Topic: Mini Ninjas: First Impressions

I was wondering if anyone had this yet. It looks interesting, and slightly deeper than Muramasa, which looks like loads of fun btw. Post what you think here!

I was going to pick this game up today but I didn't get the chance. I do plan on getting it tomorrow. I tried out the demo on my PS3 and I was really impressed. I'm hoping to hear more people's impressions on this game because it seems like a lot of fun. Even though I tried out the PS3 demo of the game I will more than likely be getting the Wii version.

i watched the videos for it on the Nintendo Channel... it looks really cute. i'm'a wait for some reviews on it to pop up, though... I'd like to know how different the Wii version is from the DS version. My poor DSi hasn't been getting much game love lately. :/

I played the pc demo and enjoyed it (used a 360 controller), but I have no idea if the Wii version is identical, how it will control and how it will look.
UK Nintendo gave it an 83, but the review isn't online. And I don't see anyone else talking about it.

i lied, i didn't bother waiting for any reviews of the Wii version to show up.

it is incredibly cute. I like the story (and killing cute little samurai guys and having them turn into animals that you can possess afterward is fun :3) and the graphics (they're kinda simple, but they work well), I like messing around with the magic spells and the other ninjas you rescue to see how they fight and stuff. as with most action-adventure games nowadays, there is a collection aspect to it, and it's nice because you can check at any time during the level how many things (new spells, plants, jizo statues, etc.) you've collected, and it also shows you the same information at the end of the level, where it also allows you to remain in the level if you like in order to collect whatever it was you missed.

that said, it's kinda annoying (especially during the first two levels) because as you learn how to do new things, every time you come to a place where you can do that new thing an image of what you need to do will pop up onto the screen in an attempt to be helpful. it would be nice if you were able to disable that or at least make it much more unobtrusive.

this game auto-saves at the end of every level, and there are multiple checkpoints scattered throughout each level as you go... however, I have not yet found a way to re-use a checkpoint, so say you activate one, break an animal out of a cage, and then get yourself killed... you'll respawn at the checkpoint and find the animal is right back in the cage again. an exception to this seems to be spell scrolls... i died at one point and tried to go get it again only to freak out that I couldn't activate the little shrine, but when i checked my inventory, the spell was still there. so whatev'.

be aware that when you use certain magic spells, they use the wiimote for aiming. i have a bad habit of not really keeping mine pointed at the screen all the time, so there have been many times that i'll fire up a spell only to have the camera suddenly fly off toward the wrong direction, and you only have so much time before the spell activates and then you've shot it off toward nowhere or something. :/

the camera drives me up a wall as well. for some reason I'm constantly having to control the camera myself instead of being able to just let it follow Hiro as I go, because it doesn't like to stay focused the way i want it to. for example, i'll be near a cliff, and I'll point the camera down so that i can see clearly where i can and can't step... and then as soon as i let the camera go and start moving again, it'll refocus on the horizon, which looks pretty, but hurts me when i fall off the damn cliff because of it. :/

the last major thing that gets me about this game is that, unlike other action-adventure games like Twilight Princess and Okami, you don't waggle the wiimote to use your weapon/hit an enemy. You have to press B to hit the enemy -- swinging the wiimote directly downward will make your ninja do a stronger attack, but it's not your primary attack (it's meant more for breaking through an enemy's block and stunning them iirc) and it's only a downward swing. left-to-right doesn't do it. there have been more than a few times where I've caught myself frantically waggling the wiimote trying to get my ninja dude to attack when i really should've been tapping B instead. i don't know if they were trying to get away from the waggling thing or what, but not having that as an attack gesture is really taking a lot of getting used to.

all in all, i'm having fun at the moment (lol, the first boss is pretty funny :3), and i hope it gets better once i rescue more of my ninja buddies and get used to the controls. :3

NyxQuest had a bit of that same behavior. In those parts where you have to drag a flame to a statue to open a door. If you die after that before reaching the next checkpoint, the door will still be unlocked. More than a few times, I wasted time bringing the flame through again only to find out that it was already clear.

That sounds normal that most stuff between checkpoints would have to be redone if you die though.

Got the game yesterday as well, noticed the framerate was a bit low in parts and the controls were a bit fiddly at first BUT after the first stage or so these issues seemed to have been worked out and the graphics have had a chance to shine, the amount of interactivity in this game is great climbing, wire walking and hiding are done perfectly and the animal control justsu is great fun (I like using bears and boars to beat up guards). Up to now the level that's impressed me most is the lead up to the first fortress, the city is graphically brilliant with lanterns and traditional Japanese houses, I love it! This game is definitely a grower and at £25 from Tesco its a steal!

i get what you're saying about NyxQuest, but whenever you find a relic in that game or, as you say, opened a doorway, it stays found or opened. if you find a couple flowers or rescue a couple animals in a level and then die before reaching another checkpoint, you have to find those same flowers and animals again. While it certainly sounds normal that most stuff between checkpoints would have to be redone if you die, there's so much teeny tiny hidden stuff to find in this game that it gets annoying to have lost one or two things, because then you have to remember where they were -- or at least how you found them before.

in other news, though, i'm in what I'm assuming is the latter half of the game, and I'm having fun using Shun to pick off enemies at a distance.

@theblackdragon: Thank you for posting your impressions on Mini Ninjas. I found your review to be very informative and helpful. I think that I will end up getting the PS3 version after all. I don't like the sound of the unnecessary waggling and the controls sound like they are poorly mapped for the Wii. I had no problems with the controls on the demo for the PS3 and the visuals on it were really nice as well. It sounds like a really fun game and I am definitely looking forward to getting it.

@WolfRamHeart: no prob, man. i think they just had too many things to map to not enough buttons or something. :3