[Review] Ninja Battle Heroes (3DS)
System: Nintendo 3DS
Release Date: October 9th, 2014
Developer: Tom Create
Publisher: Tom Create
Author: Vincent W.
If someone were to write a book on terrible game design, I feel as if Ninja Battle Heroes would be one of the main examples. Aside from its terribly uncreative title, this 3DS eShop game looks pretty appealing on the surface. Boasting a heavily Japanese-inspired universe along with a unique platforming experience, Ninja Battle Heroes seems like it could provide a small but desperately needed breath of fresh air to a genre that’s been long in need of one. Once inside, however, you’ll find a game that takes all of its interesting ideas and executes them poorly.
From the moment you start the game, you’ll be greeted with a screen that explains what’s going on through boxes upon boxes of text. Saizo Kirigakure was away from his unstoppable Beast Brigade to train, only to return to find that every last member has been kidnapped and is endangered by the hand of their fellow warrior Sasuke. Your main objective is to go from point A to point B in numerous levels to save one of your kidnapped comrades and snap them out of their mind control by defeating them in battle or simply cutting them free from their prisons. Each time you save one of your comrades, they join your party and will be able to aid you in levels and boss battles. Their powers differ – some heal you and add boosts to your stats while others simply attack with devastating moves to clear the screen of enemies. These moves pay off, too, because killing enemies will earn you spirits, which allow you to upgrade your character in various ways – be it increasing the effects of his partner’s moves or bettering his strength and defense. After leveling certain skills, they can be equipped on the touch screen for instant use, but unfortunately, this mechanic is where the cookie begins to crumble.
On the touch screen, you have six different slots to place various specials to use in battle. I checked all menus, boxes of texts, and every last tidbit of information I could find, and upon completing the game, I have not the slightest idea of how to equip these specials. I could only use the one they provide you with in the beginning, and no matter how many times I’d try to place something into the slots, I’d get a sound effect signaling I was doing something wrong.
This isn’t the only case of not providing the players with enough information either, as some levels took over ten minutes of searching every nook and cranny just for the end thanks to the extremely puzzling level design.
You see, every level has two layers, consisting of one that you play and run on, and another in the background where enemies can either attack or swoop in from to halt your progress. In that same back layer where clusters of enemies wreak havoc in, they have little signs with arrows pointing in the direction you need to go. So while enemies are throwing shurikens and continue to swipe at you from every direction, you’re expected to look out for these signs that are required to be seen in order to finish the level. These signs might not even help you, as they’ll just point you in a direction where the path splits, causing you to go through too much trail and error – not to mention that as soon as a part of a level is off the screen, the enemies instantly respawn. If you reach a dead end and need to turn around (which you will do numerous times), you’ll again be greeted by the same group of enemies you just defeated and be forced to slice your way through them once more.
Not everything in this game is incredibly frustrating, however. Some of the music and visual aspects (despite the music being overused and the environments looking nearly the same for every area), are pretty impressive for a title that’s only going to cost you a few dollars. The characters are also rather interesting. Most have distinct personalities and possess interesting character designs. The characters aren’t nearly as fleshed out as they could have been, though, with only a select few saying a couple of lines after boss battles.
With that said, it becomes quite obvious that Ninja Battle Heroes could have been a lot more. Despite having some intriguing characters and nice sound and visual direction, the positives quickly begin to mean nothing as the negatives begin to take the spotlight. With needlessly confusing level design and boring gameplay that doesn’t feel rewarding or entertaining enough to continue, this portable title is only a tiny bit of what it could have been.
Ninja Battle Heroes fails to deliver in almost every way. Rarely is there a moment where it feels worthy of praise, because everything is overshadowed by mechanics that just don’t work overall. Do yourself a favor and save the $3 for something else, and avoid this 3DS title.
