I’ll be honest here; I had no preconceptions or expectations going into Legend of Kunoichi when I had downloaded it. It’s a fairly inexpensive piece of software – being that it’s part of the PSP Mini line of cheap downloadable titles – and I figured, “Hey, cheap software that I can afford. This can’t be all that bad, can it?”
And for what it is, it’s not all that bad. It’s just not enough.
Legend of Kunoichi is essentially Whack-A-Mole with ninjas. The main goal is to toss hammers at ninjas while allowing your Shogun leader to escape their menacing wrath, which apparently involves popping out of the floor. You do this by pressing the button that corresponds with the hole that the ninja is popping out of and must do this until ninjas catch up with your Shogun or until your Shogun escapes. You’ll have to be quick to whack those moles… er, I mean ninjas before they escape and you have to be cautious as to not whack the pink ninjas wearing wooden helmets, as they’ll deflect the hammers back at you and stun you momentarily. You have two difficulty settings (NORMAL and HARD) and your score appears on a Rankings chart (nothing that goes online, I’m afraid).
And that’s all there is to it. Really, that’s the whole game. No extra modes, no real substance of any kind to be found anywhere in the game, and while there is a difficulty setting per se, Legend of Kunoichi is not all that difficult once you get the hang of it. It’s just Whack-A-Mole… except with Ninjas and not much else. Just goes to show that ninjas can’t make everything awesome… and that is shameful.
The overall presentation is not even worth mentioning; the graphics are somewhat of a step-up from what you find on a Playstation-One, but still look pretty weak and generic. You have an optional retro-screen which adds scanlines, but that doesn’t make the game any more retro; it just looks slightly darker and if I wanted darker, I use the backlight function on the PSP to lower the lighting. The sound is also pretty generic and repetitive. Nothing special.
For $2.99 plus tax, you’re certainly getting a quick game in Legend of Kunoichi. Unfortunately, that’s about all you’re getting in Legend of Kunoichi. This is a purchase that should only be made if you have some spare change laying around and don’t mind blowing it on a quick time-waster. Don’t get me wrong; Legend of Kunoichi does the job well and it’s certainly good for a quick game or two. But given that there are many other viable options for the PSP out there even in the Mini line, this game won’t see much play all that often. Unless you can spare the change, don’t bother with this one.
BREAKDOWN
Graphics: 4/10 (barely above PS1 levels, rather bland looking)
Sound: 4/10 (overall generic and repetitive, nothing special)
Gameplay: 4/10 (controls work fine, but gameplay is slow and chunky)
Challenge: 3/10 (offers two levels of difficulty, but it’s honestly not all that difficult)
Replay Value: 2/10 (extremely barebones even for a PSP Mini Release)
OVERALL: 4/10
dtm666 