"Lufia 2 and Ys had a hot sister, and her name was Izuna."

Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja just came out today. I've played it probably about 10 hours now already,and cant put it down.

Izuna is brought to you by Success/Ninja Studio and published by Atlus.

Its an action RPG with randomly generated dungeons, colorful scenery, comical characters, and addicting gameplay...

Story: 10/10 This would adapt into an awesome anime series....Izuna and company are of the few ninjas left with a purpose in the world, and as they stumble into town, their grandboss angers the gods. Result? The townsfolk get all jacked up and cursed. People sneeze alot, whine and go loopy....its pretty funny! Izuna sets out to seek shiny treasure and get the gods to lift their curses....Its not cliche, and even if it was, its the funniest presentation of it ive ever seen.

Gameplay: 10/10 In the land of liscense boards, quirky character stat systems, and annoying crafting systems, Izuna throws you back to the roots of action gameplay. The dungeons are randomly generated. When you move, enemies move. You are left to run around the dungeons grabbing loot, equipping yourself, and wailing on enemies. You have use of healing items, and talismans that function like spells. The effects are pretty comical.

Izuna can also trigger traps, most notably the Smoke trap, which warps you to a random point on the dungeon floor and has Izuna say "I ran away out of habit!"....ninja and smoke, get it?!

I like the dungeon crawling. It adds a nice Ys/Zelda like hack slash system, with a splash of Lufia 2 for the traps and enemy movement....

In town, Izuna can shop for talismans, store loot and money in a storage house, and save at the Inn...

Graphics: 10/10 These are some bright, colorful, detailed graphics! The anime paperdolls are anime quality. There really are no flaws in the graphics. I love the detail and lush scenery....

Music/Sound: 10/10 The combat sounds are right on, Izunas Japanese combat voice effects are fitting, and the music itself is verrrryyyyy fitting. Theres that hint of traditional Japanese orchestral music mixed with new age electronic composition. Very nice.

All in all, this is a solid game for the 30$ price tag. If you're looking for a serious, climactic, engrossing story line...eh, go buy something else. This is a straight up comedy hack/slash with that perfect old school addicting game play we have been deprived of for so long...

Now if you will excuse me, I have some villagers to uncurse...

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 02/22/07