Mini Ninjas Review [360]

10 Sep 2009 at 16:50:59 by
Systems used to review this title: (360)

Sometimes it's difficult to place something.  You know you've seen it, read it or played it before, but still you persist in the hope that something new will happen. Sometimes you give up, but most of the time you plough on and completing this seemingly familiar task is reward in itself.  Mini Ninjas is that exactly, and although you may be thinking you've seen it all before, you can't deny you're having fun.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is that Mini Ninjas' story isn't exactly original, but it's delivered very well indeed.  You, as 11-year old ninja Hiro, are tasked with taking down the Evil Samurai Warlord who's taken control of the ancient Kuji magic, and is using it to throw off the balance of nature.  As well as recruiting and transforming the cute, almost Sonic-like, animals of the forest to fight for his cause, he's also captured the ninjas sent out before you.  And if that wasn't enough, he revels in creating the most, erm, unique and bizarre bosses for you to fight.  Bosses that really do "fart in your general direction".

What the Evil Samurai Warlord - who shall now be referred to as Dave for convenience's sake - does not know is that you too are able to wield the power of Kuji magic, unlike the muppets sent before you.  Although they're not really muppets; they do leave notes kicking around the game world for you to find which will help you progress through the game. Still, that's not very stealthy for a ninja - you know, leaving notes behind. It's about as useful as Anne Frank's drum kit really, but no matter, it is but a distraction more than anything else and very rarely useful.

The game world is undeniably engaging, and as I said in the preview, the environments are visually impressive.  The art style is what really sells the game, with a bold watercolour feel that really adds depth and sets the tone of the mini adventure you're embarking on.  The music is stereotypically authentic, while the cut scenes are cleverly presented, reminding you that there was a purpose to your mind-numbing button bashing.

You see, this is where Mini Ninjas has fallen short.  The combat really is mindless, with very few variations.  Although you can sneak around (holding down the left trigger in tall grasses) and take enemies out in true ninja style, you could quite easily run into a group swords flailing and just lay your moves directly on them.  You don't get to do much else other than throw shurikens and cast limited spells.  And as you progress through the game you do rescue your fallen comrades (or children as I like to call them, since they're all under 16) who all have their own special fighting (and clothing) styles, but they're not Hiro and can't cast magic.  That's not to say they're not fun, as with a variety of ninjas at your disposal you can approach the Dave's army in many different ways; you can take them from afar with your archer and finish off with your mallet-wielder, or slice them with your delusional (and frankly quite disturbed) tiger-wannabe ninja and finish off with your musical ninja.  Yes.  It's all quite amusing, but not useful at all.  Which leads to the next problem: replayability.

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