N-Philes

I-Ninja

Posted by Archived.

Let's face it: ninjas are totally sweet. Just having the word "ninja" in the title can increase a product's sales tenfold. Seriously, who would've cared about four mutant teenage turtles if they weren't ninjas? So when a game comes along called I-Ninja (not iNinja, although it would be sweet if he liked Apple products) where you can cut enemies in half and walk on walls, people start to take notice. Throw Don Bluth into the mix and you have one of the sleeper hits of the generation.

Story

The evil Master O-Dor and his army of Ranx soldiers have systematically eradicated virtually all of the ninjas in the land. I know; it's a little far-fetched. True ninjas wouldn't let themselves get killed by robots, but for the purposes of the story we'll go with it. Only one remains, a man named Sensei, sworn to protect the precious Rage stones (a stone that gives massive powers to its wielder) from O-Dor's henchmen. However, Sensei's hot-headed untrained rookie, conveniently named Ninja, gets a hold of one and goes berserk, accidentally killing Sensei in the process. Angry with his young pupil, Sensei sends Ninja on a quest through five worlds and countless levels to destroy O-dor and his minions.

I was eagerly anticipating I-Ninja's cut-scenes simply because they were directed by Don Bluth of Dragon's Lair fame. He also manned the director's seat for the films The Land Before Time, An American Tail, The Secret of NIMH, and Titan A.E. Everything I've ever seen of Bluth's, including All Dogs Go to Heaven, I've enjoyed. The vocal talent is also top-knotch, with Billy West pulling double duty as both Sensei and Ninja. West, while best known to this generation as the lovable Fry on Futurama, has quite an extensive resume, playing Elmer Fudd in all of the recent Looney Tunes films, Stimpy on Ren & Stimpy, and the title character on Doug, just to name a few. All of these pieces fit together magically to create one of the most enjoyable adventures in recent time.

Gameplay

People expect certain things from a ninja game, namely shurikens and sword fighting. Rest assured, there is a ton of stuff to kill. While I would have preferred to fight pirates or evil ninjas, our intrepid hero only faces robots and the occasional dog/dragon thing. Eh. Generally, a preset number of enemies are spawned from floating orbs, which will then fall to the ground after all of the baddies are killed. Perhaps the coolest method of destruction is actually slicing an opponent vertically in half. It is positively sweet. Other battles include going into an area called Manga Space, an ethereal location in which you fight one on one with a large robot while floating in space. It's kind of weird, because you have to use your jet pack to dash towards the enemy, but it's a nice shakeup.

Every world has three levels, where the sole goal is to attain the grade (similar to a Shine in Super Mario Sunshine). Earn enough grades and you advance in your belt color, which then allows you to unlock more levels. It works the exact same way as Super Mario 64, but if the formula ain't broke, why fix it? On the initial go-through of every level, the grade is simply at the end. Each level is incredibly linear, with almost no exploration, save perhaps locating a computer that happens be in plain sight that unlocks a door. This rules, because far too many games have a focus on collection (looking at Banjo-Kazooie), and I really just enjoy games where the entire purpose is just to get to the end, like the classic sidescrollers of old. On the second and third go-arounds of each level, you have to beat it in a certain amount of time or collect all the red coins (all in the path of the level). This helps to keep it fresh, and since you do not go through it a billion times, it keeps the player from getting bored with a level.

To think that I-Ninja is nothing more than a fighting game is simply ludicrous. If anything, it is a platformer with a few ninja elements. A lot of levels will find you jumping across chasms with your handy chain (rope), running along walls like in Prince of Persia, and leaping across moving platforms. In addition to the Manga Space parts, I-Ninja also presents itself as a hodgepodge of different gaming elements. There are a few Sonic-inspired areas where you have to run down a tube while jumping through. Some find your little ninja strapped to a giant ball and you have to maneuver across ledges in some very Super Monkey Ball-esque levels. These are actually some of my favorite because it's like, "Why the hell is this in a ninja game? I don't know, but it's damn fun." That's pretty much the story behind all of I-Ninja. It's quite irreverent, but no task seems out of place, tedious, or so overtly difficult that you want to quit. I would say that the game is short on the whole, but I think that could be because I was so absolutely absorbed in it that I couldn't put it down.

Visuals

I-Ninja's graphics are rather simplistic by today's standards. That's not to say that they are bad, because they aren't; they're just not jaw dropping. They serve their job well enough and draw distance is quite fantastic to say the least. Little rats and bugs pepper background, running around, and all of this looks pretty good. There are quite a few noticeable framerate dips, and they consistently happen in the hub-worlds. Rarely does it occur in actual gameplay situations where you can die, so I pretty much forgive it.

The camera is a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, it follows you quite magnificently and never goes behind walls (like Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time both notoriously did), but on the other, you can only rotate it around your character. There's no zoom in or out feature, which would make the stealth levels a little easier to manage. On top of that, there is no function to center the camera behind Ninja like in countless other adventure titles. So when you're trying to platform jump around things, you also have to toggle the camera to get it how you want it. Barring that, the camera works magnificently well, always automatically finding the perfect angle for when you use a half-pipe or are wall-jumping.

Each world maintains its own distinctive theme, and that follows into its respective levels. For instance, the levels in Jungle Falls feature obstacles like jumping on logs to traverse across a river, platforming from tree to tree, and destroying log barriers with rockets. I can look at a world and know instantly what all of the levels are going to be like. Not since Diddy Kong Racing have I seen themes so richly defined, and it definitely adds to the flair of the entire game.

Audio

The vocal work in this game is second to none. Billy West masterfully plays his part, as does the rest of the cast. You can definitely tell it was not half-assed. The problem with a lot of games is that the main character spouts the same one-liner over and over again, but Ninja has a full library of different things to say, and most of the time he just lets out gutturals, which never get annoying. The soundtrack for this game is also well done. It's kind of a techno-rock beat that fits the quasi-futuristic theme of the game perfectly. Jungle Falls' hubworld features music played by what sounds like water droplets, creating an ironic contrast between childlike innocence and danger lurking in the shadows. I quite enjoy it.

This game gets an N-Philes score of A.

I've played a lot of crap lately, and I-Ninja helped me to realize what I loved about videogames. I don't need a tour-de-force action epic like Final Fantasy or some giant exploration quest to find fulfillment, because most of the time I feel like I'm working to beat the game. What I need is simple, unadulterated fun. Something that I can pick up anytime and think, "Wow, this is awesome," without a whole lot of thinking. That's what made stuff like the original Super Mario Brothers so much damn fun. Games today have gotten so bloody complex with focuses on "deep" combat systems and new innovations that it detracts from the fun. I-Ninja is a great throwback, mixing several different game elements, to create perhaps one of the most enjoyable games I've ever played.

Posted in: Reviews

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