Gaming Target - Xbox: I-Ninja

Written by Tim Stevens on January 06, 2004

Full Review: The little blue ninja that could.

I-Ninja is a little hard to summarize. It's basically a 3-D platformer, but has plenty of swordplay and other weapons-based combat. It's also littered with mini-games and boss battles, and takes cues from quite a few top-titles. It's a bit of an odd platformer, but a fun one.

In I-Ninja, you control a big headed little blue ninja dude through a series of levels and mini-games to defeat the evil Master O-Dor. Your Sensei tried to stand up against O-Dor, but was captured, then wound up dead after a foiled rescue attempt. Now you must guide Ninja and attempt to collect all the rage stones, which will give him the power to focus his considerable anger and take out O-Dor and all his lackeys.

The game itself plays like an odd blend of Sonic, Ninja Gaiden, Super Monkey Ball, and a bunch of other titles that seemingly don't go well together. This leads to a very eclectic and diverse game. Much of your time will be spent running around hacking and slashing mindless bad guys. Though the controls are simple, there are a number of sword combos and special moves to keep things interesting. Fighting in the midst of a number of bad guys is fairly easy and free flowing, even without any kind of lock-on system.

When you're not fighting you'll often find yourself emulating Sonic, running around on giant roller coaster-like tracks, jogging up and down on half-pipes, and grinding on rails. Then there are the places where you'll be rolling around on giant balls or barrels ala Super Monkey Ball, and you'll also find yourself fighting in a giant robot, manning a turret, and piloting a sub. It's a very odd mix, with each level having nothing to do with the last, and the storyline doing little to tie it all together. The variety is nice, and most levels are quite entertaining, but some are more tedious than fun and really slow the game down.

Levels are organized in a fairly traditional hub fashion, with each one branching off of one of a few hub areas. To open new hubs and levels you must increase your ninja's belt rank. You take a step toward a higher rank each time you complete a level, but before long you'll find that to achieve the rank you need to access the next level you must go back and complete optional objectives in the earlier levels. This means you're basically forced to go through each level twice just to progress through the game, which is a bit annoying.

Graphically I-Ninja doesn't do much to wow anyone. The game has a very simplistic look that makes for a decent style, but it'd be nice to have some eye-candy somewhere. An occasionally lagging frame-rate doesn't help matters. However, the animation of the ninja himself is well done, as he smoothly moves from slashing at one enemy to stabbing another. And, the camera is actually quite good. Sound effects do the job, though the music is generally forgettable.