Techtite's X-Box Game Reviews

"In the end, to say that I-ninja isn't half bad is to also admit how this bowling- ridden ninja game is only half of what it could have been. However, to see it at its best is to see one of the most amusing Mario-style games I've played all year..."

---from the review

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Sidebar :

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The most lackluster "strategy guide" of 2003...? As a rule, I offer a "you may wish to buy..." link to some games' strategy guides, if I deem the game difficult enough to necessitate a strategy guide for some gamers. Now, if you want said strategy guide for this game, feel free to click on the picture above to order it. However, let me use this "sidebar" commentary to tell you that, IMO, this game's strategy guide is the most disappointing such "guide" I've seen in years. Pictures are irrelevant, and not of areas "important" to completing the level (i.e., where to jump in a jumping puzzle, or a photo of what they're suggesting you do to get that hard-to-reach red coin in the bonus levels). All it tells you is to "jump forward up to reach the next area" half the time. Well, no duh, Sherlock, but...HOW?!? That's what a strategy guide is supposed to offer; strategies. This guide is mostly just filler that could've been easily explained by a standard freebie FAQ file online. Buy it, but only if you're really, really lost in the game!

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Feel free to contribute. As always, review submissions are accepted!

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I-Ninja

Click picture to order this game (X-Box)

A Techtite Review

What if a game company most associated with "T for Teen" or "M for Mature" games, tried to make a Super Mario Clone? The answer lies within the very darkly humorous I-Ninja; a Super Mario clone not unlike a cross between a classic martial arts film and a Tom & Jerry cartoon. If it wasn't for someone wanting you to occasionally stop being a ninja and play a mini-game of bowling --bowling?!?-- this would be another flawless classic by Namco (Soul Calibur 2). Bowling notwithstanding, this is still a very amusing spin of the typical Super-Mario-clone formula.

The story involves, for all intent and purpose, a little ninja person. Your little ninja person begins with basic maneuvers of the sword (think of this as "Sword Calibur Jr."), and later learns to use a few long range weapons as well, like a shuriken or an explosive dart! Said junior ninja is doing all this to defeat the Big Bad of this game; the evil Emperor O-dor. You are assisted in this mission by the ghost of an elderly mentor the hero accidentally killed in the thick of battle. Will defeating O-dor correct this accidental death somehow...? That would be telling, but suffice to say, I liked the ending a lot. The overall story feels very much like a classic martial arts film made into an interactive cartoon...with a mini-game of bowling thrown in.

Bowling...?!?

While level maps aren't anything new, the rewards for completing them are plentiful. Beat the mini-boss at the end of any map (group of levels) and see a cutscene of you releasing a fellow ninja friend in that realm; return to that area, and your "friend" will sell you two optional side challenges. Meanwhile, completion of any one level earns you "grades," which are used to increase your ninja belt status (you need a black belt to defeat the final boss). As for enemies; the game tallies the number of evil ninjas you defeat; if you defeat a certain number of enemies, your sword gets upgraded, and looks different as well! This is an awful lot of rewards as you progress in the game, urging you to keep going on. It also allows for different strategies depending on what you find most important: search for all coins to buy those mini-levels, or take the time to defeat all enemies to up your sword status, or just try to get to the end of all levels, and get that grade for a new ninja belt. It's all up to you.

I also liked the darkly comic humor here. Use your special jump/jump/slash maneuver on an enemy, and see them get sliced right down the middle, leading to a comical animation right out of Tom & Jerry cartoons. They literally freeze and fall to two halves! Sure, the humor of this sight may lose some of its translation in mere text, but considering this is mostly a little ninja cartoon with little ninja people, it is actually very funny...in that classic-cartoon sort of way. After all: these enemies are monsters, and their "insides" are green goo, so rest easy Mom and Dad when your young teens ask for this game. In text it might sound like a parental warning waiting to be affixed, but for anyone used to Warner Bros. style comical humor, it's actually quite funny.

The best feature of the game is "I-rage." Depending on the amount of heavy battles you engage in, your ninja's "rage meter" increases. Let it increase to one-quarter strength for "Ninja Berserk-o" mode, where all damage is doubled. At the halfway point, you can heal from all wounds! The three-quarter point offers a giant "shuriken" that your ninja can ride, plowing into all enemies in his path! Lastly, there is the title sake of the game --I-Ninja!-- where you become invincible while all enemies nearby explode! The game design team put a lot of their effort into this "I-rage" feature, and it shows. It's a great part of the game...unlike bowling.

Bowling...?!?

Yes...bowling. Why bowling? Beats me. I can only envision some diehard fanboy for Atari's Marble Madness arcade game in the 1980's, who just had to place a bowling-style mini arcade game into this Ninja story, even if it had to be dragged in kicking and screaming. As early as the tutorial level, your ninja falls atop a giant ball, and suddenly, it's time for a giant rendition of "I-bowling!" Who wanted to bowl...? I didn't want to bowl. Did you want to bowl...? I'll tell you one thing: I sure didn't pay for a game about NINJAS so I could bowl !!! What's worse: this bowling mini-game is about as good as you'd expect from a game design team more accustomed to fighting games like Tekken 4 and Soul Calibur 2. In other words, it sucks.

Here's the real hoot: among all the "required" (not "bonus") levels, this tutorial level's bowling exercise was the hardest bowling puzzle I had to face in this game! Why? Because it gives you a 40 second --yes, forty seconds-- I-bowling "race" to the finish line, in a course filled with obstacles. Um...guys? Tutorials are supposed to be easy; as in, "simple examples of things that will get harder later on." What is with this stupid I-bowling in the tutorial of the game, when I just barely have to I-bowl at all? All the other I-bowling is, for the most part (and very graciously), relegated to the bonus levels only. This game design faux pas is a shame, because if you can complete this 40-second I-bowling debacle, the rest of the game isn't half bad.

However, is a game that isn't "half bad" worth the price? It is, when it's a Super Mario clone, because half of the game amounts to well over 40 missions, and that is all you'll need to play to reach the admittedly amusing finale. Sure, you can engage in all the "bonus" missions if you want, which range from more  bowling madness, to repeated levels with added challenges (find 10 hidden red coins, kill all possible enemies, a time limit...etc.). However, much like Super Mario 64, you don't have to do any more than you want to. In fact; complete a bonus level or two, and you can avoid nearly all the final levels themselves, and just jump to the final boss early! Sure, if you dare to complete all challenges you'll get a special additional level unlocked blah blah blah, but for the most part, how much of the game you complete is up to you.

In the end, to say that I-ninja isn't half bad is to also admit how this bowling-ridden ninja game is only half of what it could have been. However, to see it at its best is to see one of the most amusing Mario-style games I've played all year. If there is to be a sequel --and I'm sure they're thinking about it-- the only major requirement is to have more of the same ninja elements that make this game so fun. Oh, and if it's not too much to ask: please remember that this is a ninja game, and if memory serves, no ninja movie ever included bowling!

Bowling...?!?!?!?!?

---Techtite