LEGO Ninjago: Shadow of Ronin

Genre: 3D Action-Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

LEGO Ninjago: Shadow of Ronin is a family-friendly 3D Action-Platformer released in 2015 on mobile devices, PlayStation Vita, and Nintendo 3DS. Shadow of Ronin features the characters and world of LEGO’s Ninjago TV series, which is different than The LEGO Ninjago Movie, which is sorta’ a spoof of the Ninjago franchise.

Where the previous LEGO Ninjago game, Nindroids, was an Isometric Action game, Shadow of Ronin returns to a 3D Action-Platformer style that’s more typical of the Traveller’s Tales LEGO series, though not without a few improvements. In addition to a standard melee attack, players can now use a ranged attack, an elemental beam attack, or special attacks that they charge up over time. This variety of attack types makes the combat in this game more interesting, bringing it a bit closer to Arcade Brawlers, though it’s not quite on par with the better games of that genre.

And of course, what’s one thing that both Arcade Brawlers and LEGO franchise games are known for? That’s right, multiplayer! And can you guess what’s not in this game?

~sigh~ You know, I’m not even surprised anymore.

As for the presentation, this game’s 3D visuals are fine but not great (seriously, how are they still making LEGO games on Nintendo 3DS that are less visually impressive than LEGO Star Wars III, which was released at the Nintendo 3DS’s launch!?), and yet despite this, it still has noticeable drops in framerates. At this point, I just have to shake my head.

Meanwhile, the game features forgettable actiony music with hints of that Japanese flute they’re required to use in everything with ninjas, and voice acting for all the characters that… yup, I still want to punch each and every one of these characters in the face. Seriously, did kids find this terrible dialogue entertaining?

As much as I’m not a fan of the Ninjago franchise, I do have to admit that LEGO Ninjago: Shadow of Ronin has some good ideas about breaking the LEGO videogame franchise out of its rut. Unfortunately, the improvements to the combat here aren’t enough to make up for the overall lack of innovation elsewhere, the lack of multiplayer, and the underwhelming presentation. This may be a step forward for LEGO games on Nintendo 3DS, but it’s not enough of a step forward.

tl;dr – LEGO Ninjago: Shadow of Ronin is yet another game to feature Traveller’s Tales family-friendly LEGO game 3D Action-Platformer formula, and this game does make some positive steps forward for the LEGO franchise with its combat system, but it’s still a disappointment just about everywhere else, from the lack of multiplayer to the underwhelming presentation. Unless you’re specifically a fan of the Ninjago franchise, skip this one.

Grade: C-

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