The Last Ninja was the first computer game I was ever completely absorbed by. I had it for the Apple II-GS when I was about 8 years old. That was back in the day where Apple II-GS graphics were much better than IBM. It was a visual treat for kid and the sound effects in the fighting, noises of birds and rivers, and far-east music tracks were Class A. It is a non-stop action adventure. As I recall, it is one of those games that requires frequent saves to get through tricky parts, though.
The Last Ninja was the first computer game I was ever completely absorbed by. I had it for the Apple II-GS when I was about 8 years old. That was back in the day where Apple II-GS graphics were much better than IBM. It was a visual treat for kid and the sound effects in the fighting, noises of birds and rivers, and far-east music tracks were Class A. It is a non-stop action adventure. As I recall, it is one of those games that requires frequent saves to get through tricky parts, though. Dying over and over again can be frustrating.
The whole premise of the game is that you are a Ninja attempting to topple an evil “master.” He inhabits the temple of a castle in
some unnamed feudal oriental land. The game has six “levels” and is played from a 3rd person perspective. To navigate the landscape your character runs across still, set screens which contain active borders that will load subsequent screens. All fighting, throwing and jumping is done using key combinations. The ninja can go in 8 directions as is typical in games that use the numeric keypad for controls. Since you can leave screens in only 1 of 4 ways, it was very helpful for me (and my Dad who also got hooked on this game) to draw maps of what is in each room. Some special items are needed to pass various obstacles and challenges.
The game is full of awesome scenes. It includes oriental architecture, moving water features, well designed enemy characters, animals, and natural landscapes. Your ninja collects weapons (like swords, nunchucks, and ninja stars), tools, and other various accoutrements. The game has all of the aspects of a quest-type with goal oriented levels, yet has a surprisingly challenging action aspect involved in the fighting and acrobatic jumping that’s required.
The levels are The Wastelands, The Wilderness, Palace Gardens, The Dungeons, The Palace, and finally The Inner Sanctum. You will meet mythical dragons, man eating plants, undead spirits, giant spiders, and lots of hardcore bad ninjas.
My advice, enjoy it! But save OFTEN!
