It's a mini adventure…
An Evil Samurai Warlord has returned from 300 years in the wilderness, doing whatever Evil Samurai Warlords do in their spare time (Mahjjong, probably) and begun using sacred Kuji magic to turn cutesy-wutesy animals into his miniature samurai henchmen. The Ninja Master has despatched his best and bravest to stop him, but they've all disappeared – and now it's up to you, his youngest, but most promising pupil, to save the day.
You are Hiro (not the one from TV's Heroes, sadly)
That, in a nutshell, is the story of Mini Ninjas. You are Hiro (not the one from TV's Heroes, sadly), able to bash bad guys with powerful but simple melee moves, inhabit the body of animals, slow down time for a powerful special move where you target enemies then bounce between them like a ping-pong ball with a sword attached, use your oversized hat as a boat or shield, and wield other powerful magic accrued throughout the game.
Of course, our preview already told you all of that. What it didn't do was tell you where Mini Ninjas succeeds, and where any possible sequel may have room for improvement.
The first issue is variety. Mini Ninjas has a lot of it. Levels are large and ripe for exploration, enemies are plentiful, and a lot of them, barring the standard footsoldiers, have different weaknesses that need to be exploited. In fact, you don't even need to fight a lot of them at all if you don't want to – you can run across rooftops, walk along wires between buildings, possess animals, or pull the L Trigger in high grass to sneak past them instead. This sort of open-ended approach is a good thing, and something developer IO Interactive have previously done very well indeed in the Hitman Games.
The downside is that while non-linear, intelligent gameplay is one option, Mini Ninjas also lets you simply leg it across the level, hacking-and-slashing your way through enemy upon enemy until you reach the end of level boss. We're all for choice in games, but here it's so much more effort to take a stealthy or explorative approach that many players simply won't bother – especially kids, at whom the game's colourful cute graphics are obviously aimed.
The lumbering hammer-carrying Futo is with you from the start, able to curl into a ball and roll into enemies Sonic the Hedgehog style
Along his travels Hiro is joined by other Mini Ninjas who each have their own weapons and special abilities. The lumbering hammer-carrying Futo is with you from the start, able to curl into a ball and roll into enemies Sonic the Hedgehog style, and soon after you find Suzume, who can mesmerise samurai with her flute playing, leaving them open for attack. Later on there's claw-swinging Tora, spear-carrying Kuoichi and Shun, who uses a bow. Discovering their specials is a delight, so we won't spoil them for you here, but sufficed to say that being able to switch between six ninjas on-the-fly is novel, and helps to keep the combat fresh.
Again though, it's another attempt at variety that doesn't entirely work, because most players will stick with the versatile and ably-powered Hiro for the majority of the game. It's one more symptom of Mini Ninjas' one big flaw; it feels like IO had a wealth of great ideas, then backed out of implementing them fully, fearing they'd scare off the kid-gamer crowd.
sizable primary-coloured levels to entertain for a good few hours
Still, for kids, Mini Ninjas is going to be a blast. The visuals have that cute, Nickelodeon quality them that makes them ideal for the younger market, and the lack of blood (defeating enemies turns them back into cuddly animals) for such a combat-focused game means parents needn't worry about the message it send to their little ones. There isn't a co-op mode, sadly, and the complex controls might confuse a few at first, but even so there's enough to see and explore in Mini Ninjas' sizable primary-coloured levels to entertain for a good few hours – with end-of-level boss battles, mixing attack-the-weak-spot strategy with reaction-testing QTEs, helping further add to the variety.
And for grown-ups? Mini Ninjas is an inventive little title that's worth a look, so long as you aren't expecting a Mario-beater, or Nickelodeon's answer to Hitman. Go into this expecting the levels of polish found in Eidos' other recent release Batman: Arkham Asylum and you'll be left wanting. If on the other hand you want a good blend of stealth, hack-n-slash and platforming with more charm than challenge, Mini Ninjas will do nicely.
Review by: Mark 'Hiro Today, Shun Tomorrow' Scott
Version Tested: Xbox 360
Published: 11.09.09