776th played so far
Genre: Action
Platform: Game Boy Advance
Year of Release: 2003
Developer: Hudson Soft
Publisher: Konami
Sometimes, you know, I’m just checking boxes. Ninja Five-O is another 2D action platformer, although released a decade or two after they were popular. Still have to play it, we’ll see what’s in there.
Our Thoughts
After games like Bionic Commando Rearmed and Contra III and their arcade predecessors, I’ve started to develop some fatigue with these action platformers. There’s not technically a focus on platforming, but there were some jumping challenges and some of it felt like it stopped me (although I might be wrong on some of them). Most of the time, it’s more of a run and gun thing, fighting a lot of tough enemies and trying to save hostages. That’s more difficult than it sounds, as you need to shoot at the right time and the timing gets difficult.
After the first level, the levels get large, spread out over several rooms (which don’t all matter at my easier difficulties). You’re searching for hostages to try to free, for keys to open doors, and passages through the level. I mostly got turned around later on, missing out on all the different ways to traverse.
Final Thoughts
This game is fine, I suppose. It does the job. It looks fine for a Gameboy game. I see the point. I just don’t see what’s outstanding about it here, which makes it difficult to enjoy – so yeah, it’s not my thing.