Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns
by Atlus
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Product Summary
Brand: AtlusRelease Date: 2008-07-22
Platform: Nintendo DS
Model: IS-40019-5
Publisher: Atlus
Product features:
- Down-and-dirty dungeon Role Playing Games action
- New TAG team system
- Over a dozen playable characters
- More dungeons, items, and enemies than the original Izuna
Video Game Reviews of Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns
Customer Review: A dungeon crawler sequel that's better than the first
Summary: 4 Stars
I gotta give a lot of props to Atlus for releasing, well, everything they do. They got a knack for releasing good games that aren't flashy or popular enough to get released through other publishers.
I've played the original and found it so-so. The gameplay was always an extreme between "you're invincible" and "you're fodder". There are a few things Izuna 2 does to help moderate the experience.
First is the addition of a partner during the dungeon crawls. If you get in a spot of bad-luck you can now tag-team out to your partner. If you keep your characters at around the same level this effectively works out to being able to tap double HP, at the cost of a limited number of swaps per turns and the non-trivial task of balancing experience, additional weapons, and keeping your reserve healthy. This seems to help recover from those times when you're on the run and step on a demon-trap that previously signified "I hope you have an escape scroll!"
In addition, if you survive enough turns, you can perform combo moves with your partner that impact a bunch of enemies at once and cost no SP. Now, if you play conservatively, you have at least some option in the cases when you do, in fact, get mobbed.
Second is closing up a loophole that lets you recover all your HP by just standing around the dungeon floor exit letting turns pass by. Now if you waste too much time like that you'll find your SP drop like a rock.
Other balance issues are the bosses: the bosses are significantly harder than I remember from Izuna 1. Also, stresses on your inventory are slightly worse now that you have to carry weapons/ammo for your cohorts (not every person can wield every weapon) so you have more weapons to maintain, upgrade, and hope they don't break.
The new weapons really add some tactical options, such as a yo-yo that hits everything in a straight line out from you and a set of boots that let you make two non-attack moves for every one move of the enemy.
Like the first, the graphics aren't top notch and the audio would be nice to have subtitled at least, although the voice acting helps convey the feeling of helplessness when a status effect afflicts you. The addition of a world map and different towns is nice and, compared to the first, it seems like it's received quite a bit more polish. You also get statistics collected regarding pretty much anything you'd ever want to know: how many times entering a town, dying in a dungeon, escaping, dying, even all-female combo attacks. The addition of a camera to go back and review some of the nice character art is a nice touch and a cool challenge to find and not waste your film (you didn't think THAT'd be easy, did you?)
This one is a lot of fun to keep on and in a dungeon and just leave your DS on standby so you can pick it up, clear a few floors, and put it away. If you liked Izuna you'll also like Izuna 2... I'd wager a little better than the original, too. If you liked the IDEA of Izuna but didn't like it's execution, you might want to rent Izuna 2 to see if it fixed what you didn't like about the first. It's not perfect, but I expect it's about as good as it's going to get without radically changing everything.
Description of Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns
When Izuna's friend disappears, rumored to be on the run from the Gods and dressed as a French maid, the Unemployed Ninja must stand up to the angry Gods, find a maid lost in Japan, and who knows, maybe make a coin or two along the way. Hey, a girl's got to make a living!Role-Playing Games
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