Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns

"An awesome but ideally challenging game."

Introduction: The popular rogue-like Izuna, retaining her title as the unemployed ninja, returns to the DS, for a whole new dungeon crawler adventure. Like its predecessor, this sequel adopts a similar dungeon crawler style, feudal era setting, humorous dialogues, and Izuna's self-centeredness. Those elements do in fact favor the game immensely. A major complaint however, is the level of difficulty that has to be bundled up as well.

Story: Previously, Izuna had to calm the anger of the gods and save the village from a curse she initially started. This new story begins with Izuna together with her companions: Shino, Gen-An, and Mitsumoto being invited to wedding in a nearby village. Upon acquainting with old friends, they receive surprising news concerning Shino's little sister. Thus, a new adventure unfolds as the frantic search for Shino's sister begins.

Game play: Dungeons are basically set up with randomly generated floors, each littered with usable items and hidden traps which my work for or against you. Once you set foot into a dungeon, the only way out is to survive traversing floor by floor until meet your required goal or die trying. Along the way, you will battle a variety of constantly spawning monsters. Like many other dungeon crawler games out there, monsters react according to your movements. I would advise to plan your steps wisely, but monsters always have a tendency of popping up when you least want them to and having you cornered in very little time. There's hardly any way around it. You try taking them on but that will be to no avail. When you die, your body will be taken to the last village you were in. All of your items and money stocked with you will be gone. The only thing that provides relief is having your level and experience points unscathed. Consequently, you are forced back into the dungeon because you have a quest to fulfill. Yes you will get stronger from gaining experience from monster kills and after a few tries, you will get through, but the fact still remains that there are harder dungeons out there and will find yourself time and again being sent back into the village.

Unlike the first game, you can select one partner to accompany you as an alternative playable character. Each partner has his/her own unique skill, and strength you have access to. You can switch characters at will, and perform combo attacks once the special meter is filled. If one of your characters happens to die, the other will automatically take over. This form of teamwork is beneficial in terms of prolonging your survival rate in dungeons. The only downside however, is that all your companions begin at level one. It will take a serious amount time and effort of dungeon grinding to get them to the level you currently are.

Graphics: The game does not utilize much graphics forcing the quality to fall under the border of mediocre, which makes it comparable to a GBA title. The character portraits and sprites however are well designed. They're a minor improvement from the first.

Sound: The music complements the setting of the game. I enjoy listening to it as it helps get you into the mood of playing the game. The voice acting is impressive too but some players may find particular voices to be annoying.

Ease of learning: The game features a convenient tutorial which helps you master all the basics you need to know for dungeon exploration quickly. You can also learn the basics easily by playing the game itself.

Replay Value: There's no replay value, unless you want to traverse the game over again just for the fun of it.

Overall: This game deserves a 7/10. It is delightful in a lot of ways, but the difficulty factor may be a bit overwhelming for the average player. If you're eager to get your hands on a real challenging game, then this will be one for you.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/30/09

Game Release: Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns (US, 07/22/08)