Ninjatown: Trees of Doom app review (Jan 2011)
Information.
Name: Ninjatown: Trees of Doom!
Version: 1.4.0 (17 Dec 2010)
Social gaming: Plus+ (32 awards)
Lite: No
Company/publisher: Venan Entertainment / Twitter
Price: $2.49
Size: 19.3mb
Universal: No
iPad price: $3.99
Screenshots
Click thumbnail to view full-size
Review (28/1/11).
Ninjatown: Trees of Doom! is a fantastic game, that's incredibly addicting and has made my play time 3 hours and 10 minutes in total! With plenty of power-ups and mushroom bouncing fun, Ninjatown is a game that should be on anyone's iDevice.
Aim:
The aim is simple, climb the tree as high up as you can, avoiding flying devils, purple syrup, deadly swarms of bees, fireballs, and of course the devil tribesman with spears and guns. Collect power-ups such as the bubblegum, super cape, Moustachio, smoke bombs, and ninjatime hourglasses to advance your height or improve the way you play.
Visuals:
Ninjatown features cartoon style visuals that are quite different from the typical jumper/platformer games on the App Store. All parts of the game look great, including the branches, syrup, enemies and fireballs. The retina pack is a separate download in the in-game settings, it takes a while, but is definitely worth it.
Unlockables:
You start off with a single ninja, the black suited one. As your adventures of the ninja go on, different coloured suits will appear in random spots, usually under 2000 meters. The current colours include black (default), orange (named anti-ninja), doodle (sketchy/hand-drawn), green (forest ninja), and a white suited one.
Honestly, If this game didn't have awards for Plus+, this game wouldn't be one of my favourites. There are only 2 game modes, Classic, and timed. Timed requires you to reach each checkpoint before the time runs out (good training). Classic is a lot more easier, you are able to go at your own pace, that is, until the bees come along and chase you up the tree until you climb a certain amount up the tree.
I'm expecting updates that will include new suits/more unlockables, a new game mode, and Game Center support to keep the game up to date with content.
If you aren't doing very well in this game, here are some tips & tricks:
- Take your time in Classic Mode. Why go fast when it has no benefit? Wait until you meet some bees to go fast.
- Choose your jumping carefully. There are 2 jumps: low or high. Hold down on the other tree to jump higher, tap it to jump low.
- Tap anywhere above the branch at the menu to change the whole theme to Doodle/hand-drawn.
- Analyse the patterns of the enemies. Don't jump straight into a battlefield. Time every move you make.
Looking for more tips? Check out the official manual (PDF).
My Twitter: @MindlessDream
Awards list.
Award
| Description
| Plus Points
|
|---|---|---|
Climb 100 meters
| Climb 100 meters in Classic Mode
| 5
|
Climb 250 meters
| -
| 10
|
Climb 500 meters
| -
| 20
|
Climb 1,000 meters
| -
| 25
|
Climb 2,000 meters
| -
| 30
|
Climb 5,000 meters
| -
| 45
|
Climb 10,000 meters
| -
| 50
|
Aerophobia
| Climb 1,000 meters in Classic Mode without using a height boosting powerup
| 45
|
Ol' Monkey Ninja
| Climb 30 meters using only branches and mushrooms
| 25
|
Chain Smoker
| Collect 3 Smoke Bombs in a row without collecting any other kind of power-up
| 40
|
Violet
| Collect 3 Bubble Gum Shields in one minute or less
| 30
|
Ultra-Violet
| Collect 5 Bubble Gum Shields in one game without allowing any of them to pop
| 50
|
Stop! Ninjatime!
| Collect 5 Ninjatime Hourglasses in one game
| 30
|
Great Balls of Fire
| Trigger 10 fireballs in one game
| 25
|
Night Owl
| Climb 500 meters within a single night
| 30
|
Hurried up
| Climb 250 meters without stopping for more than a second at a time
| 40
|
Power overwhelming
| Collect 50 of each power-up over multiple games
| 50
|
Great Ape
| Grab 1,000 branches over multiple games
| 50
|
Rocket Man
| Climb a total of 100,000 meters of multiple games
| 50
|
Red Baron
| Fly a total of 2,500 meters as Super Ninja over multiple games
| 50
|
Purple Pain
| Collide with Dark Syrup or get hit by Syrup Devils a total of 50 times over multiple games
| 50
|
Survive 1 Minute
| Survive for one minute in Timed Mode
| 10
|
Survive 5 Minutes
| -
| 15
|
Survive 10 Minutes
| -
| 20
|
Anti-Gravity
| Fall off the tree as Anti-Ninja
| 10
|
Moonwalker
| Travel 10 meters backwards while the moon is visible
| 25
|
Sundown
| Travel 1,000 meters before the sun sets for the first time without using the 1,000 meter bomb
| 50
|
Treadmill
| Touch nothing but slippery bark for 30 consecutive seconds
| 20
|
Kicking The Habit
| Collect 3 smoke bombs in a row, then chew a pack of gum to break your additction
| 50
|
Cuckoo
| Let the clock drop to one second in Timed Mode, then recover
| 10
|
Baby Ninja
| Fall off the tree below 20 meters
| 10
|
Lunatic
| Observe all phases of the moon
| 30
|
Lucidium 14 months ago
I love this game! It's so frustrating when you die :( My highscore is 12,300