I completed the game known as 10 Second Ninja X recently. I have been a long time collector of Indie titles from the PSN, and I always look for gems among them, as there are many good Indie companies. This game came up on my radar over a year ago, and originally, I was hesitant to give it a go, when I heard about the concept of 10 second levels. That seemed too short to me. What made me turn around, was discovering that the game not only received great scores from a few sources, but it was lauded for having a huge amount of additional content. I appreciate Indie developers for that, because major companies have little to no desire to please fans, and care only about money, so content is whatever they feel it should be in games.
The game has a very old school 16 bit era look, with very polished sprites and nicely rendered levels. You are going through rooms in this game moreso than environments, but what it presented is done well. You begin the game as a ninja escaping from a ship controlled by a pirate who seeks to test and understand your abilities and reputation as a super fast ninja. Each portal has about 10 levels that must be completed and graded. The grade ranges from 1-3 stars for the level, and they can be replayed any time. Only be getting a collective amount of stars, will the next portal be accessible. This means you will have to improve your scores on each individual level in order to proceed.
At the beginning, and throughout the game, you have chirpy dialogue blocks that come from the pirate captain through the monitor. He is know as Red Beard. He sets up the challenges and you lose each level if 10 seconds elapses, or if you are taken out by one of the enemies or traps. On the ship, you meet crew members, who all want to revolt against the captain, for his unstable behavior, and will assist you in some ways, such as revealing unlockables, or giving hits, or the crew member who restores generator power and joins you at times. When he does join you, it doesn't affect gameplay. He is simply flying over your shoulder, talking, and when you die, usually from his distraction, he leaves.
The ninja controls very well and simply. He moves accurately and fast, and is equipped with a double jump, sword, and 3 ninja stars. You complete each level by taking out the mech guards within 10 seconds. Some will be behind electrical fields, or unereachable platforms, so you have to choose which ones you will throw the stars at. Some mechs are armored, and would take 2 stars to take out, but also have a ninja behind them that will be taken out at the same time. You have to decide when that is worth it. There will be switches in some levels that raise and lower platforms, that can open up enemies, or be used as footholds or launch pads. Then there are grappling holds, where your ninja can use what is a hidden grappling hook to move towards them if you throw a star in the direction of the hook. It gets pretty deep and causes you to think on some levels.
After a while, the game went from being really difficult, to addictively fun. I wanted to improve my time on each level to see how fast I could be. The game is attached to leaderboards accross the world, and my annoyance level jumped a bit when I was reminded of how slimy people are. In a world long dead, people took pride in striving for greatness. Now, they constantly look for ways to fabricate it, and do as little as possible. Some levels in this game will take the bulk of 10 seconds to complete, even at maximum efficiency and speed. When I looked at leader boards, I saw levels that were at least 5-6 seconds long, with record times of 1-2 seconds. There are multiple ways to tackle levels in 10 second ninja, but there can be as many as 10 mechs across the level, along with some platforming required to reach some of them. Very few of the levels in this game's later stages, can be completed in a couple of seconds. In fact, the game has a form of currency that allows you to buy hints for levels. There is a girl on the far side of the ship that has an arcade with a game that nets you coins if you will. These coins can be used to get hints to assist you in each mission. She also has another one of the secrets. If you go around the ship, and collect fragments of a lost CD, she will reconstruct them into a game that is one of the secrets. It is actually a very good arcade game, that is as big as the main game itself. It takes time to get all o the fragments, but it's worth it.
Each level, you will find has different methods that work. Some levels have a gimmick to them, which is a quick way of getting almost all of the mechs in one move. Those levels can be completed in a couple of seconds, but they are few and far inbetween. People hack the game on their devices and computers, to upload impossible times, just to see their names next to it, which robs the excitement of putting you scores up online. There were some levels where I impressed myself, by exploiting the quick gimmick of a level after finding it. After I would load the leaderboards, I would see that my time wasn't even remotely near the top, as dozens of names would boast times that were clearly impossible for that level.
In the end, the sound effects were crisp and satisfying, and the levels were very fun and lively. The last part of the game is actually not a boss. In fact, there are no bosses in the game. At the end, you have to complete a quick platforming level in 10 seconds, to make it through a room, to get to the antagonist, who will surprise you in the end. That level wasn't nearly as hard as it should have been, and it made the final moment slightly anticlimatic. I still enjoyed the game, and the many secrets. The humor is constant throughout the game, and the dialogue of the different characters will get a laugh out of you.You have another room on the ship that has secret costumes that you can unlock by meeting certain requirements. The ending was nice as well, with a still image scene of the main characters coming to a peaceful resolve. It's a game that gives more than it takes. I appreciate that. And you will spend quality time on it, so it's worth your money. Check it out. You have 10 seconds!!!!! 9/10
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