Ninja Usagimaru: The Mysterious Karakuri Castle Review

Ninja Usagimaru: The Mysterious Karakuri Castle Nintendo 3DS Review

Who doesn’t enjoy a good puzzle game? I know I do! A game that can be fun but also challenging for your mind is always an appealing choice in my eyes. But if that game involves cute ninja rabbits then that is just the cherry on top! And that is why I had decided to give the game Ninja Usagimaru a play as I just couldn’t resist playing as a heroic bunny rescuing villagers from cute but evil monsters.

Before your brain starts getting a workout, you will get to know your character by reading through a short but sweet story of how your heroic journey began. After the little introduction you will be given five tutorial lessons on how to play the game, so I definitely recommend playing through each tutorial as it does help you grasp the game a lot quicker! The controls are very simple and you don’t need to use a stylus to play as everything is done by using your d-pad and control stick.

So once you’ve grasped the basics, then the real fun can now begin! So on the top screen there are seven different areas that you can play through with the first being the tutorials. After playing through the first few levels, I noticed that the words the character says on the bottom screen are actually hints and tips on how to pass the level so make sure to read it when you start a new level. Since this is a puzzle game, I do find myself scratching my head sometimes as this game can leave me feeling stumped. But never fear as you can always retry or choose a different level and then return back to it when you feel like trying again.

Ninja Usagimaru: The Mysterious Karakuri Castle Nintendo 3DS Review

After completing the first ‘Maple Forest’ area you will be treated to more of the story and you can always re-watch it if you wanted by choosing the rabbit icon between the ‘start’ and ‘back’ icons. To make the game more interesting there are trophies that you can earn when you complete certain objectives when playing through the game. There are twenty trophies to collect so it would be a nice side challenge to do on top of the main game.

The music in the game is the traditional oriental style music and is only instrumental with no singing. This type of music fits in well with the whole ninja theme and because it isn’t too intense, it will be relaxing to have playing as you try and solve the puzzles.

Ninja Usagimaru: The Mysterious Karakuri Castle Nintendo 3DS Review

I really like the art style for this game as the characters are cute and the background is very anime-like which I absolutely love. It also features the traditional brush and ink being used in the menus and stage selects which adds a nice touch as it is used by people in many Asian cultures. I have used one myself before and the more practice you get, the nicer your words and drawings will look.

Overall, even though I have only played through the first area in the game I know I will carry on playing to see how far I can get. Even though sometimes I do get frustrated when I have to restart the whole level after making one mistake because I sometimes forget to place down a pinwheel checkpoint, I do find this game rather fun. So if you fancy saving cute rabbit villagers and squishing evil monsters then head on over to the Nintendo e-shop now.

Rating 8

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Nintendo 3DS code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.

Subscribe to our mailing list

Get the latest game reviews, news, features, and more straight to your inbox