"We didn't set out to make a violent game," claimed Ninja Gaiden 2 designer Yoshifuru Okamoto.

Could have fooled me. One of the bloodiest rides in video gaming, Ninja Gaiden 2 will be described as visceral, brutal, and any number of intense adjectives--and they will all be accurate. Ryu's latest romp hits that special level of gore that spurs spontaneous laughter. The pure artistry at work behind the cringe-inducing animations is something to behold.

And behold it I did. Behind closed doors at the Tokyo Game Show, Team Ninja's Okamoto was on hand to walk us through the Aqua City level, footage of which is already available to download. As Ryu was steered through the stage, dozens of limbs rained down from the sky, enemies in flames ran in circles, and chest cavities were rendered vacant. This is one seriously visceral, brutal game.

"We actually wanted to do this level of violence in the first game," explained Okamoto, "it just wasn't really wasn't possible for a number reasons. But now that we have the Xbox 360 hardware, we can do a lot of things that we couldn't do before."

However, Okamoto professes that the violence is secondary to the desired impact of the combat. "Just to make one thing clear, we didn't set out to make a violent game--that wasn't the goal, to put as much violence in as we could. It was about what's the best way to make Ninja Gaiden 2 the greatest action game on the planet, and we felt that having that [brutal, visceral] element to the battles made things so much more immediate, like you were really fighting to the death with your opponents."

The succulent detail present in each of the varied attacks is apparent even at the game's frenetic pace. In an effort to make each frame count, Team Ninja goes through a long process to get Ryu's attacks looking as elegantly sick as possible.

"I think it's really about saying, 'Okay, we're giving Ryu a giant scythe,'" said Okamoto. "'Now what can we do with that? What would be cool for him to do?' And then we have our artists kind of draw up storyboards kind of showing what they envision would would be cool for him to do, and then the animator animates that and then we tweak it from there. Then of course you have assign all of the variables, in terms of damage and all that kind of stuff."

Speaking of combat, one of the major turn-offs for prospective Ninja Gaiden players was its notorious level of difficulty. When asked whether the game will take those users into account, Okamoto indicated that subtle changes--rather than a superficial decrease in difficulty--will be the approach to increasing Ninja Gaiden 2's appeal.

"We definitely want to take into account the broad user base of the hardware," said Okamoto. "And the goal of any developer is to get as many people as possible in the world to play his game, right? So we certainly want to make concessions not only for the hardcore fans that have been with the franchise before, but also those coming from a more casual end of the spectrum."

While improvements have been made to help out those new to the series, Gaiden fans should rest easy. This isn't a title that's being dumbed down in the least. "The key to Ninja Gaiden is the battles," Okamoto noted. "You want the battles to be visceral, you want them to be immediate, you want them to be challenging and life-threatening, because that way when you defeat a difficult enemy, you get that sense of accomplishment. So it's not just about going in and dumbing down the AI and making the enemies easier. It's about looking at other ways to kind of reduce the frustration level and making it more approachable."

Keep reading to find out how Ninja Gaiden 2 might be a little easier to play than its predecessors.