Ninjamurai is a 2-D sidescrolling platformer PS Mini game that you can play on the PSP or PS3. It’s very similar to classic titles such as Shinobi or Ninja Gaiden. Play as a warrior who can’t decide if he’s a ninja or samurai (I’d say mostly ninja) as he single-handedly thwarts the evil Black Armor group.

Your character has tons of moves at his disposal that are easy to execute. He can run and jump as quick as the wind (maybe a little too quick), as well as slide down ledges and wall jump. He can also slash enemies with his sword and throw a limited supply of kunai knives at long distance enemies.

You can switch from two different stances to help you bypass obstacles and enemies. Use the normal stance when you need to run and jump. When you switch to attack stance, you can perform better combos with your sword to defeat enemies, but you can’t double jump. You can also turn translucent in Stealth Mode by pressing the triangle button to safely bypass enemies. Both Attack Mode and Stealth Mode drain your Chakra meter, and you won’t be able to use those anymore when it’s empty. Pick up special icons to refill it as well as your health.

Your character moves very fast, giving you the choice to dash through the stages quickly, or more leisurely to defeat all enemies and find all the hidden secrets. The game rewards both methods of play. But the main problem with the game is the play control feels a little loose. You’ll spend more time wrestling with the character’s speed, and the many blind jumps and run-ins with enemies and spikes don’t help matters either.

The only other problem is the game feels a little amateurish, like some Xbox LIVE indie games. Defeated enemies, bosses, and even your character just disappear abruptly without a single animation, just a muffled “Urgh.” Plus you never know where the level ends, it just pops up suddenly that you completed a stage. Maybe they were going for the classic 16-bit style, but even those kinds of games had better graphics than this. But Ninjamurai IS a PS Mini title, so you can’t expect too much out of it and luckily it won’t cost you hardly anything. If you’re craving some old-school ninja action, you can’t stand to lose too much by giving this one a try.

Kid Factor:

Ninjamurai is rated T for Teen with ESRB descriptors of Blood and Violence. Sure you hit enemies with your sword and throwing knives, but they just flash and disappear when hit and defeated, so it’s not very graphic at all. When you kill an enemy, sometimes you can see a little non-animated splat that might be blood, but it really looks more like plastic barf. So yeah, I’d be OK with kids younger than teens playing this. Reading skill is helpful for the text instructions, and some younger players and less experienced gamers might get frustrated at the loose controls and old-school difficulty.

Tags: Game Reviews