To be fair, this game possibly is indeed very frustrating to some. For me it was perfect. I'm from the first generation that grew up with games, and in the early days, games were short and challenging instead of long and easy as they are now. To me this is somewhat of a throwback to those earlier days, where you had to figure out the enemy's moves to win...you couldn't just keep pressing a button until he's dead. The bosses to me are just fine..though I'm not quite to the end yet. So far I'd say the first boss what indeed the most difficult..even after learning how to tackle him, it's still hard to pull off...but this isn't true off all bosses...some are riduculously easy once you figure out their weaknesses (like the boss on the 3rd level). But the rest of the game paced is high speed ninja action..kind of like you'd see in a movie. It's the first game of itt's kind in my opinion to pull it off correctly. Give it a chance..and make sure you learn all the moves if you want to last.

I like to think of myself as a patient man. I read the reviews of this game and I'll admit it,I dismissed the reviewers that complained about this title's difficulty as whiners without the patience and/or tenacity to appreciate a challenge. How wrong I was. This game is an exercise in futility and frustration that would send even a zen monk on a red-faced, seething tyrade of hatred against the cruel developers. Yes, it is beautifully rendered (though I think previous reviewers might have overstated it's beauty; the cutscenes are amazing, but the in-game graphics are simply avarage), the storyline is intriguing and when a stretch of gameplay lasts more than five or so minutes (rare; repeated deaths followed by endless repeating of the same stretch of game is more the norm) one can almost appreciate the game's intent. I've given up somewhere in the 5th level, however, as rival ninjas repeatedly hurl seemingly inescapable bombs at me. I have a headache. This is not what I call amusement; it's torturous and I give up.

First, lets eliminate the type of people that shouldn't play this game. People easily fustrated, people who enjoy playing Fable because its so easy, people who will drop down the controller after failing to kill a boss 3 times, etc.

This game is only for the "true" gamers, people who are in for a great challenge and mastering the art of the combat in this exciting title. Some of the bossess are incredibly difficult, but if you could use your brain instead of just keep hacking and slashing straight-forward-style, you could probably learn your enemy's pattern of combat, therefore, mastering his moves and using different tactics to effectively defeat him. For example, the mounted samurai boss, many people just tend to hack and slash him straight forward in the way open of the bridge. Just think, if you used the walls you could easily time yourself to when the horseman will ram into your position and then you could run up the wall and slam down with the Y attack. Then you could kill the wizards as well with that move, collect their essence and you could use them to absorbtion for your charged Y attack.

My point is, in order to beat this game, you got to use your brains and apply it to fighting, unlike your ordinary "lets go kill'em all and screw the thinking" type of timesplitters 2 style "kill-everything you-you-see-and-forget-tactics" mentality.

This game features some intriguing graphics and visuals, along with some pretty nice combos, with some that will take time to master. This is a very difficult game, the the gameplay is solid and well built, and extremely fluid as well. There are several types of enemies, ranging from demons to soldiers with submachine guns. Aside from all the combat and action, there's some great adventure elements as well in this game, which balances everything else. Think Prince of Persia: Sands of Time charged with tons of sugar and fuel, then with tons of blood and gore as well.

Ready for the challenge? Go and buy it. Otherwise, just at least rent it to experience this awesome game.

this game has some of the best cutscenes ever. my favorite when the girl with huge boobs (forget her name) is chained to the pole and that samurai ghost is flying around talking demonic like right before you have to kill that the woman in her medusa like form.

man im gonna buy this game again and beat it again just to feel whats its like to play a hard game...stick with mario you pansy.

Runner up to game of the year huh!? All all anyone cares about is the graphics.This game got me so mad I smashed my xbox(breaking it)Then I ejected the disc and tryed to snap it in half!(it was a rental and i was about thirty minutes into it.)NOT FOR PEOPLE THAT ARE EASY FUSTRATED i.e ANGER MANAGMENT!