Mini Ninjas Review

written by: SAH

First, I'd like to say I'm surprised at how few reviews there are of this game. It doesn't seem to have gotten much attention, even though it was talked about with enthusiasm as a preview earlier in the year. Those previews, and the demo on PS3, are what prompted me to buy the game. I'm glad I did.

Mini Ninjas was a lot of fun. The most fun I've had being a ninja since the original Tenchu came out for the PlayStation in 1998 — and that's a long time to go without a good ninja game.

However, aside from playing as a ninjas, the similarities between Tenchu and Mini Ninjas are tenuous. I draw the comparison though for a reason. I would really like to play a Mini Ninjas 2 that learns a bit from Tenchu. And I would also really like to play a PS3 version of Technu that learns a little from Mini Ninjas. In fact, since there have been many Tenchu sequels that failed, I'd really like to see the original game recreated for PS3 with just updates to graphics and maybe some additional levels — that game from '98 was near ninja perfection.

Okay, I'll try to focus on the titular game, but playing it and reviewing it begs for comparison. This will be one of my longer reviews mostly because the mainstream reviewing community has done a poor job of covering this game.

As you will see, the game is not flawless. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I think it's a good game whose sequel, if there is one, could be great.

Story
The story is simple, but good. Compelling enough to move the game forward. An evil samurai is using magic to convert gentle forest creatures into more evil samurai. Many of your ninja friends have gone off to defeat them only to vanish. It is now up to you, Hiro, to save your friends and save the world. Simple, classic, fun.

This plot feeds directly into many of the game's most endearing qualities, the first being animals. As you battle your way through each level, rather than killing evil samurai, when you strike them down they simply return to being forest critters. Forest critters which you can then you your ninja magic to posses. The whole thing is very cute and fun.

Saving your friends is part of the plot from the very beginning. The only reason you are going on your adventure at all is because the others have gone before you. As you find them, the ninja friends become playable. They can be fun, briefly, but given their deficiencies when compared to Hiro, you really have to wonder why Hiro wasn't sent first. Nevertheless, it feeds the story well and adds a unique element to gameplay as the story progresses.

Magic is also central to the story, Hiro being the only ninja who can do it. The magic adds a lot of fun and variety to the game, though as you will see (if you read that part), some of it is more helpful than others. Hiro, being the only ninja who can do magic, Ninja magic is another fantastic element of this game. You earn a ton of spells during the game some way more useful than others:

Design
The game is designed very well. From the concept to the visual execution, I'd say design is one of the most appealing elements to playing the game. The levels are great to look at and fun to play. I experienced no bugs and only very minor camera issues (those these issues were the only thing that ever caused my death). Since the camera is often a make or break element of a game (poor cameras ruined many Tenchu sequels), I was pleased that the issues were rare. Given the design of the level where I had the most trouble with it, I'm not how it could be handled better.

In addition to the levels themselves, the characters were all animated beautifully. The enemies were funny and the ninjas did classic ninja stuff. There were little touches to each that made the characters fun to watch and running with Hiro never got old.

Stealth
If there is one problem with the game, it's this: stealth is irrelevant. You can be stealthy to some extent, but since there is no way to play the game and be completely stealthy, it's pretty much just for fun. It is actually more effective to just attack, using your weapons, friends, magic and items to overwhelm the enemy. You can easily beat the game without being stealthy at all and there is no way to beat it by being completely stealthy.

Perhaps this was done because it's a kid's game. Then again, kids love being sneaky and hiding, so I'm not sure why it wasn't at least an option. With the exception of the boss battles, I would have liked to be able to play this game two ways, totally sneaky or open and attacking.

This isn't to say you can't hide. There is stealth abound, which is part of why not being able to play in a truly stealthy manner was a bit disappointing. You can hide in tall grass. You can hide as an animal. And there are two power near the end that add very cool element of stealth to the game. But you just don't need to do it and as soon as you attack anyone, your cover is blown. You get slightly better power-ups for stealth kills, but in general power-ups are plentiful so it isn't necessary for that reason.

I would also have loved to see a proximity meter (ala Tenchu), so you'd know when cover was about to be blown. As it is, there is no way to know until it's too late. Then all you can do is throw a smoke bomb and run or attack.

