By Thom Compton 21.02.2017
Clones are something gamers are just going to have to get used to. Every other entertainment medium has had to deal with them - for every Die Hard, there's a 5 dollar bargain bin movie called Siege of Hitmen. Sometimes, though, they can be a great thing to have. Without clones, we wouldn't have Okami, or Parasite Eve, both of which refined their inspirations into something unique and fantastic. Save the Ninja Clan doesn't refine its most obvious inspiration, but it manages to still do it well.
Save the Ninja Clan is obviously inspired by Super Meat Boy, though it does a lot with the formula to make itself stand out. You play a ninja, as you might expect, that will complete various levels, grabbing scrolls at the end. It's much more intricate than that, but that's the main focus of the game.
Unlike its key source of inspiration, you actually get some abilities. The most noticeable one is the ability to throw knives, which is mostly used for clearing enemies or as impromptu stairs. It's possible to wall-jump, but not on crates. It feels a bit phoned in, but it does give you a bit more to play with as you traverse each level.
In truth, Save the Ninja Clan is best when it's just a really tricky platformer. It absolutely nails that tricky part, ratcheting up the difficulty fairly quickly. Fortunately, you can skip around the levels as you like, though even the HUB is trying to kill you. It's actually a real neat facet of the experience that one needs to get used to new mechanics in order to reach other levels.
This title is pretty interesting, but it has some flaws, both in terms of mechanics and looks. It looks similar to an old flash game, which is largely fine. However, it could definitely use some polish. That's not the biggest issue, though, as the gameplay has some serious hang-ups too. For one, the little ninja has a nasty tendency to slide when he lands. This makes sticking jumps more cumbersome than how much it needs to be.
Furthermore, the difficulty might ramp up just a bit too quick. By the third level, the challenge factor gets incredibly high relative to how far in you've made it. While the levels themselves are fairly short, they're still too long to put up with restarting them multiple times. Over time it gets easier to deal with, but the levels are still too long to really entice players to keep trying early on.
Of course, this is all wrapped around the content of the stages, which is interesting, if not a little boring. Explosive crates, enemies shooting at you, buzz saws; the list of platforming standards goes on and on. While it's not particularly inventive, it's still moderately fun. That's really the cusp of what makes Save the Ninja Clan what it is. You've played this game before, in fact many times, but it's still pretty enjoyable.
Save the Ninja Clan is a solid platformer that might be a bit overzealous in the difficulty department, and may not be the prettiest thing you've ever seen. Still, it's a good way to spend your time, and while it may not feel fresh, it definitely feels complete. While it feels like a fairly typical platforming experience, it's a great experience nonetheless.
7/10
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