A long time ago, an evil samurai attacked the Empire, enslaved many people, spawned armies of darkness that built dark castles for him. This stern sorcerer sowed exclusively evil and short-term, which led to depression, stress and despondency among the population. Then, as usual, the forces of goodness and generosity gave stars to the prankster-interventionist. The castles were empty, the terrible armies disappeared, no one touched the sacred magic of nature anymore, and it did not take revenge on humanity with storms, hurricanes and other not very pleasant events. Peace, tranquility and economic growth lasted 300 years, and then the evil samurai took it and returned.
Keeping the stars in mind, the main bad guy prepared thoroughly. First he sent storms, floods and earthquakes against the vile people, and then he began to catch animals in the forests, from which, with the help of the magic of Kuja (such a natural witchcraft), he created thousands of soldiers with katanas, bows, spears and a wild reserve of loyalty to the commander, it was they who carried the news of the change of power to the people.
The peculiarity of Kuja magic is that nature does not like its uncontrolled use. Mother-ancestress responds to short-sighted sorcerers with cataclysms, catastrophes and rain on public holidays. These disturbances were noticed by the wisest and most insightful ninja master. “Something wrong has happened,” he said to the students, presenting certificates and diplomas for graduating from the ninja school. “Go find out what’s going on there, what kind of figures are there in the forests, where the animals disappear and all that, otherwise there will soon be nothing to eat…” he said, releasing the young shadow warriors into the big, cruel and full of dangers world.
So five left. The teacher scratched his turnip, decided that it would be a good idea to send a sixth one, trained the boy in magic, showed him how to make all sorts of swill from magic herbs, taught him to hit the muzzles, and then kicked him out of the ninja settlement. “Go save the world, Hiro,” the elder gave his last parting words. Hiro probably thought at that moment that it was not for nothing that his name was consonant with the word “hero” – “hero” in English. He straightened his katana, put on a special ninja hat and went to save the world in a very banal way. What kind of adventure will this be??
Greetings from our ancestors from the console camp
There are many games on consoles that grew out of the once popular platformers. Remember, perhaps, such ancient hits – Lomax, Blackthorne and similar. Two dimensions, platforms, enemies that need to be killed somehow (or neutralized, the Lomaxes are very kind). With the development of technology, this type of arcade smoothly moved into the third dimension, the worlds expanded, and the platforms as such disappeared. For some reason, this evolution did not affect the PC, and new games began to be released only on consoles, for example: Crash Bandicoot, Spyro The Dragon, Bugs Bunny, Legend of Zelda, One (and thousands more – of varying severity, bloodiness and all that). They are still being produced, but our personal computers are somehow bypassed (for a long time, for a very, very long time). That’s why it’s surprising that along with the release on consoles, an arcade true to the behests of our ancestors Mini Ninjas also released on PC. For the first time (almost) in many years, we will kill enemies, collect coins, get to hard-to-reach places for bonuses and admire the rustic, but bright and colorful picture.
Mini number one
Hiro leaves the village. We “hang” https://costabingocasino.co.uk/ behind him, vast meadows to the right and left of us. Ahead, literally a couple of steps, we notice a flower in the grass. You can pick it up – this is one of the main features of the genre, we will be collecting and collecting throughout the game. This is how developers have been motivating people for research and discovery since time immemorial.
The flower fits compactly into a backpack. We look around, on the other side of the meadow we see a mountain. Somewhere above, very high on the cliff, some object glows red. From the experience of past years, we know that if something stands out, it needs to be picked up. How to climb a mountain? We approach the wall, press space, the little ninja runs up a steep slope, clings to a ledge, pulls himself up, jumps, pushes off a natural wall, bounces to another, and then again… Is it really himself Prince learned nimble flying here? It’s not for nothing that mini-ninja pirouettes are so similar to Persian-style jumps..
After a couple of minutes, we climb to the very top, pick up some kind of figurine (the game writes: “1 of 7 found”, tradition), we notice an enemy patrol below. Moreover, we immediately understand that this is the enemy. Although our ninja only shows his eyes, you can immediately see from them that he is a good-natured man, young and naive. The enemies have no faces, only darkness under samurai helmets, in which their eyes burn with a bright yellow flame. We’re already on earth. As befits a real ninja, they don’t know about us yet. We can hide in the tall grass (a special button is responsible for the invisibility mode), or we can brazenly and unceremoniously attack a patrol with only a bare katana, that is, almost hand-to-hand. A surprise attack will do more damage, but my Hiro is a real hero, so I prefer the idea of slashing the enemy with daring. The patrol looks hostile, and when they see us, the soldiers show bad intentions with the battle cry "Mini-mini-mini-ninja!", and then they rush, exposing all sorts of piercing, cutting and shooting objects. And all of them, like our hero, are small in stature, which is why their military attempts look more cute than dangerous.
The sword cuts the air with a whistle, bright lights light up everywhere, enemies run away in all directions, but the skillful Hiro quickly catches up with them and knocks out all the special effects. Red balls, fireworks and melodic sounds accompany the cabbage soup squeezing session. Press the “Q” button, time freezes, a crosshair appears on the screen, which can be used to mark several enemies. A moment later, all these enemies fall to the ground – Hiro jumps with lightning speed from one to another, striking them down so quickly that the warriors of the evil samurai don’t even have time to understand what happened. In the scale on the right one light goes out – it was a charged attack, a limited special move.
