Review: Ninjabread Man (Wii)

There is a specific group of players who specialise in records that are constantly set for the quickest time to complete certain titles and while impressive, Gamestyle has no desire to join the ranks of such enthusiasts. With Ninjabread Man we are thrown into such a realm, as this is the shortest title we’ve played, since we can remember picking up a Pong controller.

The training mode comprises of three simple tasks that open up three numbered doors and when you complete the fourth, your training is over.  Imagine our surprise upon completing this mode (in only a couple of minutes) whereby the save icon informed us that Ninjabread Man was already twenty five percent complete. With only three levels available in the main game, you can quite easily do the maths and come to the conclusion that this game just isn’t worth your time.

A positive amidst such an alarming statistic would be that while Ninjabread Man lasts, it is a fantastic experience and sets new boundaries for platform releases. Yet this is not the case, far from it in fact. It would be a discredit to the Nintendo 64 if we even attempted to compare Ninjabread Man to any of its platform titles. You take the role of the title hero, defender of Candy Land that is now under attack from a variety of monsters. There is no story to speak of, as you must just simple take on the various bees, jelly monsters and cup cakes that inhabit each level.  As to why they’ve done this, Gamestyle is not sure.   

Clearly this is aimed at younger players but this is no excuse for such an underdeveloped and badly implemented experience to find a home on the Nintendo Wii. While the system is lacking games that really grasp the possibilities of the Wii control system, putting out titles such as this is avoidable. What happened to that Nintendo seal of quality, or does it not count for much nowadays?

Back to Ninjabread Man, and time is not a healer. This stealth candy superhero only possesses a limited repertoire of moves that number three in total. You can jump to cross obstacles and then you can slash your blade, or throw those nice stars that ninja’s seem to have an endless supply of, from those deep pockets. Combat is at its most basic here, with little thought required apart from moving the remote to dispatch oncoming cakes and other sweets. The great difficulty comes from the random nature of the control system, as you move the Wii remote for the tenth time in the hope that Ninjabread Man responds onscreen. It really is hit or miss as to whether your character will perform the desired action, and given the limited range of moves available, even more damming that the developer couldn’t even get the controls correct.

An added bonus is the camera that fails to adapt to changes of direction or new positions, before you make that leap. In a platform release it is a fundamental flaw and extremely irritating, on top of everything else that Gamestyle has already outlined. More often that not, you’ll be presented with a viewpoint of no use whatsoever. Prompting you to reposition your character in the vain hope that the game will offer you a useable viewpoint.

Given the festive time of year this review is being written, we could quite easily talk about turkeys but Ninjabread Man really is in a league of its own. It has no redeeming aspect except that thankfully the pain is short-lived, but then again you should heed our warning and avoid this title at all costs.

Rating: 1 / 10

Words by Jason Julier