For this one, I want to do something I don't normally do for these by addressing the story this game has. Specifically some of the naming conventions and characterization I happened to notice for two reasons: first of all, because this type of thing is so out there in this particular instance that many people who played this game may not have registered how nonsensical it is. The other reason is because part of me feels like this game, its narrative and its presentation were largely the reason it, the developer, and the publisher went out of business within a year of this game's release and that's a pretty bold claim so I want to address it right now.
First and foremost you're playing as a character by the name of I-Ninja, referred to within the game as just Ninja. That seems to just be his name. He is being trained by an old sage by the name of Sensei. If that's his real name or not I'm not certain but what I do know is that that's what he's called in game so we're going to go with that. The main bad guy in this game is O-Dor who is taking over the world by using his mechanized minions called The Ranx to capture the rage stones and using those to gain all the power he seeks.
Story wise, these names and concepts are basic but that's not quite the reason I feel it's notable. I feel this type of thing is notable because these names are so basic that they seem to be placeholder joke names used during development that never got swapped out because the developers just thought they were too funny.
Ninja and Sensei are two particularly notable characters in terms of concept, however. Sensei less so because he's a sage-like monkey who is now dead and a spirit, which may be a reference to Sun Wukong from Journey to the West but that by itself really isn't notable since that's the type of thing many asian-focused media will have in some way before and since this game's release, whether we're talking about Dragon Ball or Saiyuki or League of Legends or Smite, some character based on Sun Wukong exists, even RWBY did it.
What's more notable is Ninja. You see, his appearance, moveset, abilities, and some mechanics focused on him are some combination of NES Ninja Gaiden or Original Sonic the Hedgehog.
First, the Ninja Gaiden Comparisons, then we'll go to Sonic after that.
- Ninja, much like Ryu Hayabusa, is a shinobi with a blue Shozoku that has no sleeves and a headband. Ryu's is armored and Ninja's is not but that's the only distinction.
- Both have a wide variety of similar moves. Both are capable of jumping, wall running, using a grappling hook, wall jumping, possess a sword, and can grab onto a wall or ledge. Pretty much the only mechanic Ninja has that Ryu never gets is the grind and even that is more an attribute of the mechanical level design than it is of character limitations.
- Both have access to some older, more sage like entity that can help them with certain tasks, in the form of Sensei and Muramasa respectively.
- Both have an aerial combo, diving stab, a sword combo, and a hover, though Ryu doesn't gain that until Ninja Gaiden 3 onward. Though I-Ninja is 3D, its combat mechanics have more in common with the NES and SNES Ninja Gaiden Games than the 3D ones. But that's a topic for another time.
Now for the Sonic comparisons.
- Both protagonists are very blue, very cocky, and very speed based, so much so that even though Ninja is a lot slower than Sonic, Ninja is far more acrobatic. Though Sonic may very well already be experienced, Ninja is clearly still being trained, though again, both think they're ready for what they get.
- Both protagonists have to deal with a machine-builder who uses those machines on these very characters. Though O-Dor has yet to be seen in person based on my current gameplay time, Doctor Robotnik is just as prone to making machines do his bidding and, it's worth noting that the Rage Stones that O-Dor is after are not too dissimilar to the Chaos Emeralds from many Sonic Games.
- Both games feature a decent amount of obstacle-course style gameplay, and though I-Ninja has a larger focus on combat than Sonic ever has, it's not by a whole lot.
- One odd choice for I-Ninja that it shares with Sonic is the use of a Lives System. I don't know the full ramifications of the lives system in I-Ninja or what happens when you run out but it's there and it's a similarity.
There are some minor details I have yet to cover, such as Ninja killing Sensei using a rage stone or Sensei's improper use of Proverbs but these are things that are relatively easy to come across if you just watch the first part of a walkthrough, it's pretty easy to find.
That said, while all of this may sound like criticism depending on how you imagine my tone, none of this is really bad to me. Although the use of Pronouns is questionable, the developers put just enough thought into the presentation, characters, and story to have a proper game to build, which is a positive in my book. Of course this type of thing was much more common back during the era this game was made, which was PS2 and GameCube if you're looking for ports, but at this point in time, presentation and narrative get in the way of gameplay and games development too much as it is so it's nice to have a game that didn't really worry about that.
That said, I can't help but wonder if this stuff is what caused the developer to go bankrupt. Allow me to elaborate: I-Ninja was released in 2003. The developer, Argonaut games was liquidated in 2004. Though that by itself is not incriminating at all, what is worth noting is that the developer had a habit of making a bunch of games simultaneously, evident in the fact that they would release roughly 3 games per year. Though games were a lot cheaper to make then than they are now, if you're a developer whose making 3 games per year simultaneously and those games don't sell all that well, it will go through remaining money pretty quickly.
So it's a pretty known fact that I-Ninja didn't really sell that well but, in terms of the reasoning, I think part of it may be that I-Ninja's presentation and marketing were to blame. Now, I don't remember a lot from 2003 but looking at a list of games released at that time, many of them were either not that good or are titles that are underappreciated gems. Just as an example, two games I found in that list were Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and Devil May Cry 2. You can argue about Prince of Persia but everybody agrees DMC2 is not good.
2003 seemed to be a year that was a majority licensed titles and titles that were not good in general. One might argue that 2003 was simply a bad year for gaming but, if that's true, I-Ninja is one of those games that suffered as a result of that.
As far as gameplay is concerned, I actually rather enjoy it. Overall, Ninja is very responsive when he attacks, very fast, and though his control can sometimes be a little finicky, I think that's more due to the speed of his abilities rather than a formal control problem. The developers could've put more work in to smooth out the bumps in his control but I get that maybe the developers didn't have time before having to get to the next game.
That said, if we assume that the control is as perfect as it needed to be, the level design was not designed with this in mind. The platforming and combat sections are fine, these are pretty well considered and nice to move past. My major concern is with the Bowling sections.
The first bowling section with Tekayama's right eye was fun, it was sort of like the catacombs in Jak 3, which I was fine with. Though the control was a little weird and I only managed to pass in the nick of time, at least it was pretty painless overall. That's when I got to Tekayama's heart.
That one is not a speed bowling section it is a precision-pathing section. This one I absolutely disliked for two major reasons: the way the orb controls and the way the camera works.
These two reasons are easy enough to understand why they're a problem individually but they're far more a problem working together. First off, this section got me to figure out how the ball controls. You have to hold forward or back to accelerate or stop depending on your direction and move the stick left or right to turn.
The problem I have with this is that the controls are digital despite using analog sticks. If this section used the d-pad instead of the analog stick the way it works would be a lot more straight forward but the reason they didn't was because the d-pad is used for the Berserk Rage.
The problem with the camera is that while you're on the ball, you don't have control of the camera, the right analog stick just dies for some reason. This means that you have to be careful how you move for two reasons: first, if you move too fast, you might fall off a platform, and second, if you are pointing the stick in a certain direction when the camera changes, it could do the same thing.
If the paths were wider and not quite as strict on how precise you have to be, this would've been much less painful. They could've still used the precision-pathing type levels later on in the game when players are more accustomed to the game and it's mechanics but as it is now, as the second or third level depending on when you play it, it's far too strict. Even Sonic fans might agree this is too strict for someone who's only playing the game for the first time.
Berserk Rage is a pretty neat mechanic, if for no other reason than it's a life saver when you're about to die. Other than that, not much can be said.
Did I enjoy this game? Um, yes. While I feel that some things in the game need some work, for what it is it's a bit of an unknown title that I think more people should try.
That's all for now, have a nice day.
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