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"The Jet Gamer" Game Review: I-Ninja
9 years ago
Back to the PS2 for a little while, but with a cheapo game again of course.
I-Ninja
Well, after so many cheapo Wii games so far this year, let’s try one for the PS2 now. It’s in that same era after all. It would seem we have a game about a ninja, and one that is going to do some platforming. PS2 era platformers seem to do very well and are famous for some certain series as well. Can this game I-Ninja join some of those platformers, or is there a big reason this game was in the bargain bin?
Gameplay
I-Ninja is a standard platformer where the goal of the levels is to just get to the end of the level and collect the grade, an item that your character needs to get better at his martial arts. This doesn’t sound so bad, but the main thing that I think sort of brings this game down is that it can be a bit repetitive at times. I’m going to be mentioning some of these same things in the replayability section, but being repetitive is something you will find often with this game. If you were just playing the levels only doing the main goal on each level, I can see you getting through this game rather quickly. There are four worlds, each with three or four levels, and you don’t even need all the grades to complete the all of the game. Each level has three grades in it. There is the main grade which is just getting to the end of the level, then each level has two out of three possible scenarios for the other two grades. There is collect all the hidden red coins. There is kill a certain number of enemies, and finally, there is the worst one in some cases, beat the clock. I’ll go into a little detail about each type of mission. The main level objective is to always just get to the end of the level. In this, you just do standard platforming, while following the pretty linear path to the end, while slashing wildly at enemies to kill them. Enemies aren’t even that hard for the most part. Many of them you can just slash wildly at them and it will kill them with ease. Some you do have to time your slashes, as some will guard against your attacks, but learning the patters of attack is relatively simple. The fine the red coins mission is the same as the main mission except there are ten red coins hidden in the level now. Most levels have the coins out in the open, but other levels have them hidden in barrels and boxes throughout the level, meaning you have to stop and break them all or else you may end up missing the coins and not getting your grade. Killing all the enemies mission is the same again, except you are tasked with killing all the enemies, so be sure you stop and kill them all before proceeding to the end, and just like in the red coin missions, stop and get close to many of the barrels as enemies do hide in them as well. Then finally, beat the clock. This is a mission where you are tasked with getting to the end of the level as fast as possible before the grade disappears. The thing with these missions is that the game doesn’t do a good job on some levels about balancing the time to do this with. Some levels you end up with thirty or forty seconds left, and others you will just barely complete the mission before time runs out. Some of this may be just be from my own play-style, but really, the beat the clock missions are rather stressful, while the other missions can get a little repetitive due to having to stop to check all the barrels for enemies or coins. Each of these should be pretty self-explanatory, but here is the thing, these are the only missions in the entire game. Each level has two out of three of these and that is it as far as normal gameplay variety. While there is some variety when it comes to the bosses, which is very welcome, you play the normal levels so much that you are honestly going to be begging for some gameplay variety after doing the same missions over and over again, just with different level layouts and locations. These missions aren’t miserable in anyway, it is just I can see this getting old after a while, which it sort of was in a way. This is one of those games when it comes to the gameplay, where the game isn’t really bad in terms of fun of its fun factor, but it just sort of gets old after a while of doing the same thing over and over again. This is basically one of those average platformers when it comes to gameplay where you are doing the same thing over and over again with little variety in between. For those that just want to play a platformer, I can see people enjoying this, as it does have its neat moments, but for the most part, you are going to be doing the same four missions over and over again for over a dozen levels. Yeah, that is going to get a bit old after a while, believe me.
Story
The story of this game is a bit on the pathetic side. While not necessarily bad, it isn’t anything impressive, and honestly is very lacking based on what other platformers have done in the past on this same system. The main concept of the story is that you are a ninja rookie trying to collect these rage stones that will give you great power. However, the first stone accidentally drives you to kill your sensei. Your sensei is now a ghost throughout the game and is there to explain what you need to do to get the stones you seek while still trying to train you into a master ninja if possible. That’s it as far as story. There are really no twists at all. You go to a world. You get the grades. You beat a boss which gives you the stone. Each stone does help out a guardian of the stones who then lets you have the stone and tells you where to find the next one. Other than the little interaction between the guardians between worlds, the story has almost nothing additional added to it. Look, I know this game is more about the gameplay than the story, but a game like this just seems like they got lazy with the story. The worlds are empty, and really it just doesn’t feel like you are in a lively world at all. They really could have put more into the story or had the bad guys actually try and stop you a little harder than just waiting for you to get to them to fight with you. Honestly, I wasn’t impressed at all. While this might have been an interesting concept, there has to be some world building and more thrown in the story other than your ninja is very nutty and he wants to be stronger. I doubt anyone will be impressed either with this game. They just needed to put more into it for the story to be more than just passable.
