Chop Chop Ninja Review: Button-Mashing to save the Emperor’s Daughter

App Name:	Chop Chop Ninja
Platforms:	iPhone, iPod Touch
Version Reviewed:	Gamerizon
Genre(s):	platformer/fighting

Comparisons to Mario are never a bad thing, and with Chop Chop Ninja from Gamerizon, thinking back to your first experience with the timeless plumber on Nintendo is the best way to prepare yourself for this platforming, beat-em-up experience.

Your ninja’s name is Iro-San, a stubby little guy with a big, round head who can single-handedly take on armies. This is just what he does when the emperor’s daughter (his love) gets put under a curse that transforms her into some kind of figurine. The only solution? Hunt down ancient potions that can reverse the curse and bring her back. The emperor knows you love his daughter and sends you on the quest to get all the necessary ingredients to make the potion. Be prepared for opposition, though, as the journey will take you through many worlds and put you up against all kinds of enemies, from cobras to giant, shadowy-silhouette ninjas that come out in the moonlight.

Chop Chop Ninja unfolds as a side-scroller, not just moving left to right, but both directions. There is also a good amount of up and down action. Your movement throughout the worlds is non-linear and always keeps you guessing. As far as the controls go, things are kept very intuitive, and this can be seen as a strength and weakness. It’s incredibly easy to pick up and play: You move Iro-San left or right simply by tapping and holding on either side of the screen. He’ll run in the direction of your finger. Tap higher up on the screen and he’ll perform a jump in the specified direction. When you come up against enemies, it’s a matter of tapping furiously on the opposite side of the opponent. This makes Iro-San do the “Chop Chop” part of the title and go to town destroying whatever is in his way. There are also several pick-ups, things like double jump and rocket packs. These provide expansions on the general controls, but how they work is always explained and never causes confusion.

Gamerizon has a lot going for it with Chop Chop Ninja. The story is just deep enough to provide an interesting backdrop, while never disrupting the constant action that is at the game’s heart. The objective of most of the levels is to find the potion ingredients, but secondary tasks exist to provide some replay value. Collect the coins scattered throughout the worlds to tally up a high score, and then search for the three masks in every world, which are cleverly hidden and require some more in-depth platforming work to discover. Completing these tasks isn’t necessary to advance, but you can always go back and work further into each level upon completion of the main story arc.

Superb visuals are necessary to flesh-out a game with a control scheme this shallow, and Gamerizon executes the graphics and art end of Chop Chop Ninja excellently. The backdrops are vivid, and the enemies vary greatly in size, shape, and color. And even though you are mostly tapping as fast as you can, the variety that occurs on screen during combat is surprisingly varied, while still making sense with what your fingers are doing.

Should you choose to go with Iro-San on this epic journey, you won’t be disappointed. Just don’t expect a complicated control layout requiring memorization and practice. What you get with Chop Chop Ninja is great drop-in action that requires hardly anything from the user. It’s fun to look at and enjoyable to play, even if more experienced gamers might find it shallow. Is $2.99 too much to pay for the privilege of tapping and watching Iro-San slice and dice? Not in this case. In the mixed bag that is games in the app store, Chop Chop Ninja delivers several hours of good entertainment, and then some. Don’t miss out.

Chop Chop Ninja is currently available in the App Store for $2.99 at the time of review. (App Store Link)

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Devin Wieland

 

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