Ninja Legends is an adrenaline-pumping virtual reality game that is sure to get you out of your chair and onto your feet. In this game, you will find yourself fighting off hoards of opposing ninjas in many different styles. You won’t be experiencing much downtime in this game and you won’t be putting much strategy into this game either, other than timing your swings right.
In the game’s newest update, you are going to have the opportunity to become a ninja that is well versed with the bow and arrow as well. This is one of the bigger updates for a large title VR game, and it truly changes the way you play the game. This is a game that you won’t want to miss out on, so let’s jump into our review and see what being a ninja legend is all about.
Getting Up and Running
This is one of the smallest games in VR with the price point this game has, coming at 1 GB and $20. This doesn’t mean the game isn’t fantastic though, as we found this game to be completely enjoyable. Because the file size is so small, you won’t be expecting much of a wait on the download time, regardless of your internet speed. As for installation, it is no different than any of the other virtual reality games on the market. The tutorial in this game is quick but it explains a lot, so skipping through it won’t be a good idea here. It’s worth your time to learn to slice and dice properly.
This game can be found on all of the big VR game retailers, aside from the PSVR store. This game is going to cost the same $20 wherever you buy it from. It is also a part of the Viveport Infinity subscription, and will likely be staying on there for the foreseeable future. If you are looking to master or even perfect your ninja skills on your quest to becoming a ninja legend, we suggest becoming a part of the Viveport Infinity subscription.
Type of Game
This is an action game that incorporates plenty of blood. It won’t look real in any idea of the word, but you will be seeing lots of animations that are imitating the real blood you would see if you were to cut somebody with a sword more than once. This game is going to give you a heavy dosage of swordplay, and with the latest overhauling update, you are going to get your fair share of bow and arrow action as well.
There isn’t any planning attacks in this game, as most of the strategy comes from simply planning when to hit your opponent. You will be constantly bombarded with opposing ninjas coming your way, so if you think you aren’t going to get a workout in this game, think again. You can play this game at room scale as well, so moving around in this game is optional, but highly encouraged. Not only are you going to move your body a good amount, but you will be also be immersed in the game much more than before.
Player Perspective
Like most virtual reality games nowadays, this game is going to be played in the first-person perspective. You won’t be seeing your arms. legs, body, and certainly not your face in this game. The only thing that you will be seeing in this game is your weapon of choice. It doesn’t matter if you outreach your arms as far as they go, you won’t even get a glimpse of a hand. This doesn’t break the immersion, but even a cartoon hand on the weapon would have been nice to see here.
Theme and Story – Score: 6/10
The theme in this game carried the score all the way up to a 6. Had it just been a score for the story, we would’ve been looking at a score that is much lower than it is. The theme is simple. Fight off ninjas and stay alive. The atmosphere promotes it, the environment encourages killing, and the theme is strong throughout the entire 18 levels. With that being said, the story isn’t involved much in the 18 levels.
Controls – Score: 8/10
Easy controls in smaller games is the way to go. No Man’s Sky is one of the largest games you can buy and it has what feels like a million different input options. Ninja Legends is one of the smaller games you can buy for its price, and it makes sense that the controls are simple and easy to master. From switching your in-combat weapons to opening the menu during your battles, the controls are simple and exactly what you would expect.
Music and Sound – Score: 7/10
Average is the perfect word to describe this games audio. There was nothing that ever stood out to you, yet you knew it was there the entire time. We would’ve loved some more creativity here from the developers, but what they did was still good enough to earn themselves a score of 7. Some more ninja noises and more environment sounds would’ve been great during combat or a soundtrack in the menu, and a simple update could fix both of these. Since the devs are still very active in the community, this is something we could very well see in going forward in a big (or small) update.
Player Movement – Score: 7/10
360° movement while tethered to a computer is a bold choice, and it wasn’t one we were the biggest fans of for this game. Although the movement itself was very smooth, the lack of options to change which angles the ninjas came at was detrimental to the score here. They nailed down the locomotion system, but didn’t add a 180° mode for PC VR headsets. This type of movement is optimized for the Oculus Quest.
Kinetosis – Score: 9/10
The only problem here, and the reason this section didn’t walk away with a perfect 10 out of 10, is the glaring problem of having 360° as the default and only option as the movement. This causes some real disorientation, and in turn, that causes some motion sickness once you are back into the real world. If there were different modes for ninjas approaching, which we expect to be coming, this game will get a 10/10 for motion sickness.
Environment and Immersion – Score: 8/10
The graphics in this game aren’t close to being the best inside of VR, but the graphics aren’t what’s keeping this game on the top end of scoring here. The constant battling is going to immerse you in this game more than you thought you would be able to get, and the environment is changing more than you would think it would. This game is going to cover a lot of its mistakes with the immersive nature of ninja fighting.
Overall – Score: 7.5/10
The sum of all of the scores is a strong 7.5 out of 10, and we feel like that represented how we felt about this game in a great way. It wasn’t perfect, but we didn’t mind playing it for some time. We wouldn’t spend $20 on this game, but it is a part of the Viveport Infinity subscription and we highly recommend downloading this game and giving it a try if you are essentially getting it for free.
