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Ninja Reflex: Steamworks Edition
Nunchuck Games, Electronic Arts
Game details:
Release Date: Mar 21, 2008
Genre: Action
ESRB: Everyone 10+
Platforms: PC, Wii, DS
In this world full of high action tactical or untactical FPS games, it is hard to glimpse but a shadow of the light of popularity. As such, it's damn hard for an unanticipated and unknown game to make it to the scene in success. Ninja Reflex is such a game. After having been released on the Wii and Nintendo DS last month, it hasn't gathered good reviews, nor a great number of fans, simply because of the poor controls. Yet now, Steam and Nunchuck Games have released a bit of a revamped version of the game, solely for the PC: Ninja Reflex: Steamworks Edition.
About the game
The objective in the game is to become a Ninja Gamer, and what it actually does all the time is test your reflexes, as well as honing them in a suite of six minigames, each different and fun in it's own right. All of them are reflex based, and most of them even show you your reaction time when you do something. Being also a Ninja game, it hones your skills ninja style, with actions ranging from catching fish with bare hands out of a pond to catching flies with chopsticks. Everything in between is really fun too, like using a nunchuck to break things thrown by your sensei at you, killing inner demons with your trusty katana, catching fireflies in the night and even throwing shuriken at other ninja...targets. Everything is directed by your sensei, whose name remains uncovered. The voice-acting is perfect for the game, as your sensei actually calls you by your name (which is chosen from a predefined list), and has a nice pleasant Confucius style speech, yet is very corigible.
What do I have to do, sensei?
You, as a ninja learner, must do what your sensei tells you, namely get 5 gems from completing all the different minigame challenges, then pass a belt test made out of 3 tests at random disciplines. You progress by getting the next rank symbolized by your belt in the process of which you unlock new names and some other challenges. You can get all the belts between the white (newbie) to the black third degree (sempai or master), and each challenge gets different depending on the belt you have.
Controls - Sensei, what does this button do?
All the minigame controls are tied tightly to the mouse, and you cannot change them at all (not that you actually need to). Most games have them suited, but one of them feels awkward. In the Katana minigame, when attacked from the upside, you have to press both the left and right mouse buttons at the same time. Even when your timing is perfect, there is still a bit of a lag between the action of pressing the buttons and the reaction to raise the sword. When attacked from the left, you have to press the left one and in the same way for the right. Even though it is well intended (you use both arms muscles to parry and upside blow), the 2 button parry is a bit misleading, and slow. All others might seem a bit awkward at first, the nunchuck most, because you have to move the mouse in a figure of 8, but after some 20 minutes of playing you will get the hang of it.
Graphics - I think I don't need these glasses, sensei.
The graphics look really well, considering the minigame nature of the game. It makes use of pixel shaders and nice dynamic shadows from torches, and the atmosphere is really out of the Shogun movies or Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. It really has the feel of a dojo. Although the only speaking character is the sensei, you don't really feel the need for any other, as you, as a ninja, shouldn't know anyone else. The textures look great, and the foggy forest really gives you the creeps and make you wait in anticipation and a bit of fear the demons within. The setting of all the minigames look great, and most of them, if not all, are dotted with easter eggs from Valve games, like having the half life lambda symbol on the glove when catching koi fish. Everything is lush, and calm, and you even have a meditation screen, which you get if you want to have a guided meditation or a silent one. This is one of those ideas I haven't seen in any other game. This game makes use of the voice of the sensei to guide you in a state of meditation and relaxation, because, as he puts it, "a tight muscle can strain no more, but a relaxed muscle can move like thunder" (or something).
Why it is not easy to be a ninja
Everything is structured on the belt system, and the higher you are in rank, the trickier the minigames and challenges are. The flies in fly plucking get ever faster or colour coded, , the firefly catching make them appear faster or in greater numbers, sensei throws stuff faster at you in nunchuck mode, and he camouflages them with decoys, the demons get faster and harder to block hits from (and you get giant demons which attack several times before you get your turn), the fish get faster in koi catching, and the targets get faster and more geisha targets inbetween which you don't have to hit in shuriken mode. The only mode which stays the same is Meditation, which you should attend to in order to calm your spirits if you get too frustrated.
Multi-ninja!
The game also features multiplayer, in which you get to play with one to three friends on the same computer plucking koi out of the water, hitting stuff with nunchucks or killing demons alternatively, on a point-based style. All challenges are classified in 3 difficulty levels, which makes the challenge get in sync with the players' skill.
Conclusions has shurikens in it...
Everything considered, I must add that this is the first reflex game which doesn't include boring things like bland graphics and nothing to the visuals and stuff, it has really decent music and pleasant sounds, it has nice graphics, the controls are a bit uncool for the demon slaying minigame, but it still adds up to some good value to its price. And it teaches you to meditate! Goody!
Score-san?
That said, I give it an 8!