Neenya Ninja

As if life wasn't hard enough for ninjas, it would appear that all the electric and mechanical gadgets in the world have taken the decision that they are their enemy.

Now our pyjama-clad antagonists have to be armed 24/7, even at home – they can't so much as make breakfast without ensuring that their Morphy Richards Twin Slice Dual toaster isn't about to lunge for their carotid artery.

One ninja in particular has decided that the situation has gone too far and is setting out to do something about it. That ninja would be Neenya and you can take part in her quest in Neenya Ninja, which in the UK is available through the Club Zed subscription service.

In this sideways-scrolling platform game you'll pull on Neenya's snug blue PJs and make your way, left to right, through a series of 15 levels. If you wish to progress you'll need to learn to leap with accuracy, swing like a gibbon, and dispatch electrical goods like a Dixons delivery man.

This might not sound like too much to master but, thanks to some cunningly-designed landscapes and maliciously-imagined enemies, it's harder than you think.

But, we hurry to stress, not in a bad way.

You see, the control system of Neenya Ninja is so highly tuned – much like Neenya's ninja senses – that you have complete confidence in Neenya's, if not yours, abilities.

It's an exercise in simplicity. You press right on your control pad (or key '6' if you prefer) to run right, left to run left, up to jump, down to crouch, and push in (or press '5') to fire throwing stars. The game is so responsive that you never doubt for a minute where you're going to end up or what you'll do.

A keenly designed control system is the keystone of a game like this, and the success of failure of every other element depends on it. So, as you can probably guess by now, Neenya Ninja's a great game.

While the storyline (which is nothing more complex than 'destroy the robot horde') may be worthless, the action is far from it. Neenya moves with an animated fluidity that's reminiscent of Cartoon Network's finest, and as you jump on the robots' heads and impale them with throwing stars, you'll realise you have something of smile on your face.

This is helped by the nicely-drawn 2D visuals that are colourful and crisp without being too bland or repetitive. The enemies are varied enough in their attacks and defences that you have to think about how you tackle each one and at no point do you feel overwhelmed by the challenges lying ahead of you.

The fact that you can finish a level and move onto the next one, without completing all the objectives, helps enormously, because if you become frustrated in your efforts to collect the three crystals that must be gathered on each level, you can take a break and move on.

So you can almost play the game on two levels. Either you can pursue the perfectionist goal of collecting every crystal, or you can skip through and enjoy the ride without getting bogged down by the details.

It's more than enough to keep you hoping that a ninja doesn't come rampaging through your home on a quest to destroy anything electric; if one does, be sure to hide your phone away so you can carry on playing this excellent little game in the future.