Vooks - Article: Ninja Reflex (DS) Review - Aussie Nintendo Wii and DS reviews

With the advent of the innovative control styles of both the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS, there have been a rapidly growing library of games that consist of several smaller games. From the original Wii Sports to the somewhat disappointing Carnival Games, several developers have been endeavouring to put their names on the map by releasing an easy to develop mini-game compilation. While Ninja Reflex is yet another mini-game compilation, it does try it's best to differentiate itself from other compilations, but fails miserably. Ninja Reflex places players in the shoes of a new Ninja, who has yet to fully complete his training. Designed to reinforce both physical and mental agility, Ninja Reflex presents players with several mini-games all geared towards providing a much more progressive kind of compilation. Essentially, Ninja Reflex encourages players to continue practising in order to increase their scores, similar to the now famous Brain Age series. What Ninja Reflex doesn't do, however, is provide sufficient facilities in order to track progress and compare to other players, outside of a bog standard leaderboard. The graphical style of Ninja Reflex is presented in a very oriental theme, with a lot of the environments being pre-rendered, and most characters appearing on screen are rendered in real time, in all three dimensions. The models found within Ninja Reflex are of notable high quality, especially for what is essentially a title with budget production values. Wherever possible, the game is running at a brilliantly fluid 60fps, with little to no slow down. For what it's worth, Ninja Reflex's greatest asset is probably it's graphical prowess. Gameplay in Ninja Reflex is pretty simple. Players are required to complete mini-games which test both mental and physical agility, in order to earn gems. Mini-games come in several different varieties, but don't really vary all that much. From tapping the screen to throw Shurikens, to tracing a figure eight to swing Nunchuck, Ninja Reflex essentially combines several mini-games that have the same kind of outcome. The first mini-game is extremely simple - and requires the tapping of targets along with a quick scratch to launch shurikens. The second reflex game involves the grabbing of Koi fish from a stream using lightning fast reflexes. Next comes the Katana combat, where players must react to actions presented to them and then counter-attack in order to defend themselves. In a nod to the infamous Karate Kid scene, a reflex game also includes grabbing flies using only a pair of chopsticks and dragging them to designated bowls as fast as possible. In a somewhat uninspiring attempt to add variety, a firefly grabbing game is also included, in which glowing fireflies must be grabbed by simply tapping them as they appear. Finally, a Nunchuck game in which the Nunchuck is swung by tracing a figure eight on the touchscreen and pressing L or R to attack items thrown. The biggest problem with having such an unvarying system of mini-games means that the player loses interest rapidly, with no real variation to make things interesting for the player. Several times players will question just why they are continuing with Ninja Reflex when there is no real proper feeling of fulfilment. Once a player has acquired a pre determined number of gems, they can undertake a belt test, in which their Sensei will challenge them for an opportunity to move up a belt colour. Belt Tests consist of three randomly chosen activities from Ninja Reflex's already narrow pool of six reflex games. Upon sufficient completion, the Sensei awards you with the next belt rank up. Upon receiving the next belt rank up, the process is repeated up until Black Belt rank is attained. By the time you reach Black Belt though, you'll be reaching for the same belt to put yourself out of the misery. An interesting inclusion to Ninja Reflex, however, is the meditation system. Recommended to players to be completed before every belt test, meditation walks players through the steps of traditional meditation. It's a nice inclusion, and it even works to some extent also, improving reflex times dramatically. Also included is the ability to play against friends and compare scores and reaction times. A disappointing inclusion of a mode, however, as no wireless functionality is provided which somewhat defeats the purpose. Ninja Reflex is a noble attempt at trying to make a mini-game compilation that differentiates itself from the rest, through an integration of an interesting theme as well as an underlying common factor - that of reflexes. Unfortunately, although it does differentiate itself as a whole from other titles in the genre, it doesn't do a good job at differentiating it's contents to provide an interesting and compelling enough experience. It's hard to recommend Ninja Reflex to anyone, especially at the price point that it is currently available at. Perhaps if it were to be released at a budget price, it would be much more easier to recommend Ninja Reflex. It just doesn't offer enough substance to warrant it's hefty price tag.

Graphics	Gameplay	Sound	Value	Tilt	Overall
5.0	8.0	5.0	7.0	4.0	5.8