"Izuna the Uncouth But Cute Ninja"

This game is a rogue-like from Ninja Studios/Success and published by Atlus.

The storyline is that a wandering bunch of ninja walk into a town, and one of them decides to make off with a Sacred Jewel. The jewel causes all the Gods to curse the villagers and Izuna's sensei. So, she goes off to beat up the myraid of Gods and obtain some elemental Orbs that can save her sensei and comrades.

The personalities of each character shine quite brightly, as Izuna is a flirt, a greedy little girl and a ill-tempered girl. She is quite cute, Otaku's like myself will get a kick out of watching some of the dialogue between Izuna's un-sweet personality. There are some Japanese voice-clips, like the shopkeeper who says a traditional Japanese greeting.

The graphics themselves are beautiful, it's like watching a bit of anime on the television. As dialogue progresses, you'd see Izuna interact with many different characters (each represented by a character portrait.)

But herein lies a problem, it's hard to find instructions on which dungeon-slash-God you need to beat up next. You'd wander until you find one certain character that tells you the next dungeon is near "insert landmark here" and when you enter a dungeon, you are unprepared!

In Izuna, Legend of the Unemployed Ninja - every time you die, you lose all items and all money and are transported out of the dungeon to start again. This wouldn't be a problem if the learning curve of the game were so steep. The first three dungeons are a breeze, and then the game springs a couple of dungeons which are horrid - you get mobbed, you can step on status afflicting tiles (which are invisible), and the fact that you must find the exit to save your progress all contribute to a hugely difficult game.

Magic is implemented with items. The items are talismans, represented by little scrolls of paper with kanjii on them. You can collect them to stick onto your weapons to add effects to them, or level up your weapons by "burning in" the talismans. Or you can simply use the little scrolls of paper to attack or to teleport out of a dungeon.

Also, if your life isn't complicated enough, your weapons have stats themselves. One weapon can have a huge durability stat and the next can have a miserable stat, only lasting a couple of hits before they shatter. But the good news is that some talismans can repair your weapons and give them new life.

Movement in dungeons is standard rogue-like fare. You take a move and the monsters will move too.

Overall, Izuna is a pretty decent choice if you like roguelikes - but it's definately not for newbies or veterans of the genre. (It's too much of a micromanaging beast for the newbies and it's too short for the vets.) The witty dialogue keeps you coming back and actually finishing it, but you'd be frustrated most of the time!

*** Vets will be happy to know that there is an end game dungeon that functions very close to classic roguelikes. It's a 100 level dungeon with Gods (bosses) that ascend in level every time to beat them up.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/26/08

Game Release: Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja (US, 02/20/07)