Well, for a start it doesn't take itself seriously and it's got a good sense of humour.

It even has some static shoot-'em-up sections. The story is more or less irrelevant the central Ninja character is about as far removed from the silent assassins prevalent in other ninja titles as you can imagine and it's full of backtracking and an over-abundance of collectibles. Developed by UK-based Argonaut, it's a basic-looking 3D platformer with super-deformed characters, which riffs on everything from Ratchet & Clank and Sonic Adventure to Super Monkey Ball and Super Punch Out in an effort to keep you happy. Not only does I-Ninja fail to match the above-mentioned titles visually or mechanically, but moments of innovation are few and far between, and yet this is a game I've spent hours and hours playing in my own time, despite a growing pile of really exceptional games bought in the January sales that I really need to get round to trying out before publishers wake up and start releasing games again. Then again, it's nice to be proved wrong once in a while. Quite frankly, there's a feeling around here that any newcomer hoping to compete would need to offer more impressive tech and visuals, license attachment of some description, or something genuinely new and innovative in order to catch our attention. Looking further back, there are plenty of other, equally indispensable platformers available on the system, some of which have even made it onto the budget PS2 Platinum label, removing yet more of the barriers to purchase. Over the past few months alone we've seen the release of Jak II: Renegade, Ratchet & Clank 2 and Prince of Persia, all of which raised the bar in different areas, and all of which any self-respecting fan of the genre either owns, or has marked down on their shopping list just above toilet paper and Doritos. The PS2 is hardly suffering a platform game shortage.

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