Team Ninja lead explains why Ninja Gaiden 3 doesn't allow freeform dismemberment

Team Ninja lead Yosuke Hayashi defended the studio's move to not feature frequent decapitations and other freeform dismemberment in Ninja Gaiden 3. Something which was present in its predecessors.

He told that it was done intentionally, however not in order to soften the impact of the violence in the title, but to enhance it.

"For Ninja Gaiden 3, we wanted to focus on the act of cutting someone down, and what it's like to actually kill someone with a sword. Once you start lopping off limbs, your enemy goes from being a living thing that you're killing to just a thing."

Hayashi went on to explain how it'll make the players actually feel like cutting through real-people.

"When you're actually cutting into a person, and you feel them getting scared, and the blood is spraying right on you, you hear their dying breaths in your ear -- that's the kind of visceral violence we're going for in Ninja Gaiden 3."

Hayashi warned that the game was not meant for people who would sympathize with their enemies as Ryu Hayabusa isn't a nice guy, and there's no easy way out for him.

"Ryu Hayabusa is a dark hero," Hayashi explained. "If people want to take the easy way out or a cleaner way out -- not killing people -- that's not what the story is about and what Ryu Hayabusa is about. To be a dark hero, you have to do bad things in order to do good."

Ninja Gaiden 3 is in development for PS3, and Xbox 360 and is due out in the first half of 2012.