I don’t review a lot of avatar games, but when Milkstone Studios’ name is on one them I take notice. Milkstone’s produced previously reviewed games like “Inflamous” (Day 337), “Wool” (Day 213), “Infinity Danger” (Day 166), “MotorHEAT” (Day 76), and (one of my all-time favourites) “Little Racers” (way back on Day 60). That’s more than enough reason to take a good look at “Avatar Ninja!”.
The game is a forced runner, but much more enjoyable than most. The game has great flow, and with a few twists: you must keep pressing the A button to keep running, for example, but not in that controller/thumb destroying Decathlon way; it’s less about how fast you hit the A button, but more about how well you match the game’s rhythm with your A button tapping. Whenever you’re not tapping A your health goes down, and you’ll have to let off the A button whenever you need to jump, slide, or fire off a throwing star.
There’s something very satisfying about seeing your avatar run, jump, and fire shuriken with ninja skill, BTW. Presuming your avatar looks like you, or you have a strong association with it in your mind, it’s pretty cool. The game gets gradually faster as you play, with your avatar rising to the challenge as long as you can keep pressing the right buttons at the right time. If you hate every forced runner you’ve ever played, you might not find enough here to turn your opinion around. But this 80 Microsoft Point game is absolutely one of the best, with great controls and Milkstone’s typical high production values.
Here’s what the developer (Milkstone Studios S.L.) has to say about the game:
“NINJA POWER! Prove your skills as a shadow warrior by beating other trainees in the ancient ninja training course! Races on top of water, killer traps, shurikens… Will your reflexes be up to the task? This indie game has been developed by Milkstone Studios.”
Writings of Mass Deduction 