The truly great action films of our time — Die Hard, The Road Warrior, Aliens — can be summed up in one word: relentless.
The classic arcade games of the 1980s could be called relentless: Asteroids, Defender and even Ms. Pac-Man didn’t give you many chances to catch your breath. But as games have gotten more complex, their big action sequences are surrounded by a lot of down time.
Much as I love Grand Theft Auto IV and Metal Gear Solid 4, they take awhile to get going.
Not the games reviewed here. They may not have the depth of a sophisticated role-playing game like Lost Odyssey, but sometimes all you want is the video-game equivalent of a popcorn movie.
• Ninja Gaiden II (Microsoft, for the Xbox 360, $59.99, out of four): Ninja Gaiden, the 2004 reboot of a series that began in 1988, has a well-earned reputation as one of the most difficult games on the original Xbox.
If you expect your ninjas to be at least a little stealthy, Ryu Hayabusa isn’t the man for you. Ryu’s technique is to leap into action with sword flying. Your enemies don’t back down easily, either: Some keep attacking even after you’ve hacked their limbs off.
The action is satisfying and the graphics are impressive, but the game has some major failings. One is a wonky camera that often blocks the best view of the action and prevents you from seeing approaching monsters. The other is an incomprehensible story, which at times becomes unintentionally funny.
• Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Conspiracy (Sierra, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, $59.99, ): The Matt Damon Bourne movies, particularly the two directed by Paul Greengrass, are nearly perfect examples of the hyperkinetic Hollywood thriller. Developer High Moon Studios has done a fine job translating the story into a game.
While Jason Bourne may be a $30 million killing machine, his moves are easy enough for fighting-game novices to handle. Still, you really need to master the timing to be effective. Land enough punches and you can activate a “takedown,” which allows Bourne to use environmental objects to inflict real pain.
Conspiracy mixes the scenes from the first film, The Bourne Identity, with flashbacks to missions before the superspy lost his memory.
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