foes; both of these can be aimed using a first-person view, but shuriken can also be thrown with an auto-aim feature. Occasionally, Ninja will encounter an enemy that will leap into the air with him (in anime fashion) to battle, and the two will remain suspended in a sort of flying void until the foe is defeated. While in this void, Ninja flies around and can dash, slash with his sword, perform an unblockable but heavily delayed thrusting attack, and throw shuriken if he has them. As Ninja attacks he will build an attack gauge that, when filled to certain levels, can be spent to temporarily enhance his abilities. As the player progresses through the game he will gain access to more of these abilities; using them he can increase his strength, heal his life bar, ride a giant shuriken to quickly slay foes, or even become invincible, which allows him to greatly harm enemies in his vicinity without even touching them. When Ninja activates invincibility, he says "I-Ninja!", which provides the game with its namesake. Reception The GameCube and Xbox versions received "generally favorable reviews", while the PlayStation 2 version received "average" reviews, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. IGNs Douglass C. Perry said, "I-Ninja packs so much personality and attitude into its formulaic design that its charm and personality lift it above the fray of me-too titles." GameSpot reviewer Ryan Davis said, "At first glance, I-Ninja may appear to be a simple action game designed for kids, but in reality, it is anything but. The visual style may seem kid-friendly, but the level of challenge I-Ninja has to offer keeps the game interesting for a wider audience." The game's protagonist has been included on the lists of video gaming's top 10 ninja characters by 1UP.com in 2004 and PC World in 2010. References External links 2003 video games 3D platform games Argonaut Games games Cancelled Game Boy Advance games GameCube games Japan in non-Japanese culture Namco games Platform games PlayStation 2 games Single-player video games Sony Interactive Entertainment games Video games about ninja Video games about revenge Video games developed in the United Kingdom Windows games Xbox games