Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nice playability, challenging enough, funny, July 20, 2004
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
I purchased this game mostly on a gut feeling that it was going to be fun. I found the pudgy ninja character to be hilariously looking, and the screenshots made the game look varied and creative as well. If I were to follow the "picky" reviewers I would've never enjoyed what I consider today an excellent action title.
The Game:
You start out as a white-belt ninja. There are five worlds to be visited (no spoiler here, it is in the instruction booklet). Each world has an x amount of stages. You earn grades by completing each stage. A certain amount of grades are required to reach a higher level belt (yellow, green, blue, red and black). There are different katana (sword) levels, earned by defeating enemy ninjas in combat (chickening out will not get you powerful swords). The katana is not the only weapon, there are also shurikens (bladed throwing stars) and explosive darts. Your character also builds up rage abilities in combat. There are four rage abilities (Berserka, Revive, Ninja Shuriken and I-Ninja) activated by you in different combat situations. You also collect coinage on every stage by defeating enemies, opening crates or walking to hidden spots. Coinage gives you the ability to play additional challenge levels called "bonus tests" and earn additional grades.
About winning:
Let's make something clear about the difference between winning this game and obsessively-compulsively completing the game 100%
To win the game you have to complete enough stages to earn a black belt and defeat Master O-dor.
You also have the choice of completing the game 100% (earn every grade including the ninja master grade and unlock a secret battle arena)
I admit that in order to earn a black belt you will have to visit some stages (not all of them) two and sometimes even three times, but what other reviewers haven't mentioned is that the additional stage missions are slightly different. For instance, an alternate mission on a given stage could be time-limited, or maybe you are required to collect red coinage, etc. Another important aspect not mentioned is that you don't necessarily need to repeat the stage immediately; you can wait until later to go back to the additional stages and by the time you do that it will be like you've never visited them before.
The stages are creatively designed, you'll always see the Ranx foot soldiers (enemy ninjas) scattered all around, but there's always something new to challenge you. Sometimes you even take the part of a giant rolling ball (reminded me of Marble Madness and Monkey Ball) among other things.
5 stars for an extremely entertaining, fairly challenging, playable and graphically charming game.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Game for Early Gamers!!, March 9, 2004
I-Ninja is one of those games like Banjo Kazooie and Crash Bandicoot that could be a verry good mascot for the X-Box system due to its very rich enviroments and easy game play, it is also a great game for thos little kiddies that ya dont really want to play Resident Evil. The game is captivating in that the game play changes through out, from driving a mamoth robot to shooting turrets and the ability to upgrade your belt and swords make the game much more entertaining to see how fast you can get to be the best! I very much enjoyed this game but wouldnt play it much as it should be played by those in the age range of 5-12 years old. I hope to see a sequil in the future.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Tiny Swordsman, June 21, 2004
I-Ninja is a platformer game for the XBOX. You run around levels collecting money and killing bad guys (who also happen to be ninjas.) The levels have a futuristic design, with robots, computers, traps and lasers. Your character is a pint-sized ninja who does, flips, walks on walls, slashes with his tiny sword, swings across gaps, and grinds on rails. When you fight bad guys, your rage meter fills up until you go into hyper mode. In hyper mode you are very agile and your sword slashes are more powerful. You can gain new abilities and upgrade to bigger swords. Slicing enemies with your sword is fun and done tastefully enough so that younger crowds can enjoy. The main problem is repetition with the game because if you don't have enough belts you cannot enter the next level. So you need to repeat the same levels to gain more belts for level access.Pros:
+excellent controls
+excellent graphics
+combo moves
+does ninja moves
+cool levels
+good music Cons:
-very repetative -levels very short
-very linear gameplay
-timed missions sucked
-no replay value
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