The Jolly Gamesman and His Many Toys
Ninja Assassin for the iPhone & iPod Touch
Arriving in theatres in late November, Ninja Assassin makes it’s move to the iPhone in a side-scrolling hack and slash adventure. Using just one finger to control your movement and the swipe of your blade, you finger-paint death on the enemies coming at you. For dispatching your foes, many sword variations are available as each level changes the look of your player, while basic controls stay the same.
Aside from the melee weapons, also available are your trusty shurikens – sharpened hand held blades. While not as satisfying as slicing a foe in two or gaining bonuses for decapitations, they make for great long distance head-shots.
In later levels, you must utilize the environment for stealth kills, which while satisfying to begin with, can lead to a bit of boredom and irritation if you accidentally alert the enemy and have to restart over and over.
I found the game’s story mode to be overly difficult right from the get go, but did find the survival mode perfectly suits the iPhone as a pick up and play time killer.
Graphics are impressive with very stylized characters and backgrounds, but the enemy types get repetitive within minutes. Admittedly, it is always satisfying seeing blood shoot out as if their arteries are doing a tomato juice spit-take.
Aptly enough, in the opening act, the title screen tells me to “Fear not the weapon, but the hand that wields it” and in the case of Ninja Assassin, my iPhone is the weapon as I wield it across the room out of frustration and move onto the next game.
~The Fine Print~
Priced at $2.99 USD as of publishing date
