Ninjabread Man

Ninjabread Man is a platform video game by developer and publisher Data Design Interactive. The game was released on the PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows in Europe in July 2005. A port for the Wii was released in September 2007 in Europe and Australia, and 3 October in North America. Ninjabread Man was published as part of Data Design Interactive's 'Popcorn Arcade' brand of Wii games.

Ninjabread Man
North American boxart, Wii version
Developer(s)Data Design Interactive
Publisher(s)Metro3D Europe (PlayStation 2 and PC)
Data Design Interactive (Europe, Wii)
Conspiracy Entertainment (North America)
EngineGODS engine, Havok, RenderWare
Platform(s)Wii, PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows
ReleasePlayStation 2
  • EU: 13 July 2005
Microsoft Windows
  • EU: 23 July 2005
Wii
  • EU: 21 September 2007
  • AU: 27 September 2007
  • NA: 3 October 2007
Genre(s)Platformer
Mode(s)Single player

Ninjabread Man received unanimously negative reviews from critics, being heavily criticized for its controls, camera system, graphics, story, and short length.

Gameplay
An upwards motion on the Nunchuk or press of the Z Button allows the player to jump.

Ninjabread Man is an action-adventure platformer. There are three levels in the game, plus a tutorial level.[1] In order to proceed to the next level, players must collect eight power rods to activate a teleporter.[2] The Ninjabread Man can attack enemies directly with a samurai sword via a shake of the Wii Remote, as well as throw shurikens from a distance using the Wii Remote's IR functionality to aim. When the player completes a level and plays it again, a menu appears with a second mode available, ‘Score Pickups’. If the level is completed again in this mode, the player will unlock ‘Time Attack’ mode. Completion of this mode unlocks the ‘Hidden Pickups!’ alternative mode.[2]

Reception

Ninjabread Man received unanimously negative reviews upon release. The PlayStation 2 version of the game has a 31% average rating on GameRankings,[3] while the Wii version has an average of 17.5%.[4] On Metacritic, the Wii version of the game has an average score of 20/100, based on 6 reviews.[5] The PC version of the game was not reviewed by any major publication.[6]

IGN gave the Wii version a score of 1.5/10, saying: "It’s buggy, often completely broken, somehow manages to have frame issues in tiny levels, and is completely ruthless if (and when) younger players die."[7] Thunderbolt gave it 1/10, criticizing the game's length and the unimaginative use of the character as key flaws.[1]

Cancelled sequel

Despite the negative reception of the first game, on 23 January 2008, a sequel titled Ninjabread Man II: Blades of Fury was announced.[8] Not much information nor a release date had been issued, but it had been revealed that Data Design had created a website asking for the fans of the game to give ideas for the sequel. It is likely the sequel will never be developed due to Data Design ceasing development in 2009. On August 24, 2012, Data Design went out of business, making a direct sequel unlikely to happen.

See also

References
  1. Morton, Philip (6 January 2008). "Ninjabread Man Wii review". Thunderbolt. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  2. "IGN: Ninjabread Man". IGN. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  3. Ninjabread Man Reviews
  4. Ninjabread Man Reviews
  5. Ninjabread Man (wii: 2007): Reviews
  6. Ninjabread Man
  7. Bozon, Mark (8 January 2008). "Ninjabread Man Review". IGN. Archived from the original on 29 March 2010. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  8. "Data Design Interactive » Highlights » Ninjabread Man – Blades of Fury". Archived from the original on 12 February 2008. Retrieved 1 February 2008.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.