Ninja Gaiden 2 is probably my favorite 3d action game ever. The combat system is the closest you'll get to a single player fighting game, where you have to aggressively balance offense and defense while staying mobile to avoid grapples, traps, and mixups during duels and brawls. It's absurdly fun and exciting to play.

Unfortunately this is the Sigma version of the game, which in some ways is best described as "neutered": enemy encounters are cut down with less enemies at once, but higher spongy hp, damaging the fast paced high lethality action that made NG2 so unique and brutal feeling. There are lots of other odd changes for the worse too, from breaking the games item and upgrade economy to bizarre aesthetic decisions (stage 2's burning village being changed from night to day, what??? to say nothing of the hasty removal of most of the gore)

Still though, the core combat is still the best in any 3d action game and if you can't play the xbox 360 original, this is still an incredibly fun game that I wholeheartedly recommend.

Do consider trying to track down the 360 game on ebay or amazon or something though.

GIVE US NG4 or REBOOT NG, KOEI TECMO YOU COWARDS!