Still working on Ninja Gaiden 2 (Xbox 360 version, emulated on Xenia Canary). I'm currently halfway through Chapter 12 out of 14 on Path of the Warrior, so I'm almost at the point where I can see the finish line. Still unsure whether I can beat it as I've heard the final stretch is pure hell.

I have never played a game that made me feel quite like this, I have to be honest. It's one of the best and one of the worst games I've ever played simultaneously. If this was released today it would be absolutely lambasted for its blatantly untested, horrifically balanced and absurdly unfun encounters.

And it's such a shame and a waste because the pieces are all there for a spectacular tour de force of an action game and you can see that side of it shine through from time to time. Whenever the game clicks and is good, it's fucking incredible. Lightning fast, blood and limbs flying everywhere, incredible animations and brutal execution moves as you're zipping through combat and weaving through combos. They really had the fundamentals here for something special, and the first half of the game is mostly good - albeit still with some complete garbage like Gigadeath sprinkled in.

From around the halfway point on though it's become perhaps the most infuriating game I've ever played. Some of the gameplay design is just completely incomprehensible and encounters devolve into being spammed with projectiles from offsceen while you're showered in constant explosions that deafen you and make you unable to see shit while you're stunlocked to death unless you ignore using your combos and instead just abuse i-frames. Boss fights like the Double Armadillo I just finished feel like a straight up "fuck you" from Itagaki. Time and again I finish a fight and say "who the fuck thought this was a good idea?" out loud.

And the worst part is I'm developing such a Stockholm Syndrome I'm already looking at Ninja Gaiden 2 Black prices.