Ninja Reflex - 6.25/10
Ninja Reflex
Hey wait, why isn't this on WiiWare?
By Matt Kelly
Okay, so typically when we review a game its a fairly lengthy process, and depending on the title we'll be there for a while, especially if its insanely feature packed or a lengthy campaign or uh.... it's just plain addictive. So normally you have to set aside some time. Which is what I did on Monday in the afternoon with Ninja Reflex. Prepared for the epic ninja training extravaganza, I got into it and for the most part the game is pretty fun. The only problem was barely a couple of hours had passed by the game was already back out of the Wii and in its case. Not because it's bad, but just there is basically not a whole lot of gameplay in it. Welcome to Ninja Reflex, the short but enjoyable experience.
Ninja Reflex is a mixture of the Brain Training concept meets something like Warioware. The idea and vague basis of personal training is there but with an action element to it. You're a brand new student training with your Master to become a highly ranked Ninja. The training process is broken into six games, shuriken throwing, catching flies with chop sticks, catching koi from a pond, catching fireflies, and some nunchaku and katana action. And all of these work really well except for the Katana training which has a few control issues. Take koi catching for example, where you have to catch a fish out of the pond with your virtual hand, but too much sudden movement will scare it and you must grab it when it surfaces briefly. It's a well designed mini game and fairly entertaining, or maybe shuriken throwing is more your thing. Track the targets, lock onto them with the B button and flick the remote to send a shuriken flying. All in all most of the games are well designed but the fact is there's only six of them. As mentioned though the Katana mode does have some issues with recognizing gestures with where you're blocking. You'll have an oni (Japanese demon and kick ass pre-Halo Bungie game) charge at you and the game will give you a prompt on how to block. However the recognition of these moves isn't really that great, and can be a bit frustrating. Katana aside the rest work pretty well, and on an interesting note the DS version of the game has the exact same problem with the same mode.
In terms of any kind of basis to the idea of training once a day, it's like Brain Training, chances are if you drill yourself with the same tasks daily you will become faster and more graceful with them. Just don't go trying to fight the local police force with a Katana. Your progression through the game is measured in belt rankings (surprised?), which are acquired through belt tests. And to get to those you must complete a certain number of the training tasks each rank. Again the game progression has a lack of depth but serves the job for what it is.
Meditation is an interesting mode, though Ninja Reflex isn't the first game to incorporate an inactive relaxation experience. You've got two modes, one which will give you meditation steps in a wise old Japanese man voice, and the other where you can set a time limit to meditate during. While you will probably get more out of going down to your local community center and signing up for a program there, it's something different with some semi-decent breathing exercises.
All of the games do come with variations on the core concept, like catch a particular kind of fish or take out three of the same kind of target. It really makes you cringe in a way that this is on disc because Ninja Reflex would have been perfect for the WiiWare service. There's a large amount of voice work in the game which may have pushed it over the size limit but beyond that, Ninja Reflex is that perfect little game you get as DLC. Sadly it's packaged and asks for budget price dollars. It's a shame really.
On the A/V front Ninja Reflex passes. There isn't a whole lot to look at beyond the environments and the occasion character, but all are done with enough pop to make it good enough for the background of your Ninja adventure. The biggest flaw in the graphics, like the gameplay, is just variety. It would have been nice to have a few more locations even if it was just cosmetic.
Audio does do a bit better than graphics just due to the volume of dialogue from your Master. While so many of his words of wisdom are the same stuff that gets used in every commercial venture to give it a quasi spiritual edge, it's still nice to not have to deal with the same lines again and again and certainly dulls the feeling of repetition. The game also features are selection of 'Hey look, Japanese stuff!' type music but it's more ambient than anything else.
Summary:
Ninja Reflex is solid but suffers from repetition and lack of variety. Pick it up if you want something a tad different but don't feel the urge to rush out and grab it at full price. Had this been a downloadable title it would have been very impressive.
Gameplay - 6.0
Games are well designed with the odd control issue, but there's just not enough for the price you pay.
Graphics - 7.0
Serve their purpose but aren't mind blowing or particularly varied.
Sound - 7.5
The extensive dialogue is nice but the whole audio experience is very cliche.
Replay - 5.5
Unless you get into it hard core, there just isn't enough in it to keep repetitive play interesting.
Overall 6.25
Your Ninja Reflex training is designed well and look pretty, just expect to leave the village on a quest else where shortly after your training is complete.
Submitted by Robtot
06/05/2008
797
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