Graphics
The game doesn’t look that bad at all really. It has that PS2 era look and at times does remind you of the other cartoony platformers of the time. Here is the thing though, as I sort of mentioned in the story section, the worlds are just empty though. While the worlds themselves look nice, they don’t really feel alive or look that alive. Every area you are going to is abandoned and pretty much lifeless. The levels are full of enemies, but that is about it. How can a game actually look pretty nice, but really look a bit lifeless at the same time? They managed to do just that. I know the worlds and levels don’t have to be at the Jak levels where the worlds are full of hustle and bustle, but you could at least add more than environmental looks to the game. There are such things as other inhabitants and a world that looks like it needs to be saved other than just empty, pretty looking landscape. There are some cutscenes in the game, but they are only at the end of worlds as well. They are well animated and do look well done in showing what the ninja and the guardians look like. I just wish there were more of them. This seems to be a running theme for this game. The game isn’t bad, it just feels like they could have added more.
Sound
Average Average Average! Why must everything in this game be so average? The music and voice acting aren’t that much different. The music is most of the time very generic or just generic martial arts music that you would think about when thinking about a stereotypical Japanese ninja. I couldn’t tell you much about the music other than that most of the time. The music is honestly just that bland. The voice acting isn’t that bad, as the ninja is voiced by the guy who did Stimpy the cat from that old nicktoon. I knew I recognized his voice when I first heard it, but I had to look it up to remember who he was. Still, even the interesting voice acting can’t really save the sound that much. The ninja just needs to be given more or better lines, and the other characters need to time more as well. As I mentioned before, the story could use some expanding upon, thus, because the story is lacking the sound could include more voice acting at the same time.
Control
The controls are one of the areas of this game where it honestly isn’t that bad. Your ninja does for the most part jump and land where you want him to land and swing when you want him to swing. While there are some areas where the ninja can sort of be tricky to control, for the most part, he does what you want him to do. The only times I had any complaints about the controls were in very fast pace areas where you need to do some precision dodging in order to not take a hit. In those areas the camera can sometimes result in you taking hits from long distant attacks. The camera is really the only thing that can be finicky at times. As I mentioned, the ninja does what you want him to do most of the time. The camera though can easily get stuck on the environment itself. It is almost like in Mario 64 where it is like someone is recording this and they can get stuck on the walls to where you can’t turn the camera all the way around to see where you are needing to go or what is behind you. Other than this, the controls are actually fine to me.
Replay Value
The replay value is rather lacking here as well. As I mentioned above, there are really only four types of missions in this game and you will be seeing those same missions types over and over and over again as you play this game. With little variety in the levels, the motivation to play this game again is going to be rather low. The main thing that gives some replayability is trying to get all the grades to get a hundred percent in the game. It really isn’t worth it though as I did do it myself. All you get is a battle arena where you get to fight all the enemies in the game one after the other. Yeah, that’s not really great motivation to perfect this game other than once. For those that want to replay it, this seems like one of those games again that you pick up once in a blue moon to play maybe compared to some of the other better paltformers that were available on the PS2. There is some replayability here if you don’t mind the hunt for one hundred percent, but as for a full replay of the entire game, there is very little appeal here. Just beat it once, and then shelve it for the long run.
Overall, while there is nothing really wrong with I-Ninja, It comes across as a honestly very average and sometimes dull platformer. If you just want a platformer to play, then go and pick this up as it will be a chance for the norm for sure. However, due to some of the boredom this game and the repetitive nature of the missions, I can see this game getting old very fast. For those that enjoy a good platformer though, I would give this a try at the very least. For those that are looking for something along the lines of the Ratchet, Jak or Sly series though, I would look elsewhere. This is just another average platformer for your library. Enjoy!
Overall, in my opinion at least, I give I-Ninja a six out of ten.
