Reviewed by Meagan Lemons
Back in the day, I played a lot of Warcraft Tower Defense, and while I wasn’t great at it, I often found myself unable to pull away from my PC long enough to do much else. When I heard about Ninjatown, a strategy game with a similar concept, I had to get my hands on a copy to feed my craving for tower micromanagement.
Now, Ninjatown isn’t technically a Tower Defense game. You actually build huts that house a couple of ninjas a piece. These ninjas walk around their hut and attack enemies in the vicinity. But much like other Tower Defense games, you have a variety of different types of huts to choose from when deciding what to build next. You have to choose the right ninjas for the job; otherwise, you might let an enemy slip through your defenses.
The game is based on the Shawnimals universe and employs the same clean, simplistic art style unique to the brand. In this game, the cute, cuddly ninjas who inhabit Ninjatown are being invaded by Mr. Demon and his Wee Devils from the Dark Forest. Your job is to help Ol’ Master Ninja defend the town and keep its secret cookie recipe safe from the clutches of Mr. Demon. To do this you must build huts along the roads in Ninjatown to fend off Mr. Demon’s minions. In addition to the art style, the game also possesses Shawnimals’ characteristic humor. I caught myself laughing out loud as I played through the story mode. The comical cut scenes and humorous dialog will certainly keep you entertained between the action.
When you begin the game, you only have a couple of different types of ninjas to help you defeat the Wee Devils, but as you progress through the game more ninjas will join you, giving you more options when deciding on a strategy. Each ninja type has its own unique abilities such as slowing or ranged attacks, and each has its strengths and weaknesses against the variety of Wee Devils (ground attacks are useless against flying opponents, for example).
You are also given a few special abilities to use against enemies or to help out your Wee Ninjas. You can collect items after each completed map that can help you in defeating the Wee Devils as well (ninja droppings, for instance, harm all nearby enemies with their powerful stench). These come in handy when your ninjas become overwhelmed and need a little help.
The game is somewhat short with nine areas to defend containing four maps each. In each area you are introduced to a new Wee Ninja or Wee Devil type or a new challenge (such as having to defend multiple paths). Each completed map is given a grade dependent on how many enemies slip through, so the game has a fair amount of replay value for those inclined to ace each map.
While the maps start out fairly simple and stress-free, be prepared for a challenge. You don’t get to choose a difficulty level when starting a new game, so it may be difficult for someone who isn’t familiar with this type of strategy game to get the hang of. You have to complete each map before you can move onto the next one, so you may get stuck on one for a while (I know I did). If you fail a map three times, though, you will have the option to play through it on easy so that you may progress forward.
The use of the stylus makes the game feel like it belongs on the DS. You can drag it across the bottom screen to move around the map (or you can use the control pad) and also use it to select buildings, abilities, and items. On the top screen you have access to an overview map that shows where each hut is, whether its ninjas are being attacked or have been killed, and where the enemies are. I thought it would have been handy to see which kinds of huts I had on my overview to see at a quick glance, for instance, whether I had enough anti-air or not, but you’ll have to scroll over them on the bottom screen for that. The top screen also shows how many cookies (the game’s monetary system) you have to spend, how many lives you have left, and which devils will be coming in the next wave.
One disappointment is the lacking soundtrack. Every map uses the same music, and only a few other tunes are heard during the select screens and cut scenes, which aren’t long. It would be nice to be able to listen to different themes in each area, or at least variations of a few different themes, but the music that does exist is interesting and not that hard to listen to repeatedly.
The multiplayer capabilities leave something to be desired as well. You can play against a friend with another DS, but there isn’t any co-op play. What’s more is that there are only three multiplayer maps, so don’t expect to spend a lot of time trying to defend Ninjatown more efficiently than your friends. The maps it does have, though, are fun and the multiplayer aspect is definitely a different experience than single-player.
While not everyone can appreciate a tower defense game, fans of the subgenre will definitely enjoy Ninjatown. It’s cute, clever, colorful, and above all, addicting, as any respectable Tower Defense game should be.