{"id":15600,"date":"2016-12-14T00:01:49","date_gmt":"2016-12-14T00:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=15600"},"modified":"2016-11-17T14:37:11","modified_gmt":"2016-11-17T14:37:11","slug":"ninja-usagimaru-the-mysterious-karakuri-castle-3ds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/14\/ninja-usagimaru-the-mysterious-karakuri-castle-3ds\/","title":{"rendered":"Ninja Usagimaru: The Mysterious Karakuri Castle (3DS)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NINJA_BOX\"<\/a>A rabbit-eared ninja named Usagimaru sets out to save villagers who have been captured by evil Oni in this puzzle platform adventure.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It has a mythical Japanese look and feel, and plays similar to other classic platform puzzlers like Solomon\u2019s Key.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s available to download on the Nintendo 3DS.<\/span><\/p>\n

As Usagimaru, you can run, jump, duck, and manipulate blocks.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>You can pick up blocks, push and pull them, carry them around, and throw them.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Your job is to put a block on top of a red Oni, which will cause a blue Oni on the level to drop one of the captured villagers.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Then you must untie the villager, and make sure they\u2019re safe as you make your way to a rabbit stone to finish the level.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Usagimaru has a few tools at his disposal to help him solve puzzles.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He has a hookshot to pull certain blocks closer to him, as well as a kite that lets him fly in the air if there is any wind.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>You can also set a pinwheel somewhere in the level so if you mess up, you can warp back to where you set the pinwheel.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>As you progress, you\u2019ll gain access to other tools as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes enemies roam about the level.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>They\u2019re all \u201cyokai\u201d monsters based on Japanese myths, and include Kappa, those one-eyed umbrella things, and more.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>You can dispatch them by squishing them with a block, but if you pick up the block again, they\u2019ll continue their walk.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>If you or the villager gets touched by one of these monsters or traps, you\u2019ll have to start the level over again.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The game will keep record of how many times you\u2019ve attempted a level, as well as your best time of completion.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>You can also earn trophies by reaching certain milestones.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The game also has kind of a sumi-e art style, similar to games like Okami.<\/span><\/p>\n

The game does have a few problems here and there.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Most of the time the controls are accurate, but sometimes it can be hard to judge how far you can jump, which may lead to some unnecessary mistakes.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>When you free a villager, they\u2019ll follow your, but sometimes they\u2019ll stop for no reason I could tell, and it\u2019s hard to get them to follow you again.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The difficulty also seems a bit unbalanced, as you may finish a particularly stumping level, and then the next stage may be super easy.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The bottom screen on the 3DS will show hints, but sometimes they\u2019re not very helpful.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I would\u2019ve liked to have seen a more comprehensive hint system, but I do like that they also show you what the buttons do on the bottom screen, since there is so much you can do in the game.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>But other than those problems, this is still a pretty neat little downloadable puzzle game.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>If you enjoyed classic puzzlers like Solomon\u2019s Key, you\u2019ll definitely want to check this one out, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"NINJA_SCREEN\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Kid Factor:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ninja Usagimaru: The Mysterious Karakuri Castle is rated E for Everyone with an ESRB descriptor of Mild Fantasy Violence.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>If you or the villager gets touched by an enemy, you just fall off the screen.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>If you squish an enemy under a block, you can still see them wriggling around underneath, and if you pick the block up again, they\u2019ll pop right back out.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>So violence is only cartoony.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Reading skill is helpful for the text, and younger gamers may get frustrated at the high difficulty and may need help.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Because the game reinforces logic and thinking skills, it could be considered somewhat educational, though.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A rabbit-eared ninja named Usagimaru sets out to save villagers who have been captured by evil Oni in this puzzle platform adventure.\u00a0 It has a mythical Japanese look and feel, and plays similar to other classic platform puzzlers like Solomon\u2019s Key.\u00a0 It\u2019s available to download on the Nintendo 3DS. As Usagimaru, you can run, jump, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15600"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15730,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15600\/revisions\/15730"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}