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Lego : Ninjago
By Reardon Jones Marked
as a follow-up to Lego Battles, Ninjago : The Videogame focuses on the
art of Spinjitzu, a ninja technique that uses powerful spinning (almost
tornado like) attacks to defeat enemies and change the environment
around you.
Master of Spinjitzu, Sensei Wu, starts on a quest
to protect the four Golden Weapons (a task handed down from his father)
and one made pretty difficult due to his evil brother, Lord Garmadon,
and his need to control and use the Golden weapons for some good ol'
fashioned evil.
Ninjago is one of Lego’s newest attacks on the
video game world, the second Real Time Strategy (RTS) game developed by
Hellbent Games after Lego Battles.
It differs from the standard
Lego games, that until recently were mostly based on film franchises
(like the Star Wars, Indiana Jones and most recently The Pirates of the
Caribbean films) but is no less exciting.
Ninjago as an RTS
game requires the DS operator to use the Stylus for everything, from
selecting combatants to moving characters towards targets and
objectives. The RTS component of the game is created via random attacks
on Sensei Wu and his ninja pupils from Lord Garmadon and his army of
skeletons.
The general aim of the game is to move through 2
separate stories (Good & Evil) broken down into 4 acts, each act
containing 5 or 6 individual levels, The Evil story being unlocked upon
completion of Good.
Easy enough, right? That's what I thought.
While
the Nintendo DS isn't my preferred platform I don’t mind using if for
portable gaming, however this game provided me some headaches. Having
to use the stylus for everything within the game made the process feel
sluggish.
When battle scenes come along it really will test
the best stylus users to control and coordinate you’re army of Ninjago
effectively.
Some familiar elements from other Lego games are
present. The need to build while on missions has become more important
and necessary with Ninja Dojo’s and special “builder factories” being
the only way to gather enough strength and experience to take on Lord
Garmadons army who tend to drop past and start ripping villages apart.
In
terms of game play Ninjago moves quickly enough if you have DS
experience, however you need to have a certain level of strategic
ability to complete some of the campaigns.
It’s not as easy as
going into the enemy camp with five warriors and hope you can knock
them off quick. A decent level of patience is required as there can be
a few “almost complete” moments, then defeat.
The story
is pretty solid with some funny and action packed cut-scenes before and
after missions. I just wish that the visual level had of carried over
into the gameplay as the graphics seem pretty out-dated for any game in
this era. This also assists in letting down the look of combat and
battle scenes as you can’t really see who is who or what moves they are
performing.
As far as Lego games are concerned Ninjago has opened a door to a whole new franchise of games.
The RTS titles will provide a lot of game time and enjoyment for those interested.
With
different modes of play including training stages and multiplayer
capability Ninjago is a solid DS game that has some minor issues with
the aesthetic however challenging enough to be entertaining, Worth
building upon. Game: Ninjago
System: Nintendo DS
Developer/Co-Developer: Hellbent Games
Publisher: Warner Bros Interactive
Rating: 70%
(Ratings
Key/Explanation)
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