IO's Mini Ninjas arrives September

By Robert Purchese Published 13 August, 2009

Hitman dev drops mature image.

Eidos has announced an 11th September launch for Mini Ninjas, the next game from Hitman and Kane & Lynch developer IO Interactive.

There's no gritty realism, swearing and brutal murder here, however, but wholesome cartoon slapstick with swirly cel-shaded clouds.

"With 10 years in the bag, many of the developers here have started families and wanted to take a stab at making games that they could enjoy with their kids," reveals the developer on the Mini Ninjas website.

Despite that, IO still promises "great depth". "It's as much an IOI title as Hitman or Kane & Lynch," we're assured.

Mini Ninjas follows Hiro, who must seek out a posse to stop the Evil Samurai Warlord turning all the world's animals into mindless henchmen on a quest for domination. Hiro has the power of Kuji Magic on his side, and appears to be able to turn into animals and stop time, if gameplay videos are to be believed.

There's no co-op, sadly, but you can play as all the mini-ninjas you round up to support your cause.

Mini Ninjas is in development for DS, PC, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (11) Latest comment 3 years ago

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  • EmiliasHorse #1 3 years ago

    Looking forward to this. Should make a refreshing change.

  • kangarootoo #2 3 years ago

    "With 10 years in the bag, many of the developers here have started families and wanted to take a stab at making games that they could enjoy with their kids"

    Sounds exactly like the sort of thing actors say, just before their films crash downhill or they disappear altogether.

    Come back to us Gary Oldman, come back.


    This game does actually look quite good. But I worry whenever parenthood starts to affect peoples' minds :)

  • X201 #3 3 years ago

    @Svpamm1
    IO aren't making it.

    http://ww w.eurogamer.net/articles/rockst...
    Edited by 1 at 13/08/09 @ 17:08

  • BillyBrush #4 3 years ago

    Yep, cold blooded murder ftw...

    Reviewers won't give it ze tops...you crib wind waker's smokely dokely effects and reviewers are just going to focus on how this game doesn't match up to wind waker

  • BillyBrush #5 3 years ago

    ...Oh...Rocksteady...oh shit, Batman looks nice but a UE3 talky talky Hitman is not what we want...cold scandanavian killer Rocksteady...no talky talky, just killy killy, with no remorse

  • kangarootoo #6 3 years ago

    Are you drunk?

    :)

  • matrim83 #7 3 years ago

    I suspect he is. :)

    I really love the look of this one. And unless the reviews completely slate it, I will probably end up getting it.

    Also IO much as we love your dalliances with other genres, just get working on a new Hitman game. Please. Been too long since Blood money.

  • autogunner #8 3 years ago

    JUST when you got hitman right, you take a break from the franchise... I for one am dissapointed, but will probably still try it

  • Pastici #9 3 years ago

    Freedom Fighters 2 NOW! :(
    Edited by 1 at 13/08/09 @ 23:20

  • Cyclone #10 3 years ago

    JUST when you got hitman right, you take a break from the franchise... I for one am dissapointed, but will probably still try it

    To be honest mate I think they got it right with the second game, Silent Assassin; Contracts and especially Blood Money simply built on 2's solid foundation. It is a shame that they took a break from making Hitman games as they did an absolutely fantastic job with Blood Money but I am looking forward to this, and the second Kane and Lynch game. Even if Rocksteady are making Hitman 5 I would imagine that they'd have access to the code and support from IO which, combined with their experience at making Arkham Asylum, should result in a quality Hitman game. Hopefully at any rate.
    Edited by 2 at 14/08/09 @ 08:09

  • muscleblade #11 3 years ago

    Getting this along with Arkham Asylum.