Our playable demo included four missions of a title that promises much more than that. Apparently this is just one of five principle environments that compose I-Ninja's world. The goal in each of the 4 missions is to either find, free or battle for a "token" that serves little purpose other being the primary objective of you, I-Ninja. Each mission's goals are defined by an elderly gentlemen who defines them clearly. When complete, it's added to your "belt" and each level is also scored according to kills and the goals that you must achieve. Each of the four areas are decidedly different and each deserves to be looked at a bit more closely. Before we start on that endeavor, however, it should be said that this title has a firm tongue in cheek flavor to it that's been bestowed by Argonaut Games and it's cuteness and character design is very effective. The character and level designs are incredibly fun, intuitive, amusing, and diverse - a true rarity among today's made for mass appeal games that tend to feel as though they've come from a factory instead of imagination. The games stages aren't in any particular order, so we'll look at each of them by themselves.

"I've got some good news and some bad news, which do you want first?"

Hesitatingly, "The bad".

With that out of the way, the weakest of the four stages involves you battling a Robotic creature and assuming virtual controls of similar construction to "box" until one of you falls. The reactions of the robots seem sluggish and the whole stage, while noble in the effort of trying to be different, feels horribly out of place. Think Punch-Out that's somewhat prettier but not terribly insightful - coupled with the fact that it's just, er, there. The aforementioned old man outlines your mission and the next thing you know you're fighting mechagoninjarobotica. It just doesn't work. Perhaps there are improvements in store - they would have to be extraordinary in order to change my mind. Let it be said that if this is the worst that this game has to offer than you will have a lot to look forward to.

A second level has you trying to blow up a cage that surrounds your prize. Sounds simple enough right? Wrong. You have balance on top of a rolling barrel of gunpowder and navigate through various obstacles, enemies, and platforms to achieve your goal. You can run through the course without doing the balancing act to perform reconnaissance before you make the real attempt. Failure, at any point, rewards you with returning right to the beginning. This level is designed ingeniously and strikes an excellent balance between difficulty and control. After you've mastered it, it becomes much easier but it's difficult in initial attempts and becomes all consuming until you've finished it.

Again, taking a turn in a different direction, another stage has you in a "Sonic-esque" environment that involves battling creatures with your sword, using a retractable chain to swing to various platforms, grinding and jumping on rails while picking up bonus items, using half pipes wherein you have to pick up speed by moving left and right until you achieve the proper height to get to the top, and jumping onto walls and immediately running on the walls to a particular location. All of that might sound relatively simple and straightforward, however it's markedly better than many attempts by predecessors in the genre. The control is spot on and the level is cleverly designed and superbly fun. It's not terribly difficult, but in the initial stages of any game it's more about learning the moves that you'll need later and this manages to accomplish that goal and be quite entertaining at the same time.

The final level is somewhat similar to what was mentioned in the preceding paragraph but has more of an emphasis on speed and plays more to the X-Game elements than the other. Half pipes, grinding, and a particularly inventive aspect that requires you to shoot your chain and slingshot around two semi circles to continue on. Your goal? A giant eyeball that you have to once again stand upon (similar to the previously mentioned barrel of gunpowder) and navigate through another long half pipe within a specific time period while steering it to avoid obstacles, picking up bonus items, and trying to get "strikes" by knocking down your opponents who are set up like bowling pins in your path. If you don't accomplish it in time then you have to start over again - and it's amusing enough that that doesn't really seem to be punishment enough for having failed.

Perhaps I-Ninja's greatest potential lies in its apparent ability to throw you into situations that you just don't expect and it achieves that goal nearly flawlessly through excellent level design, characters, and innovation. This might be billed in the "platformer" genre, a truly intimidating amalgamation among video game history if there ever was one, but it sets the bar a bit higher by pushing the limitations of that type of software. If there are elements of the game to criticize, they are few and far between . My largest gripe, aside from the boxing level, is that the game feels a bit dark for what is otherwise a bright, humorous, and often compelling title.

To gain some added insight on Namco's upcoming platformer, we took the opportunity to briefly intereview the I-Ninja development team. We forgot to ask them why I-Ninja has a big head and a little body, so leave that up to your imagination.

1. Briefly tell us what is the inspiration behind the development of I-Ninja.

We like fast paced platforming, challenging combat, and having a variety of game play mechanics. We see lots of ninja-based games that take themselves far too seriously so we wanted to make something that was fun to play and funny to play at the same time. We are inspired by Dragon Ball Z, Dexter's Lab, Invader Zim, Fist of the North Star, Anime films, Kung Foo movies, Ninja Scroll, Mario, Zelda and much, much more…

2. In recent history, some platformers have failed to offer a significant degree of innovation. What distinct features does I-Ninja offer that will appeal to gamers?

Firstly we are aiming at a more mature audience than many other platform games. Secondly we have multiple gameplay types, we give the player a variety of mechanics and keep them guessing what comes next, for example you can; have a boxing match in a 150-foot tall robot; roll around on eyeballs, move barrels of gunpowder by running on top of them, grind on rails, run up and down half pipes, 'power chain' around 180-degree bends, fight underwater in a submarine, take control of mechanized 'enforcers' that fire mini-guns and plasma cannons, guide remote control rockets around, defend the shores by using a large fixed gun placement and ride on the back of rockets, to name but a few.

3. How has working with Don Bluth help to enhance the personality and depth of I-Ninja and what significant influences has he contributed to the project?

Working with the professionals at Don Bluth Films has allowed us to expand upon the character within I-Ninja. All of the character's motivations, his attitude, and especially his relationship with his master, Sensei, have been captured in a few quick expressions, body movements, and spoken lines. A lot of the humor in the game has blossomed through the storyboarding process. As a result of the terrific job Don Bluth Films has done on the cinematics, we'll be using them to also do an animated television commercial, and possibly even take I-Ninja into his own cartoon series.

4. We presume the game is targeted for general audiences. How will its challenge factor appeal to both the young and older gamers?

We have applied dynamic difficulty control to the whole game, so the game constantly adjusts to how well the player is doing. We also have a relatively straight forward main game path and have added several alternate missions for the more experienced player.

5. Should I-Ninja become a hit, might we see a sequel in the immediate future?

Yes, we can't wait to do a sequel. We'd love to do another such game with I-Ninja that includes multiple players and on-line connectivity.

Special thanks to Jaime Jensen of Bender Helper Impact.

· · · Haohmaru, Bahn