Gameplay: 6
Story: 4
Graphics: 7
Sound: 6
Control: 8
Replay Value: 5
Overall: 6
I-Ninja
Well, after so many cheapo Wii games so far this year, let’s try one for the PS2 now. It’s in that same era after all. It would seem we have a game about a ninja, and one that is going to do some platforming. PS2 era platformers seem to do very well and are famous for some certain series as well. Can this game I-Ninja join some of those platformers, or is there a big reason this game was in the bargain bin?
Gameplay
I-Ninja is a standard platformer where the goal of the levels is to just get to the end of the level and collect the grade, an item that your character needs to get better at his martial arts. This doesn’t sound so bad, but the main thing that I think sort of brings this game down is that it can be a bit repetitive at times. I’m going to be mentioning some of these same things in the replayability section, but being repetitive is something you will find often with this game. If you were just playing the levels only doing the main goal on each level, I can see you getting through this game rather quickly. There are four worlds, each with three or four levels, and you don’t even need all the grades to complete the all of the game. Each level has three grades in it. There is the main grade which is just getting to the end of the level, then each level has two out of three possible scenarios for the other two grades. There is collect all the hidden red coins. There is kill a certain number of enemies, and finally, there is the worst one in some cases, beat the clock. I’ll go into a little detail about each type of mission. The main level objective is to always just get to the end of the level. In this, you just do standard platforming, while following the pretty linear path to the end, while slashing wildly at enemies to kill them. Enemies aren’t even that hard for the most part. Many of them you can just slash wildly at them and it will kill them with ease. Some you do have to time your slashes, as some will guard against your attacks, but learning the patters of attack is relatively simple. The fine the red coins mission is the same as the main mission except there are ten red coins hidden in the level now. Most levels have the coins out in the open, but other levels have them hidden in barrels and boxes throughout the level, meaning you have to stop and break them all or else you may end up missing the coins and not getting your grade. Killing all the enemies mission is the same again, except you are tasked with killing all the enemies, so be sure you stop and kill them all before proceeding to the end, and just like in the red coin missions, stop and get close to many of the barrels as enemies do hide in them as well. Then finally, beat the clock. This is a mission where you are tasked with getting to the end of the level as fast as possible before the grade disappears. The thing with these missions is that the game doesn’t do a good job on some levels about balancing the time to do this with. Some levels you end up with thirty or forty seconds left, and others you will just barely complete the mission before time runs out. Some of this may be just be from my own play-style, but really, the beat the clock missions are rather stressful, while the other missions can get a little repetitive due to having to stop to check all the barrels for enemies or coins. Each of these should be pretty self-explanatory, but here is the thing, these are the only missions in the entire game. Each level has two out of three of these and that is it as far as normal gameplay variety. While there is some variety when it comes to the bosses, which is very welcome, you play the normal levels so much that you are honestly going to be begging for some gameplay variety after doing the same missions over and over again, just with different level layouts and locations. These missions aren’t miserable in anyway, it is just I can see this getting old after a while, which it sort of was in a way. This is one of those games when it comes to the gameplay, where the game isn’t really bad in terms of fun of its fun factor, but it just sort of gets old after a while of doing the same thing over and over again. This is basically one of those average platformers when it comes to gameplay where you are doing the same thing over and over again with little variety in between. For those that just want to play a platformer, I can see people enjoying this, as it does have its neat moments, but for the most part, you are going to be doing the same four missions over and over again for over a dozen levels. Yeah, that is going to get a bit old after a while, believe me.
Story
The story of this game is a bit on the pathetic side. While not necessarily bad, it isn’t anything impressive, and honestly is very lacking based on what other platformers have done in the past on this same system. The main concept of the story is that you are a ninja rookie trying to collect these rage stones that will give you great power. However, the first stone accidentally drives you to kill your sensei. Your sensei is now a ghost throughout the game and is there to explain what you need to do to get the stones you seek while still trying to train you into a master ninja if possible. That’s it as far as story. There are really no twists at all. You go to a world. You get the grades. You beat a boss which gives you the stone. Each stone does help out a guardian of the stones who then lets you have the stone and tells you where to find the next one. Other than the little interaction between the guardians between worlds, the story has almost nothing additional added to it. Look, I know this game is more about the gameplay than the story, but a game like this just seems like they got lazy with the story. The worlds are empty, and really it just doesn’t feel like you are in a lively world at all. They really could have put more into the story or had the bad guys actually try and stop you a little harder than just waiting for you to get to them to fight with you. Honestly, I wasn’t impressed at all. While this might have been an interesting concept, there has to be some world building and more thrown in the story other than your ninja is very nutty and he wants to be stronger. I doubt anyone will be impressed either with this game. They just needed to put more into it for the story to be more than just passable.
