Mini Ninjas

Ninjas may not have existed in the form we know them from movies and cartoons, but the art of stealth was always the weapon of choice for assassins and spies. Hence, even if they did not dress in cool black outfits or carry shiny shurikens with them, the ninjas definitely existed, albeit in a less cool variant. On the other hand, nothing’s stopping our imagination from crafting much more awesome concepts.

Mini Ninjas is a funny third-person action/adventure game in which you have to play as one of the cute and small stealth warriors known as mini ninjas. They may be smaller than your average warrior, but they are just as quick and maybe even more deadly, thanks to the unique technique they use to defeat the bad guys. Not only that, but they also get to use magic spells and a variety of special abilities.

As far as the story is concerned, there wasn’t any need for a complicated plot, so the developers did not bother to include one either. Hence, you play as Hiro, one of the smallest and most agile ninjas there is. His mission is to find his mates and save the world from a samurai invasion, which turns out to be something even more evil than that, given the fact that the samurais are actually innocent forest animals turned into warriors by a villain.

Although Hiro is the main character, you get to meet other ninjas along the way and play as them whenever you want. In fact, you can switch between warriors in the middle of a fight at the press of a button, which certainly comes in handy. Each of the other characters has a special ability they can use to decimate enemies, although actual spells are possible as well if you find the proper scrolls along the way.

Gameplay-wise, everything moves smoothly, and you can have a blast trying to score combos and fighting the enemy warriors. However, the attack patterns are a bit too fixed and stiff, which means that once you start slashing in a certain direction, you kind of have to wait for the animation to finish before you can do anything else. Thankfully, the graphics and the animations are superbly done, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Although Mini Ninjas has a number of small flaws that might disappoint an avid gamer, the game shines when it is taken as a whole, and the gameplay is fluid enough to be fun all the way to the end. Thus, you can keep yourself entertained for long periods of time thanks to Mini Ninjas, so there’s no reason not to give it a try.