With the Ninja Gaiden and Shinobi franchises, it’s pretty hard to find anyone who grew up in the 80s and early 90s that wasn’t obsessed with ninjas. Hell, if you look back at my ECS yearbook you’ll find a young blonde kid with aspirations of being a world class ninja, you know, rather than just a humble web designer. But luckily for all of us grownups Bulletproof Outlaws‘ first release, Elusive Ninja: The Shadowy Theif, lets us all flash back to retro simplicity of yesteryear with an addictive and amazing little game.
The premise is incredibly simple, as users control a stealthy ninja as he tries to duck, dodge, dive, duck and dodge against an on slot of deadly objects. Users leverage the iOS’ swipe dynamics to control the ninja as he moves from side to side to avoid ninja stars, fire arrows and the always dangerous sticks o’ dynamite. Imagine if you will, the infamous mini game from the original Shinobi game, but with an inverse of the roles. The longer you keep your ninja alive the higher the score your places on the OpenFent leaderboard. Oh, and if you see a ball of rice or a plate of sushi make sure you grab it for an added life bonus.
Graphics wise, Elusive Ninja is drop dead gorgeous and is easily one of the most artistic apps to come out of the Calgary development community. It has a beautiful comic book aesthetic, which compliments the amazing retro feel of the game and is a delight for the eyes. The gameplay is also incredibly smooth, as each touch propels the ninja in the correct manner. There are no issues with in game issues and you won’t find yourself wanting to toss you iPhone across the room for an unwarranted death.
Bulletproof Outlaws’ Elusive Ninja is an exceptional first release for the iOS and one you’ll definitely want to add it to your collection. We’ll be counting down the days for the release of their next app.
(As an added bonus, for all you developers please checkout The Bulletproof Outlaw blog for a full rundown on the app development)
June 21st, 2011 at 9:24 pm
Awesome! Thanks for the review! I believe you’re officially the first site to review Elusive Ninja. :) I’m eager to start on the next game, but gotta’ finish up marketing on this one first!
– Jeff
June 21st, 2011 at 11:47 pm
Thanks for the comment Jeff. We’re ecstatic to be the first site to review this great game. Looking forward to the next one, as Elusive Ninja is a great game.