Ninjatown Impressions

No, Crecente didn't go to Ninjatown over the weekend. He's in Tokyo covering TGS. But if he did go to Ninjatown, this is probably what he would look like. I say it's pretty spot on, actually. He even has that confused look on his face he gets every time I talk to him. Someone (I think it was Fahey) claimed the hair underneath his arms with actually armpit hair, and not part of the hair from his head. So what's this have to do with anything? I don't know. But what I do know is I finally got to play Ninjatown for the DS. I mean, I've seriously been waiting at least a year to play this damn thing. And after spending the whole weekend with it, I have to say it's pretty good.The plot of this game is centered around Mr, Demon and he devious plan to steal the secret recipe for the Ninja Star Cookies. It's considered the most powerful recipe in the world and has a 'scrumptious' power, so as you can probably tell, it shouldn't fall into the wrong hands. I initially had no idea how this game played. Sure, I've seen screenshots, but I still wasn't clear on exactly what I would be doing. Is it a RTS? An Adventure game? A puzzle game? But once I sat down with it, however, it finally answered all my questions. So, it's a tower defense game. Well, sorta. Each maps as a Point A and Point B (or sometimes, many point A and B's), and the game will send wave after wave of enemies at you. Your job is to stop them by any means. The game starts you out with standard units you obtain from building huts. The 'money' you use to build huts is replenished by defeating enemies. Yo also get money back from wrecking a hut. It may not seem like it through the first few introductory levels, but as you get further and further along, you'll have to start relying on enemies match ups rather than building as many huts as you can. For example, the game gives you a heads up on what enemy unites are coming. If you see there is a group of flying enemies, you need ninja's with sling shots to shoot at them. But if you didn't build any sling shot huts and are out of money, then you need to sell some of your unusable huts to build the necessary huts to make it to the next wave and complete the level. Also, this game boasts an amazing cast of characters. From the Ninja Consultant (who caries around pie charts) to the business ninjas that attack using cellphones. It's all really charming and it goes along great with the cleaver dialogue. Now all they need is a 'Blogger Ninja' that attacks with snarky insults and unsubstantiated rumors. There was nothing really disappointing with the game during the time I had it. I do wish the graphics were a bit better. Yeah, I know it has a lower budget than the other titles, but I would have liked to have seen some better sprite work top to bottom Overall, it's a really fun, addictive DS game. It's tough to play it for few hours straight (which it takes about 8 or so to finish). I noticed it's better to play in bursts. If you're into tower defense games, and you need something to play on the DS, this is right up your ally.