I-Ninja
Cute? This game starts with you taking a sword through your sensai’s neck.
Tags: I-Ninja Categories: Game Cube Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Travis on Feb 16th, 2004
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| I-Ninja (title page) | |||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Action | No | ||
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He’s small. He wears sandals. And he wears pajamas. But don’t tell him that as he will unleash his rage and chop you into pieces! I- Ninja is action packed platformer that doesn’t fail to bring you solid game play.
First of all, who can resist being a ninja with a large sword and an anger complex? And some very bad acting qualities… oh wait, that’s every kung-fu English dubbed movie out there. Toss in some robotic ninja enemies and wonderful controls and you’re set to be a part of this wild adventure.
It’s just you and I-Ninja against O-Dor and his army of Ranx soldiers. With the aid of your dead Sensei (in the beginning, you accidentally charged into him while infused with a rage stone and beheaded him – nobody’s perfect) who communicates to you via spirit form, you take on the evil forces in five different areas. From there you can roam about and enter in through doors to complete missions to earn points, get a grade on your belt, and upgrade your sword.
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Some doors are blocked until you gain enough grades to move on from white belt, to yellow, green etc. Killing the bad guys also gets marks on your sword and once you reach a certain number, your sword is upgraded to a more powerful blade. Finally, breaking objects, boxes, and destroying the baddies gets you points to gain more lives.
Now this may seem like a lot to face, with baddies varying from small to insanely huge (you’ll find out in one level). To assist you, you are able to use shurikens, blowguns, even rocket launchers from the enemy’s own arsenal. Along the way you learn techniques such as berserker (more powerful attacks), revive (gain health), shuriken (ride a giant shuriken), and finally I-NINJA! (Basically you are invincible and an all around unstoppable force).
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Throughout the levels you’ll need to do some puzzle solving, which can get somewhat tedious. Some require wall-walking to get to certain areas which can be fun, but when you miss and fall down a level or two, and have to start all over again it can get tiresome. There are also ball levels where you either control a ball or ride it. Of course, you need a steady thumb to control this sphere when you’re going through jets of fire, or really narrow bridges. More than once a sensitive movement has sent me off the edge, doomed to start over again. But don’t let that keep you down, there are some missions where you can hack and slash through and have fun with it.
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The graphics on I-Ninja are very well done and bring the overall feeling of a ninja world to your screen. Along with the ninja sense comes the whole anime/manga feeling of wide-eyed characters, flashy attack graphics, mecha-styled robots, and the fancy bosses. The graphics are a little child-like though, which is good for the average GameCube audience, but don’t let this game confuse you with more serious ninja games like the upcoming Ninja Gaiden or Nightshade
While I-Ninja runs smooth, there can be some slowdowns when there is too much going on the screen. These moments are far and few between. Overall the levels are nicely designed and detailed, especially the forest missions and Bomb Bay.
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The sound for I-Ninja is well placed and the sound your sword makes depending on what it is hitting it is right on. There is also well done ambient sound throughout the levels, with the roar of lions in the jungle area or the sound of waves on the beach in Robot Beach.
Ninja has an anger problem. He will go into a rage and generally flip out. So of course he’s going to have a slew of one-liners. While some may seem just plain cheesy, there are some that will make you laugh. The voice talent is very good, as the cockiness in Ninja’s tone is very apparent. You’ll also hear your enemy yell out “Get him!” or “There he is!”. That is just expected. Of course there he is, he’s the guy with the huge sword!
One comment on the one liners, while they are cute and interesting, they get really really annoying after a while.
I-Ninja is the type of game that doesn’t require a lot of thinking skill. You’re not expected to read stats, use magic at certain times, or even pay attention to a grand storyline. However, it is also not just a game you can expect to be a milk run either.
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The bosses give you a run for your money as they require a lot of hand-eye coordination and skill to outwit their attacks. They are large and definitely at least offer a change of pace if not a challenge for the experienced gamer.
I-Ninja is a retaking of the ninja world into a more cartoon and comedic setting. It offers you the chance to get out your need to hack and slash, while at the same time stays safe for little timmy. Great controls, great action, and wonderful graphics bring this wild and energetic platform to life on the Gamecube. There is always something to do in I-Ninja, from the main missions to side-missions to get more points and skill. This is one game that is recommended to any platformer or ninja fanatics.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
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+ Cartoon graphics + All types of side games + Being a 3 foot tall ninja |
7.2 |
| What Doesn't | |
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- A little repetitive in the basic platformer levels - The one liners get really really annoying |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| There is a very fine line between being cute and cuddly and being sick and demented. Walking around as a cute little anime ninja who just happens to be a mass murderer is very close to crossing that line. | |
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Tags: I-Ninja
Posted by Travis on Feb 16th, 2004 and is filed under Game Cube Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
