stars the elite master ninja of the previous titles, Ryu Hayabusa. Like the original, the events of Razor's Edge takes place after the events of Ninja Gaiden II. This time around it also features a separate storyline for Ryu's kunoichi ally, Ayane, who stars in her own set of unique missions in Razor's Edge that involve the return of the Black Spider Clan. Development and release The game was announced at E3 2011 as a launch title for the Wii U. Outside Japan, Razor's Edge was published by Nintendo, making it the company's third title to be rated M by the ESRB after previous titles Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem and Geist. It was the first game to receive an R18+ classification in Australia after the rating was introduced in the country. Downloadable content includes both Kasumi (from the Dead or Alive series) and Momiji as playable characters, available for free. On February 6, 2013, Tecmo Koei Europe announced the game would be also released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Reception The game received more positive reviews than its predecessor, but overall reception was still largely mixed or average. An early version of the game was well received by Mitch Dyer of IGN, who wrote that it makes "massive strides toward becoming the game Team Ninja clearly wishes it was on 360 and PS3 earlier this year. [Yosuke] Hayashi and his team clearly took the negative criticism and hardcore fan backlash to heart – and they deserve a second chance." IGN's review by Ryan McCaffrey stated "it’s fantastic to see this kind of hardcore gamer’s game on a Nintendo console – and at the Wii U’s launch, no less – and you can forget much of what you may have heard about the original release of this game." On the other hand, Kevin VanOrd from GameSpot wrote: "It's harder and more varied than its original release, but Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge doesn't reach the greatness of its forebears." Likewise, Eurogamer's Martin Robinson wrote: "This is a better game than Ninja Gaiden 3, and one that does commendable things in atoning for Team Ninja's past sins - but sadly it's far from a brilliant one." Jim Sterling from Destructoid gave it 5.5 out of 10, writing: "Nothing this Wii U release does can improve upon the core gameplay, which remains as dry, disaffected, and banausic as ever before. Razor's