Kombo's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.

What the Game's About
Mini Ninjas is a bit of a departure for Io Interactive, the developers behind the gritty and violent Hitman series. Rather than providing a bloody slasher title, Io Interactive is going with a much more family-friendly approach to ninja action combat. Mini Ninjas places you in a land where the Evil Samurai Warlord has been using evil magic to transform animals into his army of minions. You start out controlling Hiro and Futo, and you've been sent to investigate why your ninja friends have been disappearing and what is causing the imbalance in nature. As you progress, you'll rescue your ninja pals, which will in turn make them playable characters throughout the rest of your adventure.



What's Hot
From the beginning, you'll notice that Mini Ninjas absolutely nails the art direction. Not only does the game look good from a graphical standpoint, but it's also full of environments that are just an absolute treat to look at. All the standard "ninja conventions" are executed well, such as treks through bamboo forests, Imperial city rooftops, mountain paths, and much more. It's probably no exaggeration to say that every few minutes I would stop and just pan the camera around to soak in the great atmosphere.

The action in Mini Ninjas is well executed, even though the tactics you use will become a touch repetitive over the course of the adventure. You have weak, strong, and special attacks that vary between the different characters you control, so you can use a bit of strategy when approaching the different types of enemies that the game throws at you. While not incredibly deep, the action is satisfying. As you defeat enemies, they'll transform from samurai to lovable forest animals in a poof of smoke. Even with the cutesy "deaths," the action satisfies on a level that will appeal to older gamers.

The music is another aspect of Mini Ninjas that is downright impressive. It always feels like whatever sort of action is taking place on screen, be it stealth or frenzied combat, Mini Ninjas has a soundtrack that is always serving up appropriate material. The instruments and the pacing of the music always feel very "ninja" for a lack of a better way to paint the picture.

Finally, there's something refreshing about Mini Ninjas. Over the past couple of years we've been inundated with games that are either hyperviolent or so sugary sweet that they really only cater to fans of that style of game. Mini Ninjas offers an experience with great action, wit, ultra tight controls, and fantastic presentation. None of these elements are compromised for the sake of reaching for a higher cool factor or to appeal to a lower common denominator.



What's Not
There's not a lot of complain about with Mini Ninjas, but as with a lot of action games, the gameplay does grow a bit repetitive. Io Interactive tried to combat this tendency by allowing for multiple playable characters with different attacks and styles, but due to the fact that your initial character is more than capable of getting the job done in most cases, there's nothing to force you to swap characters very often. The result is a very familiar experience in the skirmishes throughout the game. You can skip out on a lot of fights by taking shortcuts through levels or by avoiding confrontations, but the missed experience points from doing so isn't worth the time saved.

The only other notable issue with the game is the game uses a camera that will often take horrible angles. Once in a while it seems simply like the camera knows where it needs to go, but it's just not responsive enough to keep up with your movements. You do have manual control over the camera, but far too often the burden is on the player to keep it pointed in the right direction.

Final Word
Mini Ninjas was a bit of a surprise, I'll be honest. The game didn't receive much hype, and I don't think the name does it any favors. It's not that Mini Ninjas is a particularly bad name, but it does evoke an initial impression that the game might be meant solely for the younger crowd to enjoy. Thankfully Io Interactive found a way to implement gameplay that can be enjoyed both by younger and older gamers, and hopefully older gamers will give the game a fair shot. Io Interactive has a winner in Mini Ninjas, and it would be great to see what sort of sequel the developer could put out after such a solid performance on their first go around. If some of the camera issues and repetitive elements could be addressed in a sequel, Mini Ninjas just might have a bright future as a new franchise.