Pockie Ninja Review
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Browser based anime game Pockie Ninja is a web-based MMO entirely unlike anything else on the market. Bringing together hit Anime/Manga Bleach and Naruto, fans will be able to interact and play as their favourite characters, as well as battle against other well-known figures. Gameplay is pretty lacklustre and completely unvaried – even worse than the average browser-based MMORPG – but I suppose the average person that plays this game will be there for the Bleach and Naruto characters and not for a deep, meaningful RPG. Is this one best left for fans, or will core MMO gamers find a reason to keep playing?
Pockie Ninja gameplay review [HD]
Naruto/Bleach – I can’t say I know an awful lot about Naruto or Bleach, but I recognised the characters. The developers have done a good job of bringing the two franchises together, creating a Naruto and Bleach game. To the unknowledgeable, I couldn’t tell who came from where, so I suppose they’re doing something right. If fan service was enough to keep you hooked on a game, this positive alone will keep your attention for hundreds of hours.
Mission: Linear – Browser MMORPG games won’t be surprised that the mission structure in this game is linear almost to the point that it’s basically interactive fiction. The quest will tell you to converse with a character and you’ll literally get experience just for transporting to their location and clicking “ok.” The conversation consists of pressing on their character model – there’s nothing to read even if you wanted to.
Music – This is another one of those games where you’ll hear 30 seconds of quite pleasant music, it’ll fade for a few seconds and then play again from the beginning. You get the feeling that, if they’d have written a bit more music and looped it, it wouldn’t be so bad. Then you’re reminded of Amazon’s music tasters and you turn down the volume.
Where’s the Story? – I can’t say that I expect an awful lot of plot in a browser-based MMORPG, but I expect a little. Pockie Ninja doesn’t really have much in the way of anything story-related, instead hoping that you meander from place to place because the objective bar tells you to. I can’t imagine that a deep story would have done much to improve this game, and it might have even made it worse (especially since I imagine most people skip it anyway), but it just seems odd to have so little there.
Masterpiece of Animation Web Game – This appears as the description for the page when you’re playing Pockie Ninja. It’s a pretty bold statement to make, considering there’s very little animation in the game. Each different location is just a static background. Occasionally there are a few characters to interact with, and these characters will move slightly. The 3D character models aren’t too bad, but the other menus can be very cluttered, and there are far too many grammar and spelling mistakes to comfortably make your way through the game.
Video Combat – My biggest complaint isn’t the linear mission structure, or the broken menus, but the fact that combat consists of sitting and watching the same few animations time and time again. Battle is automated, but not random and playing for even a short amount of time is likely to give you ample reason to back out.
Broken – And if that wasn’t enough, I’ve come across more than one mission that is, for want of a better word, just broken. Can’t be completed. After a short while I gave up trying to click on the NPC character and just logged out of the game. When I came back, I had a different mission. It’s a pretty odd bug and not something I’ve ever come across before.
Free-To-Play – Some games do Free-to-Play very well, others do it very badly. Pockie Ninja is in the latter category. Everything in this game is monetized, and your life will be much easier if you open your wallet. I imagine much of what they’re selling is available in game, but I get the feeling that the harder something is to gain through progression, the more they’ll try to sell it you.
Pockie Ninja review
The Verdict
Pockie Ninja was created as a fan service, with little care and effort. Unfortunately, it fails the franchises it has brought together. As somebody without a real knowledge of Bleach or Naruto, a Naruto and Bleach game like this doesn't offer much. I feel less inclined to read (or watch) either series. It also gave me an interesting perspective on the game itself, although it’s hard to use the word “game.”
There are definitely people out there who love Pockie Ninja, and perhaps they love it for reasons beyond the ability to play as their favourite anime character. I can’t say. My only conclusion is that it isn’t for me, and that it isn’t likely to impress anybody but the most patient gamer. And even then, you’re unlikely to see it through to the end.
