Ninja Gaiden Hurricane Pack Vol. II, Cory Zero

This time out, this amateur ninja and Lunar enthusiast fights his way to the top of the tower, only to find things get much nastier once you step through that teleportation pad. Can Hurricane Pack Vol. 2 be beat? No, seriously, can it? Because my thumbs are killing me …

Rachel returns in Hurricane Pack Volume II.

Xbox Live™ basically serves two purposes in online-enabled Xbox games: to give gamers a chance to compete in smooth, broadband online play and to update previously released games with new content that enhances the original value. Team Ninja has combined these two purposes in a whole new way with Hurricane Packs Volumes I and II and with the Master Ninja Tournament for Ninja Gaiden®. Instead of simply throwing together a multiplayer mode that could seem like a rehash of Dead or Alive® 3, players download an upgrade that's played specifically to score points. At the end of the allotted time, the highest score wins. But, the upgrades alone—the aforementioned Hurricane Packs Volumes I and II—give any gamer more than enough reason to fall in scary love with Ninja Gaiden all over again.

Volume I essentially rewrote the entire original game, with an upgraded combat engine that makes fighting faster than ever. (Play it awhile and then go back to the original. The original feels noticeably slower.) It also features hordes of redesigned and repositioned bosses and enemies, a wicked new bo staff weapon called Lunar, and of course, two new costumes for everyone's favorite vengeance-driven killing machine, Ryu Hayabusa.

Use Lunar to clear the first room quickly.

The second volume takes the opposite route. Gamers will still compete for a high score, but this time, it's pure combat, set in a special bonus level, based on Chapter 15 of the main game.

Hurricane Pack Volume II opens with a cut scene that gives us yet another much-appreciated excuse to watch the sexiest fiend slayer around, Rachel, strut her fiend-slaying stuff. But, when a new foe appears and imprisons our deadly dominatrix in a stone prison, it's up to Ryu to fight his way through the arena to save her. At the end of the cut scene, Ryu automatically walks into the first room of the main game's "tower of doom." A quick look at the start menu reveals you're carrying a nice array of weapons, with second-level upgrades already in place for the Lunar Staff and the Dragon Sword. For the many foes I expect to face, I chose Lunar, which I've found works best against groups, while still packing a devastating punch that the flail can't match. For projectiles, you've just got basic Shuriken, but ranged weapons aren't going to win this fight for you anyway. You're immediately set upon by black spider ninjas and white-robed ninjas.

Go to work. If you've played through Hurricane Pack Volume I, this will present little challenge, especially with Lunar. Most gamers will not find it too difficult to beat the clock on this one for bonus points. Time to move on.

Look, ma! No ghost fish!

As you step outside, you'll get the first of many pleasant surprises that should also make you suspicious (if you're familiar with Team Ninja design guru Itagaki). In short, the ghost fish are gone, and it couldn't have happened to a more annoying group of enemies. Dash up the stairs and open the chest before heading into the next room. Congratulations, you found the incendiary Shuriken. Note that your ammo is now infinite … but don't plan on relying on that. You'll get creamed if you do.

The next room contains a new type of enemy, who I'm going to call "Shuriken guys" for lack of a better term. They're all carrying Windmill Shurikens (and you're not), so keep moving, dancing on heads as necessary. Use Lunar to keep them off balance and keep dodging. The Shuriken guys are tough—tougher than most human-sized foes—and will take a lot of pounding before they fall. When you beat them, pick up the Windmill Shuriken and keep it handy for later.

Sure I can, Shuriken guys.

Step on through the exit and switch to your flail. Head up the stairs and into the next room to fight a hoard of … bats? Yep, the bats are back after getting replaced, for the most part, by ghost fish in Hurricane Pack Volume I. This is cake—an easy way to collect yellow essence and health if you need it because you still haven't found any elixirs.

Switch back to the Lunar because it's about to get tricky again. But, before you head into the next room, hit the chest in front of the door—look, that same lousy ninpo you started with before!—and run right past it and off the ledge. In the original game and Volume I, this lead to a Scarab. This time, it leads to a chest containing the only Talisman of Rebirth in Hurricane Pack Volume 2. (You'll get to go shopping later, but no Talismans are for sale.)

Jump off this ledge to reach the Talisman.

Got the Talisman? Great. Head back up to level four and step inside. You'll run into a mixed crew of black spider ninjas, Shuriken guys, and the pumped-up Hurricane-style sorcerers. This is the toughest fight yet because you've got to dodge incendiary Shuriken, windmill Shuriken, and the death blasts from the sorcerers. Go for the sorcerers first, since one hit with the Lunar Staff is usually enough to take them down. While you're wasting them, get in a few side strikes to keep the other enemies occupied. With fast work and faster thumbs, you can also almost guarantee yourself the time-based Karma bonus in this room, too.

Room 4: Sorcerers, Shuriken guys, and evil ninjas.

Step outside and walk up the stairs that lead to the gates of Hell in the original game. Grab the goodies from the two chests on the ground—an elixir and your strongbow—but don't step into the teleport circle just yet. There's one more chest to jump up to, at the entrance to the gates. Take out the flail first, though, since this chest if full of multiple waves of bats. An experienced Ninja Gaiden player should have no trouble using these hapless critters to collect even more spending money and health.

Bats in Ryu's belfry.

Finally, it's time to teleport. You should be near full health and have collected the Fire Wheels ninpo from an earlier chest. (You better not have used it yet.) The circle takes you to a smaller version of the demon arena from the main game, with invisible walls that you'll need to use to stay out of harm's way. The horse-mounted boss you'll remember from the Hayabusa Ninja level appears with a companion, also on horseback, equipped with a bow of his own. You'll need to stick to the walls as much as possible, and if you're comfortable with the big stick, use Lunar to keep both horsemen off balance as much as possible. Stick with it. When they're dead, you get to the first—yep, thefirst—save point. At this point, you can also visit Muramusa's shop.

"Nice horses."

"Nice hair."

That's Phase I. It would take far more room than I have here to walk you through the rest, but this gives you an idea of what to expect. Phase II begins with military foes that get progressively tougher, until you must face that big fat enemy from the airship level, all with only one potion. (If you were smart, you spent your money at Muramusa's on at least one weapon upgrade and an armlet.) All-new enemies await beyond that. You have Counter Attacks, the Izuna Drop, and the Intercept move available to you for free, but Intercept will once again be critical if you are to succeed. Sometimes, it's the only way to win—and a mighty powerful way at that—but it's very tricky to master.

Two sights for sore eyes.

Mr. Itagaki has famously claimed thatNinja Gaiden Hurricane Pack Volume II will take about 30 to 40 minutes to play through, and I have no doubt that for him, that's true. We mortals will likely need a little more time at the stick, but the rewards are great. Like every previous iteration of the game, Volume II doesn't just make your game better. It also makes you a better gamer for it. If you have Ninja Gaidenand for some reason still haven't taken the Hurricane challenge, now's the time.

By Cory Herndon