Space Ninja Review

Space Ninja isn’t your average 2d space shooter. In fact take everything you know about the genre and toss it in the trash this game breaks all those traditional rules, and I highly recommended Yose Widjaj to seek immediate entrance into the witness protection program.

The game sets you in the role of an elite Space Ninja who has been chosen to deliver a special package to the planet Jupiter, but along the way you are attacked by a mysterious defense system.

The game is comprised of 40 single player story missions. and 5 unique challenge stages. There are no multi-player or online features such as leader boards.

You progress throughout the game by dodging the turrets, obstacles and bullets scattered throughout each level. Upon completing each level you will unlock additional levels which can be accessed at any time. So those of you who can’t dedicate the time to complete the game in one sitting will not have to replay previous levels all over again. You can simply continue your mission at a later time.

Space Ninja is controlled exclusively with the accelerometer. Simply tilting the iDevice left or right will steer your ship in that direction. While tilting forward will engage your thrusters and tilting backwards will engage the breaks as well as movement backward, but what really sets Space Ninja apart from traditional shooters is the ability to slow time.

Think about the “bullet time” feature from the movie The Matrix and add that to the game Asteroids. This should give you a good idea of what you can do in the game.

Bullet Time can be accessed at any time by pressing and holding down on the screen, and while in this slow down mode you will be able to maneuver your ship out of harms way. There is no set amount of time or limited usage associated with the “bullet time” features so you are free to use it as often as you need it.

Some might think this is an easy way to cheat, but take my word this isn’t cheating its an essential element to the game as there are times when the action is so hectic its almost impossible to advance without some clever piloting in slow motion.

To help you in these hectic times you will find 7 different power-ups scattered throughout each level, just maneuver your ship in close proximity to collect these abilities.

To use these power-ups press the Item button on the screen and the game will pause allowing you to choose what current power-ups you have collected.Make sure to use these power-ups as needed as they do carry over to the next level, but should you die all of them will be lost.

While Space Ninja doesn’t graphically raise the bar it does have a nice and colorful mix of backgrounds, character models and special effects trails to keep the experience feeling fresh.

The audio portion of the game is quiet good, mixing in special effects with varying upbeat sound tracks that actually add to the experience, but the real star of the show is the controls. Movement is handled in a smooth and flawless manner not seen in other shooters, and everything else seems to move at a perfect pace.

Having grown up playing games like Asteroids and Gallaga Space Ninja holds a special place in my heart. No other game Ive played in recent years as brought me back to my childhood like this one has. That feeling alone is worth the price of admission, and I highly recommend this game to anyone looking for the most challenging and addictive shooter on the iDevices.

Some of you might be wondering why I suggested earlier that Yose Widjaj enroll in the witness protection program. The reason is quit simply as there has to be a few developers looking for his head about now seeing how his release of Space Ninja he has single handled destroyed the competition and raised the bar on future shooters.

[rating:9/10]