Ninjatown poised to invade Nintendo DS in October

Fans of cuddly violence and strategic pocket gamers should be united in joy at news of the impending invasion of Ninjatown upon DS.

Based upon the cult Shawnimals characters created by ex-game journo Sean Smit, the game marries suitably cute and colourful visuals with a Tower Defence-style of strategy battling in which you have to build up bases to eradicate increasingly tough waves of enemy invaders.

Rather than the static towers used in other variations of the game, here you're constructing houses for various types of cuddly ninja who will then leap forth and perform appropriate attacks upon the swarms of invading Wee Devils.

With a wide variety of attacks on offer from eight distinct ninja tribes and the ability to upgrade each house to improve range, power and more, plus secondary structures to boost abilities, there promises to be plenty of strategic challenge on offer across the 20 levels.

It's not all head-hurting work though. As fans of the Shawnimals characters will expect, there's a healthy if slightly surreal dose of humour underpinning the action. For instance, one of your fearsome ninja attacks is the, er, 'stealth hug'.

Also, if all the strategy gets a bit too much for you (i.e. you've naused things up) you can even interject more directly in the action with some special old ninja moves (involving rapidly striking enemies with the stylus or even blowing them off the screen).

Due to stealthily strike (hug) a street near you (possibly after doing a cartwheel and backflip) in October, you can expect to hear plenty more from us on this one, starting with a hands-on in the weeks ahead. Make sure you stay ahead of the crowd (and the Wee Devil invasion) by clicking 'Track It!'.