There are two things I'd like ot see done next time to add to the stealth. First, I would love to have earned the ability to become invisible. It could work just like slowing time and hiding in tall grass. Second, I'd like a way to separate the samurai from one another so that you can attack each one without alerting the others, slowing picking them off. Tenchu had a number of way to do this that could be affective here. But just being able to through a rock that makes a noise for the samurai to investigate would do.

It Should have Been Mini Samurai
The more I think about it, given that stealth was irrelevant during gameplay, the game should have been called Mini Samurai and the rolls of the characters reversed. You could battle evil ninjas that use magic and you could be trying to free other samurai (who then fight with you, so your power becomes numbers). Traditionally, ninja are the dark, evil, magic-using ones and samurai are the good heroes. Now, don't get me wrong, I love being a ninja. It just seems like the gameplay here would have more logically fit with a roll reversal. So, I'd like to see two new games: Mini Ninjas 2, which focuses more on stealth, and Mini Samurai, which reverses the rolls and alters the gameplay slightly to fit. But I digress.

Power Attacks
I think the best thing about the game, aside from its overall design and likability, is the power attack. They are devastating and awesome! You can only have three in your arsenal at a time (which is the only mercy ever granted to your enemy). When you activate a power attack time stops, you leap into the air and are then able to target a number of nearby enemies (more as the game goes on) in any order you wish (and the order sometimes makes a difference — don't attack samurai with spears from the front). When you let go of the power button, you zip around the screen with lightening speed, filling the screen with smoke and light as each of your enemies is defeated, leaving only fleeing forest creatures in your wake. When combined with Kuji magic (like the ice storm) you become virtually unstoppable. I never ever got tired of this and only ever wished there were more enemies to face. I think the game is worth playing for the power attack feature alone.

Spells — Spoilers in This Section
There are 12 spells in the game, discovered sporadically throughout the game. Only Hiro possesses Kuji magic ability, so only he can use them.

Detect Kuji Shrine — Though somewhat useful, I found this often as confusing as it was helpful. Also, as each shrine is marked by fireflies or butterflies, though hidden, they are fairly easy to find. This one seemed unnecessary and I never used once I got better spells.

Spirit Form — This spell is essential to the gameplay and is both fun and useful. It allows you to possess nearby animals. This can be used for stealth, but it is perhaps more useful for detecting collectibles, which animals have a special sense for. It is also the only spell that gets upgraded (in a very cool way) as you near the game's end.

Fireball — Fun and powerful . I kept this in my arsenal almost the entire game. An aside here about aiming: I had the camera inverted for looking around, which is how I like to play. However, this inversion seemed also to apply to aiming. I got used to it, but I wished they were separate. I would have inverted the camera, but left the aiming controls normal.

Tornado — This was a cool spell, but not very powerful. It was one of the first ones I would have liked to upgrade. Upgradeable powers (think Ratchet & Clank) would have been a fantastic addition to this game, though the game isn't hard enough (even on Hard) to justify the added power.

Camouflage — This one was fun (it hides you in a bush) but it's really unnecessary since you can already hide in tall grass and bushes or turn yourself into an animal.

Lightening Storm — I loved this power. The randomness of it was fun and it was great for ambushes. Though, like Tornado, I wish it could have been upgraded.

Sun Rays — There is only one use for this power and it comes during the only creepy (though still cute) part of the game. I think we could have done without it. Or, I wish it had had other applications. Like, you know, actually lighting up the darkness.

Sonic Boom — Though not nearly as powerful as its name implies, this power is still very useful. It works great when you're really outnumbered and gives you a distinct advantage when surrounded.

Wall of Wind — A great power (used to block projectiles) which I had a really hard time using effectively. I often found it more efficient to use a power attack or a fireball. But I really wanted to use this more often.

Ice Storm — Mwahahahah! What a great power! It freezes (almost) everybody as soon as they get hit by it, allowing you to unleash great destruction on hordes of enemies.

Slow Time — This was cool. It does what it implies. I don't think I used it as often or as effectively as it was intended.

Meteor Storm — Very powerful, but I didn't find it very useful. Lesser spells were just as effective and often more fun to use.

