Mini Ninjas(DS)

I’d never heard of Mini Ninjas until today, but it looked pretty cool. Plus, it’s new. Here are some first impressions of the game.

Storyline

*Paraphrased*

“Long ago, when the Evil Samurai Warlord was banished the first time, an era of peace and tranquility decscended upon the Empire for more than three hundred years. Then one day, something changed.

Something was  terribly wrong in the world. There were many storms, and animals were seen fleeing for their lives. The Evil Samurai Warlord had returned, and was using forbidden Kuji magic to turn animals into mindless samurai warriors. The larger his armies grew, the worse the storms became. The Ninja Master sent his most skilled ninja on a quest to discover the source of the storms. But none of them returned. Soon there were only two ninjas left, and they were the last ninjas he would have ever chosen to send on such a perilous quest… but it appeared that the fate of the world could lay in the hands of these last two…”

The beginning cutscenes are artistically done and visually appealing. I love how the music changes from melancholy, to peaceful, to worrying, etc. depending on what is happening.

Graphics
The graphics are mostly well done. The camera follows your character around rather smoothly. It does get buggy sometimes though. For example, I found that when walking against walls, your character’s head actually goes through them. Must be some ninja technique I’ve never heard of.

Gameplay
Throughout the game, you’ll have to do various quests. The first of which is picking flowers. Yes, I’m serious. Apparently, the Master needs them for potions. This turns out to be an important aspect of the game, since you’ll be able to make your own in the future.

In the lower left hand corner of your upper screen, you’ll notice a bar. Every time you finish a quest or defeat an enemy, you gain EXP. After running another errand for the Master, he’ll give you a potion as a reward. No, you can’t keep it. When you’ve finished drinking, the Master talks about Ki. Ki is a spiritual energy which awakens a ninjas’ inner whirlwind… Sure, master. As he finishes talking, you’ll notice an icon in your upper right hand corner of your bottom screen popped out. If I’m not wrong, it replenishes your energy and stamina. Whenever you sprint, your stamina is depleted, but you can replenish it at anytime by meditating.

After running YET another mission for Master AKA Lazy Old Man, he tells you about spells. You cast spells by touching an icon on your screen and pressing Y.

Throughout the game there are many mini-quests. Some require you to find items, rescue fellow ninja, and sometimes, you just bash heads. There are also mini-games which require the use of the touch screen. These include drawing on a canvas, cutting the paper and things of the like. Pretty pointless, but mostly interesting nonetheless.

Controls
A is your action button. You use it to talk to people, pick up items, or just to slash some samurai heads. B jumps, X is to throw shurikens, and Y is to cast spells. L centers the camera view. L + Left/Right rotates the camera in whichever direction you might choose. However, I’ve found that there is not much use for this, since it doesn’t work as well as it should. L + up/down gives you a view of the sky and an overhead view, respectively. R is to block.

While holding L, Up and X, you can aim where you want your shuriken to go. This is extremely hard to pull off though. The targeting system seems somewhat flawed, as most of the time you won’t hit what you’re aiming for.

Jumping from wall to wall seems to be a staple of games with ninja in them nowadays. So is wall running. Sadly, these are aspects Mini Ninja doesn’t perform too well at. Jumping from wall to wall is very tricky and requires careful timing. Wall running is better, but only just slightly.

Fighting is pretty simplistic, and requires nothing more than button mashing. It gets repetitive, but hopefully not too quickly.

Conclusion

Overall, Mini Ninja is a pretty good way to kill time. It keeps things interesting with mini-quests and mini-games. However, one thing to keep in mind is that it’s NOT a fighting game, so if you’re looking for an in-depth fighting game, you’ll more than likely be disappointed.