Ninjatown has “sleeper hit” written all over it. It certainly looks innocent enough on the outside – it’s cute and goofy, and oozes sugary sweetness, as it’s actually based on a stuffed toy line (the Shawnimals, created by ex game journo Shawn Smith). But underneath that fluffy exterior is a seriously addictive tower defense game that is as hardcore as it is adorable.

The storyline is pure fluff, and it sets the stage for all the cutesy stuff to come. As it happens, Mr. demon and his army of minions attack Ninjatown, a peaceful town of little ninjas who bake and export cookies. M. Demon is only interested in stealing their secret cookie recipe and Master Ninja (that’s you!) must fight to get it back. One thing you notice early on - everything revolves around the motif of sugar and pastries and baking. Enemies often attack you with syrup, and in fact, the currency in the game is cookies. It’s as if the game designers watched Charlie And the Chocolate Factory one too many times on an intense sugar high, followed it up with a marathon session of Desktop Tower Defense, and then decided to blend it all with cute little ninjas.

The flow of the gameplay is similar to other tower defense style strategy games – you place towers (in this case, ninja huts) on a map in order to defend yourself from the waves upon waves of enemies (here, it’s all demons) that come rambling by. You command an impressive array of little ninja dudes – each of which have special abilities. You have foot soldiers (wii ninjas, caffeine powered business ninjas and anti ninjas, to be precise), ranged ninjas (who throw everything from wasabi peas to fireballs) and powerful mountain ninjas, who like to stab baddies with their pick axes. Each unit can be upgraded 5 times, and modifier buildings can be placed alongside your huts, upgrading certain abilities.

Adding to this, you have several semi-hokey Master Ninja powers – you can do things like blow into the microphone to push enemies back or use a “magnifying glass” to laser the crap out of pesky demons. Of the six available, about three are useful, but they certainly come in handy during later rounds when enemies flood the screen. Also, there are tokens that can be used to distract or damage enemies – and one of them, I kid you not, is a pile of excrement. It’s called “Ninja Dropping” and it sends noxious clouds of green stench at your foes. It’s nasty and it’s brilliant – and serves as a natural counterpart to the baby token, which distracts all the baddies in the area with its cuteness, leaving them vulnerable to attack.

The challenge is in figuring out the right mix of ninjas, modifiers and powers and implementing their strategic placement on the map. Ninjatown offers a decent variety of enemies and stages (some of which may involve multiple enemy paths or access to special weapons, like cannons) on which to wreak havoc. The challenge level ramps up nicely – the game starts you off easy, but later levels will have you dying over and over until you find that perfect placement strategy.

If there’s a major flaw, it’s in the rigidity of the gameplay. There are always a very limited number of available spaces to place your units, meaning that there really are only a couple of ways to beat tougher stages. Also, I kept finding myself ridiculously strapped for cookies until I had too much money and no use for it – there is an overall strictness to the game that comes as a surprise, given the cutesy aesthetic.

Thankfully, it’s so maddeningly addictive that you’ll find yourself coming back for more demon spanking time and again. I must’ve died 25 times on one stage until I figured out the quirk, but I literally couldn’t put it down until I did. Each subsequent play through encourages that “one more game!” sensation – you’ll feel yourself getting closer and closer to the eventual solution. It’s certainly easier – and arguably prettier – than cute but tough as nails PixelJunk Monsters.

The game controls beautifully – the stylus is used for all commands, while the D pad controls the camera. Everything feels quick and responsive, which is a necessity in such a fast paced title. I do wish there was a way to speed up earlier waves of enemies (so it’s easier to get to the good stuff), and a way of undoing an errant command (I inadvertently screwed myself over more than a few times in the heat of battle) but those are fairly minor nitpicks in an otherwise very smooth experience.

Concerning the look and feel of the game, no doubt some players will choke on the pastel sweetness of it all. It’s cuter than a litter of puppies surrounded by giggling babies in footie pajamas. Everything is super deformed and tiny – your ninjas are small and sweet, and you almost want to hug them instead of sending them off to battle. It may cause estrogen flare-ups in female gamers, and an intense urge to throw up in male gamers. Beware either way.

While it seems a relatively odd choice to showcase the Shawnimals line in a desktop defense strategy title – which is really still an emerging subgenre - it works. It may be super cute and a bit inflexible for some, but the title absolutely beams with quality. It’s a polished, addictive, incredibly fun game that belongs in your DS even if you’ve never touched anything that resembles a “strategy” game. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to o throw a Ninja dropping in a big demon’s face.

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