Based on the popular toy line and cartoon TV series, LEGO Ninjago Nindroids lets you play as your favorite ninja heroes as they fight and battle robots who threaten to take over New Ninjago City.  This portable LEGO adventure plays just like all the other LEGO titles out there, and is available for Nintendo 3DS and PS Vita (3DS version review here).

Your LEGO ninja heroes can run, jump, and attack using the B and Y buttons.  Use the A button to interact with objects and build LEGO structures.  Tap the Y button or touch screen to switch out characters (some have different attacks and abilities that you’ll need).  The R button lets you dodge enemy attacks.  As you defeat enemies, a meter will fill up.  When it is full, you can press the L button to unleash a powerful Spinjitzu attack, where you spin around like a tornado and mow down enemies like the Tasmanian Devil.

There are many levels, but they are short and perfect for portable gaming.  In most stages you’ll run around, collecting LEGO studs and other items while defeating enemies and overcoming obstacles and puzzles.  But some levels mix up the action with some shooting and vehicle areas.  Each stage has various challenges for you to tackle, like beating the stage in a certain time, finish without getting hit or dying, and much more.  Earn gold bricks by completing these challenges.  Hidden in each stage are mini-kids and red bricks, the latter is helpful in unlocking secret codes.  After a few introductory levels, you’ll enter a hub world to beat the rest of the game.  Use the studs you collect to purchase characters in the hub world, where you can also take on challenges in a dojo or select the levels to play on.

Similar to other LEGO games, if you lose all your hearts, you’ll just fall apart and lose a bit of the studs you’ve collected, but that’s it.  So it’s great for kids.  Sometimes the goals in the stages aren’t quite as clear, but that’s about the only problem I had with the game, really.  It may not be the best LEGO game out there, but fans of the Ninjago toy line and cartoon will still enjoy it anyway.

Kid Factor:

LEGO Ninjago Nindroids is rated E-10 with an ESRB descriptor of Cartoon Violence.  Most of the enemies you fight are robots anyway, and everyone’s made of LEGO blocks so they just fall apart when defeated.  If you’re OK with your kids watching the cartoon show, they’ll be OK with this game, too.  Reading skill is helpful for some of the text, but the limitless continues keep this game from becoming too frustrating.

Tags: Game Reviews, Television