HonestGamers - honestgamer's Mini Ninjas review

Lewis Denby Sep 26, 2009

Funny - I came out of Mini Ninjas will almost exactly the opposite impression. I found the slower, exploratory sections to be frequently beautiful, with a real sense for aesthetic stimulation. The action? Pretty much bland, repetitive and mundane, and what brought the game down to painfully-close-to-average for me.

I loved huge portions of it. But too much of it bored me. Such a shame, as I really wanted it to be game of the year material.

Jason Venter Staff Sep 27, 2009

I guess that just goes to show how ridiculously hard gamers are to please, eh? Half of a game's potential audience will adore the very thing that the other half despises.

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." - John F. Kennedy on reality

"What if everything you see is more than what you see--the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it really is a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you'll find many unexpected things." - Shigeru Miyamoto on secret doors to another world

Lewis Denby Sep 27, 2009

True. Though you're definitely certifiably insane for liking the boss battles. Liking the bosses, sure - they reminded me of Hayao Miyazaki's characters. But the battles themselves? Preposterous, poorly explained and painfully mundane nonsense.

I've said this a few times around the web now, but I really do get the impression Mini Ninjas didn't realise how close it was to being absolutely brilliant, and didn't trust in its own conviction enough.

Jonathan Stark Sep 27, 2009

I haven't played the game, but I always find Jason's reviews very convincing. He has a habit of naming his audience and his audience's attributes (in this case I really enjoyed the whole opening where he talks about the pacing of the game for the quarter-munching crowd) which I always find locks things in right away for me.

I think the few times we have played the same game I haven't agreed with Jason's opinion, but that's a matter of taste. When it comes to getting across his point, he really can't be knocked.

Note to gamers: when someone shoots you in the face, they aren't "gay." They are "psychopathic."

Steve Knight Oct 1, 2009

According to Ulrik Hauen-Limkilde IO designed the game for a younger audience (main reason there is no blood). Ulrik also said that they put a lot of detail into the game so much so that even the Samurai speak Japanese.

Anyway I liked your review, for the most part, but perhaps following the developers lead you might have made a stronger point of the fact that the game was truly designed for the 15 and younger set who have little to no experience with gaming. I think that puts the design and game in general in a different perspective.

Age is a condition not a state of mind.