Ninja Gaiden 4: Ryu Hayabusa Feels Like an Afterthought

Don’t shoot the messenger – I’m just saying, don’t expect much from Ryu’s playable story segments in Ninja Gaiden 4. Over the past week or so, I’ve been able to play through and beat Ninja Gaiden 4, and I’d say most of my expectations were topped by the flashy new action game. As Yakumo, it delivers everything I want from the combat and more, but PlatinumGames did confirm that there were two playable characters before release: newcomer Yakumo and veteran Ryu Hayabusa. I can easily point toward the worst gameplay segments in Ninja Gaiden 4‘s story, and those are the ones where you play as Ryu.