leave you susceptible to enemy attacks? It’s very nicely done and provides a better introduction to the nuances of the combat system than the aforementioned Ninja Dog difficulty does. Each of Mission Mode's challenges are variations of stages from the main game, albeit with more enemies and a greater sense of challenge. No longer does a boss fight all on its lonesome: you now fight the boss and a number of powerful additional enemies which make for some very tense confrontations.

Ninja Gaiden Black is a very engaging, deep and, most importantly, fun addition to the tired hack 'n' slash genre. People that couldn’t see what all the fuss was about first time round won’t find anything in this package that’ll change their minds. If you loved the original, however, you’ll surely find the new extras something to cheer about. So, is it worth shelling out for if you already own the original? The answer is a resounding yes.