Last Ninja: Idle Adventure Review

A Truly Idle Game

Naruto, a popular manga and television series, has found new life in a game recently added to the Play Store. Last Ninja: Idle Adventure is a turn-based RPG like another game we covered, Dynasty Scrolls, and was developed by YAO GAME. Their game has found its way onto Hardcore Droid’s chopping block, and its lack of polish may prove fatal.

To Play Or Not To Play

Last Ninja: Idle Adventure has players collect characters that battle enemies to earn currency and experience. Players summon characters in the hope that a summon will result in an exceptionally rare character. Microtransactions litter the game, sometimes bombarding you with the appeal of a shiny new character. Characters and enemies battle automatically and players control what special abilities activate in battle. This can be made automatic as well with the auto button.

Considering all of this, you would assume battling was the best way to obtain materials and experience, but this is wrong. The best way to accumulate materials and experience is to do absolutely nothing. Last Ninja: Idle Adventure’s title might raise some confusion, but eventually you learn the title is a hint.

The game automatically generates experience and currency for you, regardless of what you do. In the middle of taking notes on the game, I went from rank two to rank twenty-six. You could be exploring the main hub, or battling, or sleeping, and the game will accumulate wealth for you.

An interesting choice for a game labeled an RPG, but one quite contrary to the RPG model. Especially one with microtransactions. As if the goal here is to convince players to pay into a game they were not expected to play anyway. I would not call it a bad feature, but the concept of doing nothing to progress might be incompatible with gamers’ standards.

Underdeveloped Parts

Last Ninja: Idle Adventure’s presentation begins impressively, compared to the execution of the actual game. The title screen presents the most exciting part of the game. It features dramatic music and some of the franchise’s most important characters. A spectacle one familiar with the anime would recognize but one unfamiliar would appreciate instantly.

The game transitions from this excellence into a relaxed and comfortable main hub where the soundtrack continues to match. The tutorial begins, and eventually proceeds to combat, where the discord begins. The battles would be completely mute if not for the generic combat sound effects. The game does not use battle music for normal fights or for important fights against bosses. Both events are functionally identical anyway. The combat lacks all the flare and flashiness expected from a game representing this franchise.

The game attempts to teach the player about the story within Naruto by displaying summaries before certain battles. The game includes no cutscenes or similar cinematic to aid the presentation of story elements. As if text captures the energetic craziness of the Naruto franchise. However, players cannot replay battles they have already completed to refresh what information the game provides. The game could have used a lot of polish before being thrown together. The game’s parts resemble pieces of a puzzle that simply do not fit together.

Last Ninja: Idle Adventure is a game that might not appeal to many. For a Naruto game it lacks much, but who said a game needed to appeal to lofty standards anyway? It’s good to have games that are fantastic and games that are not. A video game is a piece of art, and just like a piece of art, Last Ninja: Idle Adventure appeals to a particular audience that might not be most people.