Mini Ninjas Review (PS3)

He must be stopped by the game's protagonist Hiro and the legion of failed samurai warriors he rescues on his path. Mini Ninjas is aimed mostly at children, but like all good children entertainment it has a depth of humour beneath the cuddly layer. Strangely, this predominantly cute action title is developed by the guys behind Hitman.

Mini Ninjas offers very little outside of its 8 hour single player campaign, but the worlds are lucious enough to promote further exploration of the game's many hidden objects.

Man does Mini Ninjas look pretty. The enemy characters are varied in design and charming, the protagonist is cute, well animated and cuddly; but it's the environments that steal the show. The are rich shades of blue, yellow and green and amazing variety in the locales. It's a pleasure to behold.

Mini Ninjas is by concept excruciatingly simple. But it matters none. The combat is fine and precise. You push the stick towards an enemy and hit Triangle to stun and Square to attack. It gets more indepth as you unlock more ninja personalities to fight with — Shun for example has a bow and arrow. Each character has a unique special move too; you collect red energy orbs and hold down Triangle to perform these attacks.

On the surface, Mini Ninjas is comical in a juvenile way. And that's fine because kids will love it. From the farting boss to the ridiculous voice acting, it's silly. But there's a deeper layer, a sort of hidden depth if you will, that adults will enjoy too.

In Mini Ninjas you have a hat that can double up as a shield for arrows and a boat. In Mini Ninjas you can possess the body of cute animals and sneak past guards. They're all tiny little touches, but they're cute, funny and enjoyable.

Mini Ninjas is essentially a kids game so you could argue that by nature it's all a little simplistic. Which it is. The combat is fairly easy and the platforming is simple. It doesn't make it bad, it just makes it a little short and easy. Which might make some feel a little short-changed.

Thank goodness you can turn it off! Mini Ninjas has you shaking the Sixaxis up and down to open doors and even controlling yourself as you career down a snowy mountain. You'll want that option turned off. It doesn't work very well.

Ironically all the bosses in Mini Ninjas are deviously simplistic. Basic QTE patterns. Except the last one, who is not particularly difficult but can cause some headaches working out exactly what you have to do!