Review: Ninjatown
In a world of complex and complicated gaming, there are still few games that are even close to being as addictive as the basic “defend your castle” strategy games. I’ve caught myself off guard with these simple, yet mind/soul sucking adventures and have lost countless hours of my life that went by in what seemed to be just a few minutes. This game is no exception. My first play of it took four hours out of my day, and I didn’t even realize it. Click below to jump into the underrated DS title known as Ninjatown!
I can’t imagine a lot of things going wrong in Ninjatown. I am quite sure it is a pretty peaceful place most of the time. I’m sure laundry day can get a little confusing, and one of your friends could mistake your all-black robe for theirs…but hey, who doesn’t make mistakes? Things are peachy and calm…until the ancient volcano explodes unexpectedly and evil is felt throughout the air. This can be caused by none other than Mr. Demon and his fiery demon lackeys. Mr. Demon quickly decides that he wants to destroy Ninjatown, and isn’t going to wait a single second to do it! Ol’ Master Ninja seems to be the elder of the town, and is in charge along with Mr. Mayor Ninja. They need your help building up ninja armies that can defend Ninjatown from Mr. Demon and his evil ways.
The dojos and towers expand the reach and power of your ninjas.
You start out with your regular black ninjas, and your slower, but stronger, anti-ninjas. The game-play is quite simple. Build up and upgrade enough ninja huts to successfully defend your city for each wave of monsters that comes. As the game progresses, the player is able to expand the variety of ninjas in their army to better suit themselves for an oncoming attack of monsters. For instance, if a wave of flying demons is attacking your city, it would be wise to have upgraded “sniper ninjas” guarding the place…as they are one of the only types that can hit flying enemies. There are all sorts of different ninjas that can do different tasks…from snowball wielding white ninjas, to distracting radio-toting business ninjas.
Your screen is set up with the area you are focused on the bottom screen. A map and preview of monsters to come occupies the left of your top screen, and Ol’ Master Ninja rides safetly above on his hot air balloon on the right side. Throughout the game, Ol’ Master Ninja presents you with magic of all kinds to help you get past giant waves of monsters. These powers could be (but not limited to) using wind magic to blow enemies off the screen (blow into the microphone), using a mega-phone to wake up your downed ninjas (yelling into the microphone), or using the power of the sun through a magnifying glass to fry your evil enemies. After each level you play a slot machine that awards you with an item that can help you in your fighting. Items such as “ninja droppings” can be put on the floor to stun enemies with a fragrant smell, or baby ninjas can be laid out for distraction. Although, I’m not sure how I’d feel if someone laid my baby on the ground to distract an evil, sharp-toothed devil.
There can be TONS of characters on the screen at once.
Aside from the ridiculously fun and addictive game-play, the other features of this game are likable as well. The graphics are nothing special, and could use a little extra zing in them, but it isn’t anything I would complain about. The music consists of catchy Asian midi-tunes, and funny sound effects. The ninjas are awesome and adorable looking and the character design was done by Shawnimals…the designers that drew the famous “Domo-kun” character. The controls are easy and fluid, and not choppy like a lot of over-head console RTS games. The game can be difficult though in later levels, so if you don’t have the patience for repetitiveness, then I wouldn’t suggest playing this for more than an hour or two. However, if you’re down for a challenge and don’t mind continuously working on the same thing, it very well rocks!
What We Loved:
- The character design! Everything is so cute in this game.
- Fluid controls and easy to grasp and get into.
- Heavily addictive and time consuming.
- Catchy music, likable characters, good story-line.
What We Didn’t Love:
- The graphics could of been a little flashier.
- Easy to get frustrated if you don’t like repeating things.
- If you want to get things done today, don’t play this game!
All in all, if you own a Nintendo DS, this is a must-buy in my opinion. It can produce countless hours of fun playability and enjoyment. It is low-priced ($24.99 – New, $10.00 – Used), and worth every penny. Good story, good characters, good game-play, good music, decent graphics, an very addictive! I give this game my highest recommendation and hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
1 Comment
I want to play this game, although not liking tower defense games too much.