As a part of Community Love Week, Game Team One will be playing some of the latest community created games and weighing in on them. We really love seeing how creative all you designers out there can be with the GameSalad toolset!
Today, Billy Garretsen of Game Team One will review “Word Ninja” by GameSalad developer, SciTunes.
Word Ninja is one of the more impressive games I have had the pleasure of playing on iOS in the past month. From a design perspective it creates a really pleasing blend of Fruit Ninja and Scrabble yet feels unique and fresh. The execution of this concept is great and I found myself much more engaged in the word building than watermelon slicing.
Before starting a session the player is taken to a boosts menu that increases score values and various stats. Each boost can be unlocked with in game currency called Ninja Bucks which adds a degree of addiction to the game play since you will want to own them all. It is a good implementation of In App Purchase and does not feel spammy.
Presentation wise, the game looks pleasing, if not a bit generic. The slicing particle effects are GREAT and the closest I have seen anyone replicate Halfbrick’s slicing effect from Fruit Ninja. I think the game could use a little more color and I think the the letters would read better at a glance if the font was less toony.
My only major complaint is that the game is really light on core modes and challenges which diminishes the replay value. I think an update or sequel could address this by creating more goal oriented game play but as it stands, Word Ninja is worth the price even if it is more of a quick diversion.
PROS:
– very fun game to play; takes familiar concepts and mashes them up into something fresh
– word detection engine is an impressive display of GameSalad tables
– good use of Kiip Achievements
CONS:
– light on modes and content for longer player engagement
