Mini Ninjas is NOT A KIDDY GAME (rant)

I go on rants rarely. But sometimes a game comes, people have misconceptions about, and I need to get things off my chest.

I've seen some people poo-pooing on the Mini Ninjas demo,because it looks kiddy.It doesn't have depth. The combat doesn't have gratuitous violence to stimulate the teenagers.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

This game has more depth than all the recent action adventure games combined. The game is chock full of mechanics! So, let me list out a few. I go to 12.

1. Change into 3 characters. If you change into the girl, her idle animation is her singing a song with her flute!

2. Spirit-jack animals. This I used A LOT for stealth, when grass wasn't there. The care and attention put into each animals is unexpected; like the chicken squawking if you press the jump button!

3. Fishing! I had no idea this was in here. Very Zelda-esque.

4. Finding plants and flowers. Now, I couldn't make ingredients yet, but I'm excited about it in the full game.

5. Hidden magic shrines. Using the butterflies to locate them, and find a completely new part of the world when you're rowing in the water and go through waterfalls into a very secluded area. It was exploration for the win!

6. The charged-up power attack was very cool, made me feel like a badass ninja. I even leveled it up to 3.

7. Doing the fetch quest for the crow, so he gives you 3 power attacks! Very handy in the battles where you want to surprise them.

8. SHOPPING! You can go and shop for items and healing potions and weapons, if you're low in supply.

9. Going from stealth to combat to stealth was very easy and intuitive. I'm a very stealthy gamer, and I'm glad the game's AI allows for such a play-sty.le where you can do surprise attacks on enemies.

10. Surprise attacks! Stealth one-hit kills, Fireballs, lightning, the power attack, Fujo's big roll, pepper bombs, caltrops. I used them all in different situations, like the caltrops I used in the place where the boar is. Pepper bombs are excellent if you want a whole area affected, so whenever new samurai arrive there, they'll be stunned. It's kind of like a temporary mine XD

11. Open world. Atmosphere is great, like when you hear the music change ambient as you come across the shop guy. The demo is huge, I probably spent 90 minutes with it. Great level design. Fishing for Sushi. Exploring every nook and cranny. Like the hidden magic shrines. Like the part where you do WALL-JUMPING.Like shaking the trees for healing items.

12. Combat. It's not about combos. But it's very sandbox-y much likePROTOTYPE. You have lots of abilities at your disposal. You have 3 characters to switch between. You have power attacks, jump attacks, then the red power attacks, shurikens, fireballs, lightning storm. Before full-blown combat, you also have the "surprise attacks" mentioned on point 9 above. The great thing? Very easy to switch between all these because of the RB analog wheel. I love wheel systems in games likePROTOTYPEorCHRONICLES OF RIDDICK. They're making full use of being a console game.

In conclusion, there are so many mechanics here to get into that add to the variety of the game. It's IO Interactive going back to theirHitmanroots of having many mechanics to allow choice to the player. And the gorgeous art sty.le never gets me bored. This game has personality and charm, that is absent in most AAA blockbuster titles. It reminds of me the last-gen PS2 era of action-adventure games like Jak, Ratchet, Spyro, etc.

The problem with most "core" gamers and this game would be: it looks KIDDY. Yes, kiddy in terms of art sty.le and lack of gratuitous violence or sex or gore. But NOT KIDDY in terms of gameplay and depth. Great level design, variety, open world,Hitman-like gameplay, art sty.le atmosphere. And this is all just from my impressions of THE DEMO! I'm amazed how much attention to detail IO has put in this game, considering everyone is just clamoring forHitman 5or just sequels to their other great franchises.Stop waiting for the next Zelda, it's already here. And it's all about cute ninjas.

I know, Mini Ninja's kicksass, I had so much fun playing the demo, it was like a crazy throw back to Wind Waker.

What kind of ticked me off is the demo didn't look fluid or pretty on my ps3. Apart from that i liked the demo.

I played the PC demo, and I loved it.

It's one of those games that is supposed to appeal to all ages. So yes, of course it's child-friendly, but by no means is it child-exclusive.

I was surprised by how deep it actually is. I love the art-styIe. The combat didn't really blow me away and the use of magic is pretty unintuitive. Overall, I enjoyed the demo quite a bit. It's not a full-price purchase for me, but I'll get it someday for sure.

I understand you andyour rant TC.

I've seen some people who don't buy games just because it doesn't having hijacking cars and loads of blood.

i did like the demo except the part where ur in ur hat/boat becuz it didnt control well and i do like the artstyle and gameplay. however when you make NINJAs all little and deformed looking thats funny enough as it is but wen u make them act silly and dum its kinda overkill thats why this game is kiddy in my opinion. not because of the art or gameplay, but becauseit have a giant deformed samurai that uses farts as an attack for a boss. maybe ill pick this game up once its like $20 though

Eh, played the demo, it was nothing impressive. I'll stick to Ninja Gaiden for my ninja game