Posted by Ryan Johnson on 09 19, 2010

Ninja Wars

Categories: Games, | 0 comments | |

Ninja Wars is a 2D slash ‘em game filled with throwing stars, samurai swords, somersault jumps, lots of enemies and killer bosses. From the outside looking in it seems it has everything you’d ever want in a ninja battle game. So why didn’t it get a perfect rating? Well, even with all the proper assets, Ninja Wars lacks responsiveness, combo moves, and engaging game-play.

Created by Goldfish, Ninja Wars offers everything aesthetically that we’ve come to expect out of ninja games. It has a nice variety of bad guys that gang up on you at every pass. You’ve got to fend of your attackers from in front and behind, invoking your shield to block their blows at the proper time and busting out your samurai sword to slash them until their blood runs cold. Enemies begin their attack from afar by tossing throwing stars. You must bob and weave your way around incoming fire as you strategically position yourself to vanquish your enemies.

Levels are played from left to right and for the most part are pretty short. If you survive the first 2-3 waves of enemies you’ll likely cruise your way to the finish. Most levels end rather uneventfully unless they include a boss. Levels that include bosses more or less become a maylay of fighting as you must fight the boss and waves of enemies at the same time. For me personally I found the game-play to be quite monotonous and even when bosses were added it wasn’t very engaging.

In this game you can move upward and downward as well as forward and backward. You can jump, flail your sword, and toss throwing stars. Unfortunately, I don’t feel like that’s enough action to make the game fun. I desperately would love to be able to mix in some kicks and punches, and perhaps be able to leap over enemies. Unfortunately the maneuvering in the game feels very limited and restrictive and for that reason it makes the game feel like more of the same, regardless of how far you advance in the game.

There is a taste of upgradeability in Ninja Wars. You can earn additional skills, and can upgrade some of your weapons, but to be honest none of these really enhance the game very much. I’m one of the biggest fans of ninja games but to me Ninja Wars is lacking fun factor. I’d find Ninja Wars much more entertaining if the responsiveness and variety of movements was enhanced. The ability to mix up moves with kicks, punches, sword combos, and more would make it much more engaging. The other area that would help improve the overall feel of the game would be addressing the menus. Currently the game has a very broken up feel. The setup process for the game is a little awkward and the in-game menus seem out of place. I like the overall idea of Ninja Wars, but for me personally, it’s not one I plan to keep playing.

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