Review: 10 Second Ninja X

Title: Ten Second Ninja X
Platform: Xbox One|PC|PS VITA|PS4 (reviewed)
Developer: Four Circle Interactive
Publisher: Curve Digital
Release date: July 19th
tl;dr: Beat the levels with timing and precision to score those three shiny stars!
Price: Â£8 / $10 / â‚¬10
Family Focus: Click here for more information.

Upon playing the first half hour of 10 Second Ninja X, my first thoughts were “This game can go throw itself in front of a speeding commuter train.”

10 Second Ninja X gives you hundredÂ levels to complete within 10 seconds, giving you hoursÂ of gameplay to flip, slash, and shuriken your way through. But it’ll take longer than that – you’ll spend most of your time furiously shaking your fist at that one star rank and Four Circle Interactive’s frustrating level design.

The purpose behind 10 Second Ninja X is that each level gives you just 10 seconds to kill everything and reach the exit. Practice, precision,Â and patience are paramount,Â especially the latter. AÂ three star system akin to Angry Birds,Â keeps later levels locked behind a skill wall that becomes harder and harder to surmount.Â Finishing levels isnâ€™t enough; youâ€™ll often need to go back and better your initial time to push on through the game.Â

10 Second Ninja X has an easilyÂ graspedÂ control system which makes the game feel easy,Â but the scoring system is anything but. As your little ninja self, you must jump, slash and throw shurikens to tackle your way through all the bots that stand between you and that pesky star ranking. There’s also theÂ evil Nazi pirate villain guy, who must haveÂ attended the same educational facility as Dr. Eggman, sinceÂ he also likes cramming like cute animals into bots.

Everything about 10 Second Ninja X is cute and colourful,Â from enemy design to theÂ levels you play on. Even when the difficulty gets too much, the atmosphere of the game just soaks away the anger and pushes you further to get past those thumb shattering levels that push you to your very limit.

Throughout this review I have complained about the over bearing difficulty in the game but haven’t really explained myself. The difficulty in the game comes how irritatingly tight the time frames for the three star ranking is. Pride aside you could easily just clear the level and achieve a one star rank but eventually you will have to go back and achieve a higher rank in order to unlock moreÂ levels which in turn puts of players who aren’t accustomed to these style of games.

10 Second Ninja X is an addictive action platformer that is perfect for wasting time likeÂ that bus that just never turns up,Â making it more suitable for the handheld medium more than the home console. Overall, it’s a perfect little game for anyone toÂ try. Even if the difficulty gets a little steep at times during the later levels, don’t let that put you off.