It’s the classic tale of ninjas vs. zombies with Dojo Danger! Zombies have invaded a ninja dojo and kidnapped the sensei, and now it’s up to a team of ninjas to stop them! Dojo Danger is a unique mix of bumper pool and marbles gameplay (it actually reminds me of an old Capcom Game Boy Color title called Metal Walker), and is available for download for only 99 cents for iOS devices (iPad version reviewed here).

In the game, you view a single screen playfield with round ninjas and zombies scattered about, as well as other obstacles, items, and traps. When it’s your turn, you move each of your ninjas. Tap and hold on a ninja to see its stats, and then pull back and let go with your finger to send the ninja flying and bouncing off walls, like a pool table. If it hits a zombie, you’ll whittle down the opponent’s hit points. Destroy all the zombies in a level to move onto the next. Just watch out, because the zombies will get to bounce and attack you during their turn!

Each stage has a different dojo layout with traps, bumpers, spikes, holes, and more. Bounce into chest to reveal treasure, and hit frozen ninjas in ice cubes to release them and add them to your team. As you play you’ll unlock more units for your battles. Different ninjas have varied abilities. Some can cure your team if they bounce into you, while others can hit zombies from a distance with psychic waves, for instance. You can also win and buy a selection of boosters, items that you drag and drop over your ninjas to heal them and give them other special abilities.

Use your hard earned points to buy more boosters and unlock more ninjas. You can also use real cash to buy items or unlock the zombie campaign where you can be the zombies! You can also try different challenges or battle a friend. While it is a little annoying that you have to use real money to buy some of the items and goodies, for only 99 cents this is a pretty decent little game.

Kid Factor:

Aside from bouncing chubby ninjas into round zombies and spikes, nothing is really too violent in Dojo Danger. Some of the zombies splat guts when defeated, and look kind of gross in an 80’s Madballs kind of way. But other than that I’d be OK with kids playing this. Reading skill is helpful for the tutorials, and some young gamers might get frustrated at the more difficult levels.

Tags: Game Reviews