Samurai Defender: Ninja Warfare

 Switch
Metascore
63

Mixed or average reviews - based on 4 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. NintendoWorldReport
    Jun 25, 2018
    70
    Samurai Defenders: Ninja Warfare is a simple but serviceable tower defense game. The gameplay is solid and easy to grasp but the lack of mission variety and level design make this one just as easy to put down. All in all, it was the chibi archers that kept me battling to the end.
  2. Nintenderos
    Aug 6, 2018
    65
    Samurai Defender: Ninja Warfare is a simple but pleasant game. The game keeps on adding challenges thanks to its difficulty evolution. The story can be found short and with little changes, as well as the soundtrack.
  3. Nintendo Life
    Jun 5, 2018
    60
    Samurai Defender: Ninja Warfare may not bring anything new to the table among the castle defence genre, but it does so in a charming feudal Japanese cartoon wrapper. Despite not setting the video gaming world ablaze (unlike the poor fools rushing at your door) anyone looking to blissfully slaughter wave upon wave of enemy cannon fodder soliciting at your castle gate need not look further.
  5. Digitally Downloaded
    Jun 11, 2018
    50
    I wanted to be more engaged in Samurai Defender. It takes place in one of my favourite periods of history, and we've got plenty of reference examples of games handling this era well - everything from Nioh and Samurai Warriors to Muramasa, Onimusha, Nobunaga's Ambition and Tenchu. All of those games or franchises offer enjoyable gameplay, but just as importantly, a sense of history and place to give the gameplay context. Samurai Defender looks like it should be more than it is, but never gets there, and feels overwhelmingly shallow as a consequence.
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User Reviews

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User Score
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No user score yet- Awaiting 2 more ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. Tr1nity
    Jan 9, 2022
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. Don't believe those others, this game starts out slow but eventually you hit a groove that is incredibly satisfying. It isn't truly a tower defense game, but as a castle defense game, I can't get enough. Yes, it requires some grinding at times, but the fun part is you can go back to previous levels and instead of just replaying the same level with the same warriors, you can experiment to your heart's content, trying new tactics and using different unit combinations. That way, it feels a little less like grinding and more like a sandbox defense game.
    Other reviews spell out the basics of the game, so I will skip over that somewhat. Instead, I want to focus on the good and the bad of the early and mid-game. First off, yes, the early game is a little dull, in that all you really have is the lone archer on the wall and maybe a helper or two that becomes available as the mission progresses. At that point, it isn't a ton of fun, however, these early missions are more like tutorials, in that they let you get comfortable with the control scheme, which on the switch is really a combination of touch-screen and buttons. The touch screen allows you to immediately move the cursor anywhere you like. Different buttons will cause different things to happen at the cursor. The default is that the wall archers will shoot wherever the cursor is, However, if you hold down, say, the X button, it can cause a defense wall or musketeer or whatever to appear at the cursor point. It takes a little getting used to, but once you figure out how to do it, the game works quite well, even when the battles get fast and furious later on.
    As I got further along and unlocked new units and upgrades, it opened up new strategies to try out, which is where most of the fun lies. I currently have rows of musketeers, with defense walls in front of them, and this strategy seems to work most of the time. That said, the game throws unit combinations at you that seem designed to defeat single strategies. For example, I hit a boss that has the ability to obliterate those precious defense walls that I put up, allowing a clear path to my castle. So, I had to modify what unit load-out to take to defeat them, and ended up having to level up some units that I hadn't previously used. In this way, the game doesn't get boring for me. I also love the sense of progress as I spend gold upgrading my castle HP, MP (which you use to summon units to the battlefield), etc., so that when I run up against a mission that results in defeat, it isn't frustrating at all, because I can either go to earlier missions and grind for a bit to increase whatever stat that was the culprit, or I can try a different set of unit load-outs with no penalty.
    I guess the problem many other reviewers had was that it was slow and grindy, but for me, that was exactly why I loved the game. Anyway, I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys playing management games (e.g. Starcraft) by turtling up. This is one massive turtle-up game that really rang my bell, and it wasn't exactly bank-breaking expensive to buy. Give it a try!    … Full Review »
  2. mikepatduha
    Mar 10, 2020
    10
    its the best tower defense game on switch, its beautiful animated, frenetic action , and up leveling army, while enemy gets stronger at theits the best tower defense game on switch, its beautiful animated, frenetic action , and up leveling army, while enemy gets stronger at the same time,wonderful right difficultyJUST GIVE IT A TRY… Full Review »