There is one spell I was really hoping for, but didn't get: Invisibility. Come on! I'm a ninja! The mechanic already exists (the transparency that indicates stealth). I really wanted to be able to turn invisible (the same way you slow time) and sneak up on people. That would have been awesome!

Ninja Friends
There are two primary uses for Hiro's ninja friends. First, they give you a reason to play the game: All have gone off to defeat the Evil Samurai, so you must go and find what has become of them. Second, each has a unique ability. But though there are five of them, each offering something unique, they all pale in comparison to Hiro.

The friend mechanic is interesting. You are only ever one ninja at a time (no opportunity for co-op play, (which is too bad), but changing between the ninjas is quick and easy. Once found, they are added to your ninja wheel. You can switch to them at any time by holding L1 (on PS3) and change back to Hiro in an instant with a tap to L1. Though overall the ninja friends thing seemed unnecessary (I could just have easily found a bow or unlocked faster running), it is an easy to use system and it's fun to play the other ninjas for time to time. I just wish their uses weren't so narrow. Here is a little intro to each one.

First, there is Futo, Hiro's best friend. You more or less begin your quest together. I'm guessing that in Japanese, Futo means Fat, because that is what he is. Futo is sort of the anti-ninja. Slow and cumbersome. But he's powerful. As far as I can tell, he had only one purpose, defeat the giant Samurai. Square square X, square square X, done. Every time. This was a bit tedious and a little disappointing.

Suzame is a cute little ninja girl who Hiro has a crush on. She plays a flute that enchants enemies and then uses it to beat them back into forest creatures. She's cute and the mechanic is fun a couple of times, but I rarely used her. Perhaps I missed her true purpose.

Shun is arguably the most useful of the ninja friends. He has a bow and arrow which he can use to take out enemies at a distance. He also has an exploding arrow which can be very useful. But did we really need him? Couldn't we have just as easily found a bow and arrow and used it as Hiro?

Tora is a tiger, or he thinks he is. Consequently, he runs very fast. This is useful in some of the larger levels (or when you are running around trying to find stuff). But again, we could have just obtained some magic shoes or a turbo running bonus or something. Or, how about actually making one of the forest creatures a tiger so we could use them to run (and attack).

Kunoichi is a flirt with a spear. She is the most effective alternate fighter of the bunch and somewhat fun to play. However, she seems superfluous. And by the time you get her Hiro is so powerful I'm not sure what she's supposed to be used for. As with all of the ninja friends, I have a feeling I missed the true intent of having her in the group.

I used all of these ninja friends more the second time through the game to add some variety to the gameplay.

Jizo
There are tiny little Jizo statues on each level for you to find. Some of these were a little challenging to find and locating all the collectibles on each level was harder than fighting all the enemies. But as it turns out, it's irrelevant. I had been playing through the game a second time, trying to find all the Jizo statues I missed the first time, but I recently read there was no point to this. You don't get anything for finding them. At most I was hoping to unlock invisibility, at least I figured it would yield another video. If there really isn't any point to them, then why are they in the game at all? Just to make it longer? That seems cheap. They should unlock something. Like how about a survival arena battle where wave after wave of enemies attack and you have to last as long as you can? That would be fun!

Conclusion
In the end, I was satisfied with the game overall. Any of the flaws or complaints I have can be pretty handily attributed to it being a kid's game and with that grain of salt, the whole experience becomes even more enjoyable. I would love to see some of the revisions I've mentioned in Mini Ninjas 2. Or, better yet, I'd love to see this same design team take on a ninja game for a Teen or Mature audience. Perhaps they could remake Tenchu.

Overall, I give the game a B+. It's fun, but a little too easy for me and fairly short (especially since I now know all that time I spent looking for stuff was pointless). Still, I had a great time and am glad I played it.

Two Final Thoughts
First, I would really have liked to have a grappling hook. Think the original Tenchu of the current Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Second, the ninja/magic/item selection wheels. These needed to be bigger and allow for more things. There are so many powers and useful items in the game, t hat I found myself going back to the select screen constantly to customize my next attack. I would much rather see something that expands as your options do. Look to Ratchet & Clank for this. That series nailed this convention long ago.

I look forward to Mini Ninjas 2.

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