Graphics
The game doesn’t look that bad at all really. It has that PS2 era look and at times does remind you of the other cartoony platformers of the time. Here is the thing though, as I sort of mentioned in the story section, the worlds are just empty though. While the worlds themselves look nice, they don’t really feel alive or look that alive. Every area you are going to is abandoned and pretty much lifeless. The levels are full of enemies, but that is about it. How can a game actually look pretty nice, but really look a bit lifeless at the same time? They managed to do just that. I know the worlds and levels don’t have to be at the Jak levels where the worlds are full of hustle and bustle, but you could at least add more than environmental looks to the game. There are such things as other inhabitants and a world that looks like it needs to be saved other than just empty, pretty looking landscape. There are some cutscenes in the game, but they are only at the end of worlds as well. They are well animated and do look well done in showing what the ninja and the guardians look like. I just wish there were more of them. This seems to be a running theme for this game. The game isn’t bad, it just feels like they could have added more.
Sound
Average Average Average! Why must everything in this game be so average? The music and voice acting aren’t that much different. The music is most of the time very generic or just generic martial arts music that you would think about when thinking about a stereotypical Japanese ninja. I couldn’t tell you much about the music other than that most of the time. The music is honestly just that bland. The voice acting isn’t that bad, as the ninja is voiced by the guy who did Stimpy the cat from that old nicktoon. I knew I recognized his voice when I first heard it, but I had to look it up to remember who he was. Still, even the interesting voice acting can’t really save the sound that much. The ninja just needs to be given more or better lines, and the other characters need to time more as well. As I mentioned before, the story could use some expanding upon, thus, because the story is lacking the sound could include more voice acting at the same time.
Control
The controls are one of the areas of this game where it honestly isn’t that bad. Your ninja does for the most part jump and land where you want him to land and swing when you want him to swing. While there are some areas where the ninja can sort of be tricky to control, for the most part, he does what you want him to do. The only times I had any complaints about the controls were in very fast pace areas where you need to do some precision dodging in order to not take a hit. In those areas the camera can sometimes result in you taking hits from long distant attacks. The camera is really the only thing that can be finicky at times. As I mentioned, the ninja does what you want him to do most of the time. The camera though can easily get stuck on the environment itself. It is almost like in Mario 64 where it is like someone is recording this and they can get stuck on the walls to where you can’t turn the camera all the way around to see where you are needing to go or what is behind you. Other than this, the controls are actually fine to me.
Replay Value
The replay value is rather lacking here as well. As I mentioned above, there are really only four types of missions in this game and you will be seeing those same missions types over and over and over again as you play this game. With little variety in the levels, the motivation to play this game again is going to be rather low. The main thing that gives some replayability is trying to get all the grades to get a hundred percent in the game. It really isn’t worth it though as I did do it myself. All you get is a battle arena where you get to fight all the enemies in the game one after the other. Yeah, that’s not really great motivation to perfect this game other than once. For those that want to replay it, this seems like one of those games again that you pick up once in a blue moon to play maybe compared to some of the other better paltformers that were available on the PS2. There is some replayability here if you don’t mind the hunt for one hundred percent, but as for a full replay of the entire game, there is very little appeal here. Just beat it once, and then shelve it for the long run.
Overall, while there is nothing really wrong with I-Ninja, It comes across as a honestly very average and sometimes dull platformer. If you just want a platformer to play, then go and pick this up as it will be a chance for the norm for sure. However, due to some of the boredom this game and the repetitive nature of the missions, I can see this game getting old very fast. For those that enjoy a good platformer though, I would give this a try at the very least. For those that are looking for something along the lines of the Ratchet, Jak or Sly series though, I would look elsewhere. This is just another average platformer for your library. Enjoy!
Overall, in my opinion at least, I give I-Ninja a six out of ten.
Gameplay: 6
Story: 4
Graphics: 7
Sound: 6
Control: 8
Replay Value: 5
Overall: 6
