Ninja Gaiden 2 (XBOX 360)

Summary: Most violent game...EVER!

If you have kids, are thinking about having kids or ever have kids at your house DO. NOT. GET. THIS. GAME! It's as violent as I could possibly stand to watch.

Aside from that, it's every bit as good as the first game & the storyline doesn't disappoint. Battles are fast, furious & overly bloody - which is frighteningly realistic with the spectacular graphics. Controls are tighter than that pair of jeans from college you tried to squeeze into last week.

Given all the options (tons of weapons, combos, unlockables, etc.) there's very little chance you could ever get bored with this game. Heck, the nightmares you'll have as a result of the overkill will allow you (unfortunately) take it into your sleep time.

Difficulty. How do I sum this up? Well, the only thing possibly more brutal than the images in this game is the difficulty. These enemies will mess you up. Bad. They don't pull punches, they do a lot of damage & they fight dirtier than a democrat at election time. There's even an "Achievement" awarded for your 100th continue. Yeah, it's that tough.

The camera can mess with you a bit in battles, but it's a minimal issue. I've never had problems when scaling walls or getting around tough obstacles - which is where a camera needs to work. I haven't lost a battle as a result of camera crappiness. I do miss how Ninja Gaiden would let you lock on in the last game. That would help, maybe. Then again, with the sheer number of enemies on screen, it might get you killed that much faster.

Anyway, I do think it's a great game. Nothing, on paper, says it's less-than-perfect. However, the violence will probably be a big turnoff for most people. If it were a movie, I can bet you'd see an NC-17 rating for how retchingly horrific some of the images are.