Game Reviews

Ninja Smasher!

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iOS
| Ninja Smasher!
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Ninja Smasher!
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iOS
| Ninja Smasher!

I have a bit of a soft spot for games like Metroid and Castlevania, so I was certainly intrigued to learn that Rogue Ninja had put its iconic ninja mascot into something similar.

It's a bit of a boast, sure, but that's probably the best way to sum up Ninja Smasher! A cartoony adventure that evokes the same spirit of exploration as those two classics.

Go Spinja, go spinja, go!

While it keeps that central core of searching the world and acquiring new powers to access more areas, Ninja Smasher! also changes things up a bit by removing the need to walk, run, or jump. Well, in the traditional sense, anyway.

Getting around in Ninja Smasher! is half the fun, really. Tapping the screen will make the little guy leap into the air and spin around with his sword, not unlike Samus Aran's iconic Screwattack. Tap on an enemy and he'll zip towards them and attack automatically.

As you'd expect, it's also possible to chain attacks together when enemies are close enough. It's really fun to pull off and a very effective means of locomotion.

The great (combo) chain

And this is all before you start to acquire gear that will allow you to do even more useful stuff. A side-effect of picking new powers up as you go is that things start off a bit slow slowly, but after that first dungeon the pace picks up significantly.

It's unfortunate that the map isn't more of a help. Sure the world of Ninja Smasher! is small enough that it's not ridiculously overwhelming, but there are precious few ways to spot the places you need to go.

Shops, save points, and paths you haven't taken yet will show up, but not other important bits like dungeon entrances you've already found.

The idea of flitting from enemy to enemy makes Ninja Smasher! sound like a cakewalk, but thing get tough pretty quickly.

Enemies will start to shoot projectiles at you, some will take several strikes to bring down, and most of them can only be approached safely from certain angles.

Late-game areas require quick thinking and a decent knowledge of the various enemy types if you want to make it through unscathed.

Ninja Smasher! turned out to be a lot cleverer than I'd expected. There's plenty of exploration to appease adventure game fans, the method of getting from A to B is very satisfying, and it's also a lot of fun.

Ninja Smasher!

Don't let the cutesy look and the slow start fool you; Ninja Smash! is actually quite the slick little adventure game
Score
Rob Rich
Rob Rich
Rob Rich is the editor of 148Apps.com