Ninja Reflex (DS/Wii) Review - Video Games Reloaded

N-Galaxy

Rated O

Ninja Reflex (DS/Wii) By: Adam Waddilove

Do this game have the reflexes of a Ninja?

Welcome to my dojo. You have come to learn the way of the Martial Arts. If your heart and mind are open, I will pass these lessons on to you. Here, you will learn to move like the tiger and strike like the dragon! See if you have what it takes to become a Ninja!

Game features:

Develop the reflexes of a Ninja and test your skills against up to three friends

Master eleven belt ranks on your way to attaining your 3rd Degree Black Belt

Choose a unique Ninja name from over 25,000 combinations

Calm your body, mind, and spirit with meditation lessons from your Sensei

Six core Ninja training exercises with several variations and difficulty levels:

Shuriken - Defend the courtyard from attacks on all sides with throwing stars

Hotaru - Test your quickness against the flash of a firefly

Hashi - One who can catch flies with chopsticks can accomplish anything

Koi - Capture koi fish with your bare hands

Nunchaku - Crush incoming aerial assaults with your nunchucks

Katana - Strike down demons with your Samurai sword in a bamboo forest

It’s extremely rare that I put Wii and DS games in one review, but Ninja Reflex is so similar in its look and feel that I didn’t feel like I had much choice to make it one rather than two separate reviews. With that in mind, let’s carry on.

Ninja Reflex is pretty much a mini-game collection for both the console and the handheld. As you can see from the screenshots from both versions, they look incredibly like each other. Essentially the mini-games focus on doing motions with either the remote or stylus; they are literally the same moves. Like you’ll be touching fireflies with either, you’ll be catching fish the same way, even the aerial assaults are similar. But that aside, is it much fun?

Well to be honest, I felt a little cheated by this game. I felt like it could have been a much bigger idea than a handful of mini-game challenges that are very simple. You’ll pass either version in no time at all and then have nothing to do except challenge nearby friends to beat your scores. The thing about the mini-games is that they are perhaps too simple for their own good, sure there’s a little twist to each as you progress towards a 3rd black belt, but the variety wears thin, as does the game.

As you can see, it’s not the best looking Wii or DS title. It’s very basic and I hate to use the word boring, but at times Ninja Reflex can be somewhat dull. But chances are you’ll breeze through it and never play it again, which is where the fault comes in. There’s no replay value of any kind, no incentive to make you play anymore. It’s all a little shallow and the game is over before you know it.

The Verdict

You may think it’s harsh that the review is this short, but the absolute truth is that both versions are very, very basic and incredibly short. I have literally explained every aspect of the game in these few short paragraphs, which just shows that it doesn’t have a lot for you to do. I’d suggest waiting for a REAL Samurai/Ninja game instead of these imitators.