Don't let the cutesy look fool you, this is one game that is worth your DS collection.
. Cute and colorful graphics
. Responsive and easy to learn control
. Highly addictive gameplay, with replay value
. Nice balancing system between all ninjas
. Surprisingly fun multi-player
The Bad:
. Lots of trial and error to be done
. Nothing special is unlocked when getting perfect on all levels
Ninja Town: a quiet, suburban town full of peace and tranquility.... until Mr. Demon attacks to steal the Ninja Cookie recipe, ship all over Shawnimal Land and turn everyone evil! And yes, that is the story in the game. While it my sound very childish and lame, the story is told through the ninjas funny dialogue and nice animated cutscenes.
The gameplay in this game is what really makes this game shine, due to how responsive, how easy and how it utilizes how you should plan each move accordingly to prevail. Most of the (if not all) is done with the touch screen and even with the microphone. While this may look like a fighting game, it's actually a strategy game where you, build, level up and gain new abilities and ninjas. The ninja are 2 types of ninjas with 4 ninjas to choose from in each category; Melee Ninjas and Ranged ninjas. Melee attack any enemy that's on the ground, but can't attack any flying enemies. Ranged ninjas can attack all enemies in the air, but do poorly on ground enemies. Each category has 4 types to choose from: Melee, which are Wee ( invincible from enemy side-effects), Anti ( super strong but very slow) Business ( very fast but weak) and Mountain (can attack multiple enemies at once). And Ranged which are Sniper (Strong against air, but poor against ground enemies), White (slows down enemy, but slow themselves), Forest (incredibly fast, armor piercing but weak attack) and Lava (burns enemies, draining their health but slow). There is also a leveling up system, where you use cookies to upgrade their range and attack up to level 5. You get these by killing enemies. Another important aspect to the game is magic because throughout the game, magic is key to beating this game. You get to blow the wind to move enemies in the direction you want, stop time and level up, burn enemies with a magnifying glass and more. There are also building modifiers and tokens to help boost your ninjas stats or hamper the enemies ability, if close by. There's even a multi-player function in the game, single card and multi card (Single: 3 maps, Multi: 8 maps), which is basically the same as the main game, but instead, you're trying to beat all the enemies on the screen before the opponent does. After each round, the winner gets a token (Baby: slows down enemies, Dropping: drains enemy health, Consultant: speeds ninja attack and movement, Super: stuns nearby enemies) while the loser gets revenge to hamper the winner (steals money, steals magic, destroys ninja home or taking away one life). As you can see, there are alot of gameplay elements, but it's much simpler when you play it.
As for the graphics and presentation, it looks all cute, colorful and somewhat 16-bit. Alot of the 16-bit animation looks really good and the cutscenes are just adorable to watch. While not the best 2-D looking game on the DS, it still looks really good, keeping true to the original look and feel of Shawnimals.
Sound and music wise, I thought alot of the music and sound fitted perfectly and sounded great, even though there isn't a lot of music. Alot of the music definitely sounds Japanese inspired and it's all nice to listen to and catchy. While the sound effects may sound strange or funky, for this type of game, it surely fits.
Overall, this is a really fun game to play and I have fond memories with this game's multi-player since me and my friends use to play this game all the time in seventh grade. Surprisingly enough, this game is quite underrated and is really one of the best DS games I've played. Don't let the look fool you, it's a good game and is a must buy for the DS
Overall score: 8.8/10