Overview of Mini Ninjas specially for Gamer.ru

Hello, ninja friends! It's been a while since we saw games about ourselves. But nothing can last forever, so meet - Mini Ninjas! A game about ninjas and samurais, katanas and shurikens, smoke bombs and wall jumps, and also about... a chubby guy with a hammer. Who is this chubby guy? You'll find out later, but for now, let's dive into the game itself. I'll start with the visual aspects of this spectacular event.

Attention! The game was tested on maximum graphics settings on the following configuration:

Intel Core2Duo E6550

GeForce 8800 GT 512 Mb vram

2 Gb of RAM.

The very beginning. Apple cores are scattered everywhere.

Chapter One. The Valley of Sakura.

Visually, nothing impresses the imagination. No, the graphics aren't bad, they're just not outstanding. The level design is satisfactory. Leaves, flowers, boxes... it's all there. Scattered animals run around, having been saved. The special effects are peculiar: no one dies here; everyone (namely: the samurais) turns back into various animals. Some into bunnies, some into foxes, and some into frogs. The whole process is discreetly concealed by a puff of smoke. The only downside is when a bunch of enemies "dies" at once - then the whole screen is covered in smoke. But that's just a minor detail. What isn't minor is the rather strange performance. Even when Fraps shows 30-40 frames per second (and I've never seen it lower), the game noticeably stutters. It's uncomfortable. Other than that, there are practically no complaints. Trees sway (if you shake them), bushes do as well (similarly), arrows stick into hats (about which more later) and the ground. The hits are beautifully animated (flashes upon striking), and the spells match the style quite well. The overall style is what you might call "half-anime": it's a cartoon, but it doesn't quite reach anime (and that's just great).

Conclusion: for graphics and style, I would rate it 10/11.

The samurai camp. For now.

Chapter Two. Boxes-Bags

There's not much to say about the interface: Mini Ninjas is not a role-playing game, so there isn't much in terms of interface. Just a few screens: inventory, which also serves as stats, and selecting your hero or item. And there's the "health bar", a mana bar, an endurance bar, an "experience bar", and a "rage bar". Everything in quotes isn’t actually bars. But I can't help but want to call all this with familiar terms... What I really liked was the inventory represented as a scroll that can be scrolled through. But the buttons are not so cheerful. For instance, if the "3" key opens the inventory, only "Esc" closes it. Uncomfortable. Why not create an intuitive system like "open-close with one button"? My next comment relates to the item and hero selection screens. When I saw this circle, I immediately thought: "Crysis". But no. There’s an unnecessary mouse icon in this window. And lastly, I want to ask: why not implement pop-up tips? Having to press F2 every time to learn something about an item is not just inconvenient, it’s downright irrational! Well, there’s nothing else to add; there’s simply not much more to it.

Conclusion: they could have improved the interface a bit. A little more convenient, a little prettier, a little more flashy perhaps. It could have been 11/11. But for now, it’s only 8/11.

There are very few canyons like this in the game.

You have to swim through the water too!

Chapter Three. Let's Sit Together by the Campfire...

The plot is simple. It can't be particularly deep in such a game. This isn’t Braid, it’s a fun, humorous little game. But regarding the story, all I can say (to avoid spoiling the fun of playing) is this:

"Everyone lived together happily until evil arrived. More precisely, not just evil, but Evil. In English, especially with a Chinese accent, it sounds much better: the great and powerful Evil is recruiting its army of minions from... animals. Of course, rabbits aren't meant to fight; Evil turns them into samurais. After their 'death', the samurai turns back into an animal. Then everything is quite straightforward: one brave fellow is sent to defeat evil, followed by another, then a third, and then a fourth... Just like in a story about cheeses. And as you may have guessed, the next brave fellow will be you. The end of the story, the beginning of the game." As mentioned earlier, everything is extremely clear and simple. Do you think you'll fight Evil alone? Not a chance! You'll be accompanied by five more ninjas, including the aforementioned chubby guy.

Conclusion: Mini Ninjas is not a quest, nor a role-playing game. Therefore, no serious plot is required here. Samurai rabbits are more than sufficient—simple and ingenious. 10/11

Our beloved chubby guy!

Enemies? No! Frags!

Chapter Four. Jumping Across the Ledges, Jump, Jump

The gameplay consists of several components: fighting, acrobatic feats, searching for all kinds of junk. Let's examine each of them in more detail.

Fighting. It's as simple as it gets. Grab your trusty katana and go. Strike, strike, jump, here’s a fireball, and you get a lightning strike, let's possess a bear... Gra-Gra! It would be super if it were like that. In reality, it’s much more mundane. No, we can throw fireballs, shoot lightning, and possess bears; the options are plenty. The problem is: none of that is necessary. It’s much easier just to chop everyone up with a sword. However, I personally find the ninja hat to be a fantastic device. Just think about it: it protects from arrows, and it swims at a normal speed. Very stylish and useful. And it doesn’t upset the balance: you can’t fight with the hat on. Overall, it’s worth noting that Mini Ninjas is an overly simple game. Even on maximum difficulty, there are no challenges to be found in combat.

Acrobatic feats. In this regard, the game is reminiscent of Prince of Persia. Wall running, jumping from one wall to another and back (a peculiar lift), climbing across ledges. It’s all present, just enough to not become tedious.

Searching for all kinds of junk. This is where things get trickiest. There’s a lot of junk: flowers (which act as components for potions), coins (money), statuettes, cages with animals, and altars (sources of various spells). While the last ones can be found with the help of specially trained fairies, everything else is discovered exclusively by hand.

And some minor things. These include mini-quests. They are indeed mini: completed quickly, but the rewards are similarly small. At some places, you may encounter merchants who are eager to assist... at a certain cost. You can buy metal pieces, bombs, and potion recipes (not in vain did we collect various herbs!). Also, there’s the option to possess various animals. The only benefit of this is that those rabbits apparently have much sharper eyesight than ninjas, and therefore all useful items glow. Well, that seems to cover the main points.

Conclusion: playing Mini Ninjas is easy and enjoyable. For casual gamers, there are beloved achievements, so there’s plenty to do. I would rate the gameplay 10/11.

Personally, the samurai insignia reminded me very much of the Nazi emblem. And it looks almost the same on red lanterns. And this is not surprising: Evil is indeed bad?

Ninjas are multi-faceted warriors. You need not only to chop enemies but also to climb walls.

Final Chapter. A View of the Valley from Above

Overall, the game succeeded. I don't force anyone; I just suggest: take a look, who knows, you might like it? It’s hard to convey everything I’d like in words, so I’ll try to express my overall impression in the form of a senryu.

Ninja

Spectacular, easy

Chop, slice, jump

Nothing new in the genre

Entertainment

It seems, what success could there be to talk about? Well, you play it yourself, and you’ll understand.

In the company of former samurais.

Final Rating for Mini Ninjas:

Graphics 10/11

Interface 8/11

Story 10/11

Gameplay 10/11

Total 9/11


Written from start to finish by me on a laptop whose keyboard doesn't have Russian letters.