General gaming discussion

Deeper into Ninja Gaiden 4 and a little mixed on it. Moment to moment, it can feel great - the most confident Platinum have been in a while I reckon. But the levels are superrrr long without a whole lot of variety, which I don't think is great for a game of this ilk. A typical mission - if you go off the beaten path for the handful of predictable side missions and collectibles - lasts around 45 mins I reckon. But that is mostly remixes of the same enemy encounters in different allocations. But that doesn't tell the full story, as really levels are 3-4 missions long of going through the same biome. So really you can spend 2-3 hours in what can feel like one long level with occassional chapter breaks. The second major set of levels is particularly egregious in this case, as you're climbing through a mountainous region to a temple only to get knocked back down to a lower level twice. This really seems like it could've been a great 8-9 hour game rather than the 12-15 hour one it's threatening to be.

The platforming / rail-riding / wing-suiting bits between the combat are too simplistic and repetitive to really make a lot of difference. At least, like the combat, they're extremely fast-paced, so they don't waste too much time.

The first two weapons are also very samey, with no real need to switch between them. Third one I just unlocked but could be a little different, while I've heard the fourth is a lot different. Still, 6 or so hours in and there's been no real need to switch between them mid-fight or mid-level.

Still fun, just doesn't quite have the elegance of Platinum's best games or the sheer brutal focus of OG Ninja Gaiden (as I said earlier, the sheer volume of combat options feels too busy).