Ninjala

Ninjala is a unique melee-focused multiplayer live game with tons of style and depth, but for now it's light on content and heavy on microtransactions.

There's much to love in this colourful free-to-play Switch exclusive, but it's obscured by some clumsy design.

Ninjala definitely has the look of something I should be in love with. It's bright and colorful, and the world-building happening here is genuinely fun. What's not fun are the poorly implemented mechanics that can ruin the fast and fluid combat. There is a solid template for something great here, and if GungHo can iron out all its wrinkles, it might have a genuine blockbuster on its hands.

Ninjala is a good-looking and impressively tactical free-to-play arena fighter. It's currently lacking in modes and maps, there are problems with how the lacklustre opening tutorial goes about onboarding new players and the rock-paper-scissors aspect of proceedings is sure to be controversial but, overall, the game is off to a pretty strong start. We can't wait to see where GungHo takes its cast of pint-sized bubblegum protagonists in the coming months.

Ninjala's action doesn't always deliver and the combat can feel unresponsive or slow when you're on the receiving end of attacks, but despite that, Ninjala is an excellent free to play multiplayer title that every Switch player should try out. If you like Splatoon but want something a bit different, this is a great game to play. Just don't expect the story DLC to blow you away. At least it's cheap…

Ninjala is a well-crafted game and another fine example of free-to-play done right.

At the end of the day, Ninjala is a surprisingly entertaining free-to-play game that doesn’t require players to pull out their wallets to have a little fun. The microtransactions are all cosmetic, free content is on its way to add even more depth, and the visual style just oozes with charm.

Ninjala may very well be Nintendo's next hot online multiplayer game. It's free-to-play and totally worth a look, and the action is so fast-paced and addictive that you'll likely find yourself with a new ongoing game to eat up all your free time.

Overall, Ninjala is an enjoyable game but doesn't have a lot of meat on its bones. It's fun to play from time to time, but not something that gives you much variety or content. At least not yet, this game is still young, and I look forward to seeing Ninjala grow.

It's a little early to say if Ninjala will stand up with the likes of Fortnite or Splatoon, but it's a creative, fun, and charming game that we should be keeping an eye on.