Latest Reviews
Too HumanHellboy: The Science of EvilSoulcalibur IVGuitar Hero: On TourSecret Agent ClankUser Reviews
There are currently 0 User Reviews for i-NinjaWrite your own review for this game today and you will receive 100 Gamer Points.
Click here to register
i-Ninja Review
Aisling Canton
13/02/2004
Take one part Shinobi, add one part Super Monkey Ball and you've got i-Ninja...
This game does have a plot, although in-keeping with the tone of the game it doesnāt delve too deep; youāre a ninja, named ninja funnily enough and there are five big monsters that need fighting, and well thatās about it. This isnāt a complaint though, the last thing anyone playing this game would need is some sense that they are supposed to be taking the game seriously.
The game opens with a little intro movie of Ninja going to rescue his sensei, and accidentally decapitating him instead. Undeterred, the now spectral old geezer floats by your side as your guide through the game, perfectly setting the tone for rest of the game.
Each of the aforementioned five big boss monsters guard over an area, defeating them unlocks the next area and grants a new rage power to Ninja; rage powers being special abilities that can be triggered once youāve built up enough power from attacking enemies. In standard platformer tradition the bosses themselves have to be unlocked, from passing up grades on your belt - White Belt, Yellow Belt, Green Belt and so on until the elusive Black Belt.
So, beat levels, beat bosses, move on to new area; all terribly standard so far, however this is one of those rare games that plays itās own genre so well that it works to itās advantage; you know what to expect and can get on with the important business of having fun.
The strength of the missions is the quality of the level design and how they involve so much variety, from the standard run and jump platform action to Super Monkey Ball style challenges of dexterity as you roll along stuck to the side of a giant eyeball. These levels really make me feel like this is the sort of game the analogue stick was invented for, whilst the sheer variation and addictive challenge should keep most people entertained from start-to-finish.
It's rare in this game that a level is vanilla platform action, there's always something in there to make things a little more interesting. There are sneaking based levels, levels where you are racing against a burning fuse that runs through the level, levels where you are manning a cannon shooting down an invading army, it goes on and onā¦ Some of them are easy and youāll be able to run from one end of the level to the other without much bother; some of them arenāt so easy, one particular level with a 30 second limit will have you cursing and shouting for a good 20 minutes before you get through it.
Once a level has been completed it is locked again until you pass up a belt, then becoming a ābeat the clockā level or a ādestroy a certain number of enemiesā level, or some other variation of that sort of thing. Once you have the belt to unlock these extra missions, you can return to them at any point to try and get yourself up another belt and get yourself to the next boss quicker.
Ninja does everything youād tend to expect a ninja to do; he flips, runs up walls, swings with a grappling rope - using the grappling rope to swing around tight corners at speed, blow darts, throw shruikens, grind down rails, use a half-pipe like Tony Hawk and use his sword like a helicopter blade to float. Controlling Ninja is quick and responsive, with neither the camera nor controls ever letting you down ā“ in fact controlling Ninja through the devilishly designed levels is arguably the games greatest strength.
It must also be said that āI-Ninjaā sense of humour is one of its strongest points, it works and it helps carry everything off and permeates throughout every level of the gameās design; you canāt help but enjoy yourself and take the experience lightly.
Graphics and sound wise this game is solid. The characters and backgrounds are
cartoony yet detailed, packed with life and excellently animated along with a neat selection of funny facial animations. The characters move like they should, the evil baddie ninjas bounding hyperactively around like goblins in a Jim Henson movie. Even on the scoring screen Ninja has little nuances that will put a smile on your face and when left alone, Ninja does of course practice his crane move.
The music is at worst unobtrusive and at best catchy, nothing stellar, but never bad and never in the way. The sound effects are good and, like the graphics, solid, and appropriate to this cartoony style of game. The speech is what really stands out in the sound department and where it's used it's used well.
Ninjaās constant wisecracking and taunting of his enemies could have been a distracting annoyance, but it is instead quite endearing to see this tiny little cute ninja doling out this huge amount of attitude. This is of course helped by the fact that the voice acting is spot on. Itās never really used for more than a sentence or two at a time, but is always used appropriately, which is what I think saves it from irritating.
