Play Super Ninja Spirit and explore a fantasy world full of legendary warriors from shinobi, samurai, and onmyoji.

Fight the forces of evil with your friends and pets and get better gear to get stronger.

Talk to NPCs, do quests, ride mounts, and use various ninja skills to vanquish your foes.

When you say the words “ninja” and “anime”, the next thing that spawns on your mind is Naruto and its epic shinobi world with characters that helped shape your childhood. Due to its popularity, the manga/anime spawned a number of its mainstream games on all platforms. It’s a commercial success and it’s no surprise people want to get a piece of the pie.

Super Ninja Spirit, created by Efun, is one example. Though it tries so hard to not be obvious, its world, characters, lore, and just about everything else is inspired (or straight out copied) from the Naruto universe. Thankfully though, it’s not a shameless reskin of any game: it’s actually a pretty fun RPG which would have been more awesome if it delivered a more original experience. Thing is, should you give the game a try?

Super Ninja Spirit is an MMO action-RPG. You’ll move across a large world and go on an adventure. The gameplay loop is similar to most of its peers: you’ll do quests from different NPCs and after you get them done, you’ll earn gold and experience. Most quests involve you running around the world like a ninja, attacking and defeating monsters in kill quests. Other gameplay elements include getting married, character transformations, and

The controls are fairly standard: you’ll control your character using a virtual joystick on the left side of the screen while the attack and skill buttons are on the right side. There’s also an autoplay method, enabling your character to move around and do things on his own without you lifting a finger.

You’ll start by creating your own character and to do so, you’ll have to select from a few unique yet unoriginal job classes. These include Hokage, Kirikage, and Kumokage. Their attributes and skills set them apart from each other, so be sure to pick one that suits your overall playstyle. There’s no option to customize your character, and all you can do to set them apart from the other players is through getting equipment. The game is extremely generous in handing armors and weapons out, as well as pets and mounts. It’s way too easy to the point that you’re able to go from level 1-30 in half an hour of autoplay. You’ll even fight a large nine-tailed beast within a couple of minutes and beat it handily.

Super Ninja Spirit’s graphics and presentation elements make it a visually-pleasing title. The visual effects and character models are well-designed and are full of life and color. Thing is, most of the things you see on screen are unoriginal. There are monsters, skills, character uniforms, and even names based off of Naruto. For example, you will meet a quest-giver named “Sarutobi Sasuke” and use a technique called “8 Trigrams Air Palm” which are obvious references to the popular manga/anime series.

Overall, Super Ninja Spirit is one of those games that have a tried and tested formula: a great world, fun gameplay, social elements, and great graphics. It’s a decent experience and something you’ll definitely have fun with. However, it would have been better if the game featured something original instead. Regardless, give it a shot and start using your jutsus!