YEAR: 2004

HARDWARE: "Emotion Engine" CPU

DEVELOPER: Overworks

PUBLISHER: SEGA

Second verse, same as the first.

This is the sequel to the PS2 Shinobi game. It concerns a female ninja named Hibana, who must collect the shards of the Akujiki sword Hotsuma used to defeat and seal away the Hellspawn in the last game.

Oops. Was that a spoiler?

Anyway. Hibana is not a member of the Oboro clan. She's government-employed, tasked with taking out the Nakatomi Corporation, which unleashed the Hellspawn on Tokyo yet again.

Hmm. That sounds suspiciously like a riff on the NES Strider's plot.

All of you who whined about Shinobi's difficulty, well, you're catching a break with this one. It's somewhat easier than its predecessor.

This is not to say that this is an easy game, by any means. It just leans further towards the easy end of the scale than Shinobi did.

If you're looking for some 3D Strider-esque action, both this game and its predecessor are safe bets.

But make sure to bring your "A-game" to the table.