Ninjatown Review

What are you to do when that evil arch nemesis of Ninjatown, Mr. Demon, is hell-bent on getting his hands on that famous Ninja Star Cookie (the currency of the game) recipe and destroying not only the town, but the economy too?  Easy, get Ol’ Master Ninja out of hiding and give Mr. Demon and his gang a good bang and hiding.

Ninjatown is a tower-defense, real-time strategy game that gives you a top-down view of your battleground and is based on the cutsie and lovavble Shawnimals franchise.  Because it’s a franchise you may already be cringing, but trust me, this isn’t a disappointment to the brand, but rather a very good, well done and beautifully presented game on a platform which is ideal for this game.

Your task is to save Ninjatown from the hoards of Mr. Demon’s minions and save the aforementioned Ninja Star Cookie recipe, and you do this by building Ninja Huts on plots of land which are scattered across the map.  Your Ninja Consultant is on hand to give you the down low on all the enemies you'll be facing.  Different ninjas have different skills and you’ll find that only certain ninjas are able to defeat certain enemies.  My favourite has to be the Business Ninjas, grey little things with blue and yellow neck-ties that “distract” caffeine addicted enemies, but are actually quite effective against most ground-based enemies.  Of course there are ninjas that can attack airborne enemies while ground-based ninjas kick back and watch the sky turn into a theatre of destruction, and its at this time that it’s best to upgrade your Ninja Huts.

Ninja Huts accommodate two ninjas at any one time, and a Ninja Hut’s circle of attack, as well as the speed and strength of the ninjas it’s housing increase with every upgrade.  Huts are upgradable to level five, and depending on which hut you’re upgrading and what level they’re already at, can vary in price which we’ll look at a little later on.  Also bear in mind that ninjas will be out of action while the upgrade is happening, so make sure you're not under attack when you do upgrade.

Depending on the map, the enemies’ level and the volume of enemies expected you may opt to upgrade your existing huts, or you may choose to inundate the screen with your own ninjas, though they may not be very strong, fast or effective.  Like with any great game, there is no right or wrong way of doing it, and sometimes you will find there is a certain way to achieve victory on certain levels, but this comes as you learn which ninjas are most effective against specific enemies.

As the overall general, Ol’ Master Ninja, you have some pretty nifty special powers which are represented by your ninja staff.  Other than making you look like Moses, the staff unleashes some pretty spectacular skills, which vary from blowing your enemies into a corner in order to get your ninjas to pummel them, to frying them with a magnifying glass, comically named the magnifrying glass.  You can also pause time so you can upgrade huts without losing the fire-power of your ninjas, or alternatively you can choose to spin the wheel of efficiency which can bring you fortune in the shape of hit-points, Ninja Star Cookies or invincibility for all your ninjas for a certain time.  The staff power comes from defeating the enemies and the more you kill, the more staff power you get.  A staff gauge in the top left hand side of the touch screen represents staff power, and to access the powers you touch the staff and select your poison.  Great fun and very very very useful on occasions.

Obviously just getting staff power from defeating Mr. Demon’s army wouldn’t be particularly helpful when you have huts to build and upgrade, so you get paid for every enemy you defeat.  Naturally, not all enemies will pay the same, but you will get enough cookies to pay for upgrades as well as some ‘modifier buildings’ which enhance the surrounding Ninja Huts.  Modifier buildings are awesome, and can really make or break a level.  From training dojo’s which enhance the performance of the ninjas to ninja temples which multiply the amount of cookies you receive for each enemy defeat, a well placed modifier building is like a sewage system…unnoticed but extremely effective and important.

The surprises don’t stop there either, and in this mad battle against Mr. Demon all the tools you have at your disposal are required, and not least the tokens which help you defeat the sometimes overwhelming amount of enemies which can appear on the screen.  There are four to collect, and you have to complete certain districts on the main-game map to enable them.  Confuse the enemies with boring statistics, slow them down with a cute baby, unleash a stink with the ninja dropping or stun the enemies with Super Ninja.  Each token can be used once and need to be placed on the map.  You can use more than one token in a level, but do choose carefully.  You only get more tokens when you conquer a district, and even then you can’t choose which one it is.  You’re choice is made from a fruit-machine-esque thing.

Don’t worry though, all of the above perks won’t affect your ninjas, and a good thing too as the story might take a slightly different turn if that was the case.  And speaking of the story, this is brilliantly written, amusing and will have you chuckling to yourself.  It’s obvious a lot of time has been put into developing a game that delivers on all fronts, and is accessible and appropriate for a wide ranging audience.  This game would feel just as comfortable on a 35 year-olds DS as it would on an eight-year olds. 

Ninjatown has delivered and has a depth which is subtle but solid.  The variety of ninjas at your disposal, as well as enemies and the innovative ways in which to defeat them will have any tower-defense and RTS fan hooked.  Addictive as it is, it’s also great fun, accessible and possibly one of the most relevant games for the DS that has ever been released.

If you want to know more about the making of the game, why not check out our interview with Shawn Smith, the guy behind Shawnimals and Ninjatown.