What was the turning point for the ninja? When did the silent, stealthy killers
from Japanese history become huggable little scamps with a penchant for
mischief? Sure, we could blame those damndable Ninja Turtles, but at least they
gave us a walking, talking brain and a man who dubbed himself the king of all
rats. There had to have been a definitive point of no return, one that made it
acceptable to have Chris Farley Kung Fu-ing his way around Beverly Hills on our
televisions and a group of adorable, pint-sized shinobi rampaging colorful
Eastern environments on our Xboxes. The latter sums up Mini Ninjas pretty
well, a third-person action game that lets you wrangle control over six
different tiny warriors in a quest to free the land of evil.
You begin your journey as Hiro, a sword-wielding assassin that has to save his
fellow ninjas from the grasp of a dastardly warlord. As he journeys through the
woods, towns, rivers, canyons and mountains that are inhabited by sinister
samurai, he must unshackle his buddies while learning new abilities to overwhelm
the increasingly challenging forces that are appearing around every turn. The
player is able to switch between ninjas with the touch of a button once they
have been freed from imprisonment, though only one will appear onscreen at any
time. Each has a few specific traits that make them stand out, like Suzume’s
flute that can force villains to dance to their demise and the lumbering Futo’s
oversized mallet that can bash samurai skulls into oblivion. Several of the
enemies that you encounter must be tackled with a specific character, forcing
you to constantly swap control and utilize each member of your party if you hope
to come out on top of every fracas.
Despite any affinity that you may have for the aforementioned skull bashing,
Hiro’s wildlife-enchanting powers will undoubtedly make him the most popular
ninja of all. While he can hop into the body of anything from a frog to a
warthog, a wiser tactic would be to borrow a panda bear for some animal-powered
justice. Hiro can also throw fireballs, shoot lightning, summon tornados and
utilize a few other special powers after discovering them in the vast, open
landscapes that you need to explore, with items like smoke bombs and shurikens
also lying around for your amusement. All of the ninjas share a few common
abilities, like being able to use their hats as makeshift sleds in wintry
locations or rafts in lakeside ones for ease of travel. The traditional ninjutsu
stealth can also come into play, as the ninjas can hide in bushes or creep up
behind bands of samurai to vanquish them all with a single blow. Very good,
Grasshopper!
While all of these powers make the core combat of Mini Ninjas pretty fun and
varied, this enjoyment doesn’t last long. The main problem that persists
throughout the game’s five hour runtime is repetition, as there aren’t many
different enemy types and you are forced to battle hundreds of the same sword,
spear, magic and giant villain variations ad nauseum. Almost every level asks
nothing more of you than to kill everything as you move from point A to point B,
and this gets very monotonous when you realize that there is rarely any change.
It becomes even worse once you fall victim to the game’s poorly designed
checkpoint system, as the save spots are very spread out and can’t be activated
if an enemy is left breathing on-screen. Since your health may be low in some
cases, having to fight before saving your progress can lead to some cheap
deaths. This wouldn’t be much easier to manage if you could play it
cooperatively with your buddies, but that is not the case here: no multiplayer
options were included, which is a depressing omission given the game’s concept.
Much like the gameplay of Mini Ninjas, the presentation ends up being a mixed
bag. Each landscape is packed with vibrant, vivid colors from the frost-bitten
blues of the arctic mountains to the fire red atmosphere draped behind the
temples and villages of a dusk sky. While these portraits can occasionally be
beautiful, everything in the game’s world lacks detail and personality, looking
almost like it was built for an internet comic strip at times. The ninjas
themselves animate nicely, but aren’t a particularly interesting group of
characters. Same goes for game’s audio, which is made up of traditional Japanese
drums and some wacky voice acting that isn’t memorable or engrossing in any way.
Mini Ninjas is like that Saturday morning cartoon that was sandwiched between
two of your favorites: it’s not terrible enough to inspire the effort necessary
to change the channel, but it won’t leave you longing to buy ninja-themed PJs.
Younger gamers might appreciate the colorful art and rock’em sock’em gameplay,
but seasoned shinobi will most likely grow tired of this one way long before the
credits roll.
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Gameplay: 6.0
Collecting and switching between ninjas is fun–with each offering chop-tastic
abilities to keep the action fresh—but fighting the same handful of generic
enemy types spoils it.
Graphics: 6.5
The
ninjas themselves are cute and cuddly, and the environments are super colorful.
Unfortunately, everything is bereft of detail, leaving a game that looks very
PS2-like.
Sound: 6.0
Cartoonish Japanese/English voice acting and decent drum beats do the job, but
nothing really stands out.
Difficulty: Medium
This
game would be a breeze if it wasn’t for the terribly mishandled checkpoint
system. Once you realize that you can run past most enemies however, the game
becomes a lot easier.
Concept: 7.0
Taking
control of an elite super-squad of small soldiers works well, and the plethora
of attacks that each possesses makes it fun. Unfortunately, not enough variety
was infused into the rest of the game’s design to make it consistently
enjoyable, and the lack of any type of multiplayer is devastating.
Overall: 6.0
While
the vibrant visuals, easily manageable combat and light-hearted mood might
enamor some, Mini Ninjas is just too repetitive, short and bereft of
features to make it stand out.
