For most of the tenure of modern electronic entertainment as we know it, ninjas have been a staple theme. Though I-Ninja, Argonaut's new third-person action game, features a ninja protagonist who fights swarms and swarms of evil ninjas, the ninjitsu is not taken terribly seriously. Even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles present a more somber take on the hidden art, and this Namco-published game has more in common with the likes of Super Monkey Ball and Ratchet & Clank than something like Tenchu. The quality of the game is largely dictated by its influences, though, luckily for I-Ninja, it chose some good games to imitate.

 

The story in I-Ninja doesn't make very much sense. The game starts off with our hero (known only as Ninja) as he discovers a powerful "rage stone." Ninja then flips out and beheads his sensei. The ghost of his sensei shows up shortly thereafter to let Ninja know about an evil scourge of synthetic ninjas who must be stopped. Following this revelation, Ninja is off to save the day. There's a little bit of humor tucked into the corners of I-Ninja, such as the inclusion of the sensei's quirky habit of mixing metaphors to confusing effect. Aside from a few laughs, the story doesn't offer much else. The narrative's pacing is manic and disjointed, and it introduces and discards characters in the same breath. There isn't much time spent dwelling on character backgrounds or motivations either. This, coupled with the game's already isolated mission structure, sort of gives you the feeling that you're playing through an episodic adventure, and you're missing a few chapters.