I-Ninja

Namco's quirky I-Ninja is set to turn gamers upside down in a variety of ways this fall for the GameCube, X-box, and PS2.

	Version PS2, Xbox, GCN	Developer Argonaut	Publisher Namco	Genre Action

By Joseph Jackson

One of the quirkiest looking games back at E3 2003 was Namco's I-Ninja, a very unique looking action-adventure game starring a speedy little big-headed Ninja as its main character. Combining extreme sports action with some other wacky gaming elements, I-Ninja looks to be chock full of humor, charm, and great gameplay.

Currently being developed in the labs of UK-based Argonaut Games, I-Ninja will feature a wide variety of platforming levels mixed with other unique play mechanics such as the very humorous Robot boxing!

I-Ninja, an arrogant modern day warrior who has spent years honing his skills and mastering his weapons gets challenged by Master 0-Dor, the world's most wicked villain, and his army of Ranx.

The World, a small planet similar to Earth, located somewhere in the realms of legend, is one that's cohabited by Ninja Guardians, Evil Forces and Masters, including I-Ninja's very own "Sensei".

With Master 0-Dor's evil robotic minions invading The World's Islands and imprisoning all of the cohabitants there, except for I-Ninja himself, "Sensei" can only sit back and hope that his intense training of I-Ninja was enough to prepare him for his ultimate quest.

A quest that involves recovering the four lost Rage Stones, a few relics of ancient past that contain evil power that will corrupt anyone who dares to take possession of them.

The gameplay consists of action that takes place in five immense environments, taking players on a journey through 4 different islands to do battle with 0-Dor's fierce armies and help free the captives, with the final battle culminating on the Moon. By successfully progressing through the levels and steam-rolling over all the obstacles and powerful bosses in his way, I-Ninja will be able to recover the Rage Stones and gain different colored ninja belts that earn him more weapons and abilities to prepare him for his eventual meeting with his arch nemesis.

I-Ninja himself comes well equipped for the journey as he can defy gravity and scale buildings by running on walls Shinobi style, hover some great distances thanks to his sword copter, ride drifting roller spheres, perform extreme stunts like shredding on rails, and even use some of the enemies as weapons by commandeering enemy robots.

Thanks to the multiple weapon control system I-Ninja will also be able to utilize a number of projectile weapons like blowguns, rocket launchers, and shurikens, some of which can be discharged via a first person shooting view. He'll also be able to slice enemies in half with his swords, use chains and more. During battle, players will be able to perform different combos by stringing together a series of moves from I-Ninja's expansive move set.

The enemies throughout the game are a diverse and aggressive bunch, all with one thing in mind, destroy I-Ninja. They come in all shapes and sizes, including a menacing 150-foot Giant Robot that I-Ninja has to box by controlling a robot of his own. We got to play that portion of the game and just couldn't stop laughing at the insane wackiness of it all. You watch on as I-Ninja struggles with the controls of his robot while trying to bob and weave and throw a few punches. I-Ninja is quite comical in many ways.

While the graphics are nothing to go completely ga-ga over, they still look quite sharp, detailed, and colorful, exhibiting plenty of charm. Everything is modeled and rendered quite well with some great light sourcing effects and smooth scrolling background visuals to an unwavering frame rate.

The cut-scenes should be quite a sight as they're being created by my favorite American animators, former Disney animator Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, who have signed onto the I-Ninja project to help create the game's cinematic scenes. For those not familiar with the illustrious Don Bluth, he left Disney during the early 80s to start his own animation studio and is the co-founder of Don Bluth Films, Inc.

Having stepped out of the Disney shadows, Don Bluth and company have been demonstrating their own unique style of character development and animation. Those who remember the awesome looking visuals found in Titan A.E., A Land Before Time, and Anastasia among others should have an idea of what these fellas are capable of.

Along with their movie credits, they also have quite a bit of experience in the gaming industry with the introduction of the very first animated laserdisc game back in 1983, the amazing looking Dragon's Lair coin-op game. The animations of that game took six years to make and the gameplay appears to be one that set the groundwork for Shenmue's QTE system.

Following Dragon's Lair was its futuristic spiritual successor, Space Ace, and then we had the seven year late arrival of Dragon's Lair II, a game whose animations were already completed in 1984 but put on hold because of the rapidly declining coin-op market at the time. Their last project was the impressive looking 3D remake of Dragon's Lair, hopefully leading the way for a possible Space Ace remake someday I hope.

With Namco signing on such prestigious animators like Bluth and Goldman to create and direct the in-game cinematics, we're anxiously awaiting to check out the cutscenes and see if they retain that familiar trademarked Don Bluth look.

The animation team is planning to combine meticulously hand-painted environments with high-end CGI graphics for the in-game movies as well as using their many years of experience to help provide direction for the game's storyline, as well as the character development of I-Ninja himself.

Overall, I-Ninja looks to be another fun Namco offering complete with a variety of gameplay mechanics to keep it from becoming redundant. Look forward to an I-Ninja multiplatform extravaganza this fall. I-to the N-to the I-to the N-to the J-to the A, what's that spell? I-Ninja!