Defeated opponents burst, and little animals appear from the blue haze – those who were kidnapped by the evil samurai. IN Mini Ninjas no one dies, we just save animals. Remember in the series Sonic we’ve done this more than once – how many animals did Dr. Worker kidnap?? Everything here is very logical, the little soldiers are foxes and bunnies (and all other living creatures: raccoons, chickens, cats). Their commanders are bigger game – monkeys and wild boars. The biggest soldiers usually come from bears or pandas (super cute bears).
That’s actually most of the gameplay. We run through vast levels (labyrinths, caves, castles), kill opponents, collect goodies that fall out of them. Along the way, we appropriate all sorts of bonuses, climb to hiding places, penetrate secret caves. In general, we are doing what the heroes of other games have been doing for decades. Moreover, there is also the classic prolongation of some stages. Sometimes you want to demolish the castles of samurai bosses yourself, rather than leave them to the merciless time..
About unusual things and all that
“Traditional” adventures can be called outdated without a twinge of conscience. Haven’t we seen all this in other games (killing, collecting and climbing)? Even the same Prince of Persia, although serious, is the same in essence. We jump, run, look for hiding places, fight. Only there we still do all sorts of combination series, rewind time, turn into a black monster, conjure all sorts of things… In Mini Ninjas There are also a lot of all sorts of features (but less than in Zelda: Ocarina of Time, so roll your lips those who expected something similar to a legend). So, baby Hiro knows how to use Kuja spells. They can be different: you can be struck by lightning, or even twisted by the wind, and in order to hide, Hiro will turn into a bush (hello Metal Gear Solid and boxes!). You can also turn into an incorporeal spirit and climb into some kind of beast. Bears fight very well, and chickens have a superpower – they lay eggs at the behest of the left mouse button.
Spells are a fun addition to the backbone of the gameplay. Enemies can be easily defeated even without them, even the most evil boss can be killed with even a bare heel without any intervention from higher forces of nature. All these shamanisms are just an attempt to diversify the rather monotonous wanderings of the little ninja. There are 12 different sorceries in total, and they are forced to use only one and then only a few times.
Another entertainment – alchemy. Dozens of different plants are scattered throughout the levels – wildflowers, which are very common, lotuses, which are found only in water, alpine herbs, which are clear where, rare mushrooms, without which you cannot brew the most magical, most magical potions. We collect them and then cook them. Everything is familiar in making drinks – from simple to complex. We start with no knowledge at all, then we buy recipes for coins (which fall out of barrel chests). At the beginning, we only know how to brew potions of healing and mana (which is called Chi in the Eastern style – we know that one, yeah). Later we master the bubbles of “shield from arrows”, turning into a fish, restoring health at the cost of magic, and so on. The value of all these liquids, in my opinion, is that they look very nice in inventory. A hero with a large set of magic potions is perceived as a universal soldier who has a specific answer for every situation in life. Moreover, against this background, the uselessness of all this alchemy seems to fade into the background. I didn’t have to during the whole game never drink no elixir. It’s strange isn’t it?
Finally, the last important feature – there are six characters in the game. Ninjas move silently and Bespaleva unnoticed. It seems that Hiro is traveling alone, but his friends are traveling with him. We rescue them from the captivity of the evil samurai one by one, and then we can use their capabilities. The big ninja carries a heavy hammer and hits hard with it, but he’s classically clumsy. A kid with a bow shoots accurately, and a girl with a naginata copes well with crowds of enemies. The only limitation is that the friends cannot use Kuja magic, and their special charged attacks are not particularly impressive. They can be called an analogue of spells – you can use them, or you can forget them. Just one more thing for variety.
Mini mini mini
Mini Ninjas – strange. It seems that the features are inexpressive (many are not very useful), and the core of the gameplay has already been embodied a hundred times in other games. Nothing innovative or unusual. Many people criticize the game for wretched graphics, which, however, are not poor at all, but only simplified. Logically, we should lower it into the airlocks, to the same inglorious clones-crafts. But no, my hand doesn’t rise – I don’t want to remove it at all, but on the contrary, I’m drawn to return to it. Probably, it’s all the “kind” colors, cute animals and the eyes of the main character radiating friendliness. Even the local villains are cute. It’s so funny how they shout "Mini-mini-mini-ninja"!"that you don’t even notice that you’re stupidly killing hundreds of them. There is not even any special humor in the game – well, the evil samurai kicks the guilty commanders, and they try to run away and hide in fear; Well, all these governors are afraid of our mini-hero, and the fat bosses make funny faces and make surprised eyes… You know what reminds? Cartoons from the studio Disney. Dumb naive, kind, bright, even if not very well drawn, but, nevertheless, very cool. There is some kind of internal energy that calls back, although some say: “for children” and “Count otstoy”. Don’t listen to them, but play – and be sure to have fun.
Pros: cute little animals; dynamic fights; humor; cartoonishness; variety of equipment and spells.
Cons: weak graphics; low usefulness of different characters; Levels are drawn out in places.
