NINJA KIDZ: TIME MASTERS

My first honest reaction to NINJA KIDZ: TIME MASTERS was to respect what it is trying to do, and then spend the rest of my time wishing it had been executed a little better. This is a 3D beat-em-up with a time-travel hook, four playable characters, and 16 levels spread across eras that range from the Jurassic period to outer space - a genuinely varied world canvas for a licensed kids title. Pick up Bryton with his katana, Payton with her bo staff, Paxton swinging nunchakus, or the quick-footed Ashton with his kama, and each does feel mechanically distinct enough to hold a child's attention across the run time. There is even an unlockable fifth character, Shane, earned by finishing Story Mode, plus a Boss Rush and a hidden challenge mode gated behind it - more content hooks than you might expect for a game this short. The combat loop itself is modest but functional: light and heavy attacks chain into basic combos, a special-move meter fills as you fight, and you can pocket projectiles like shurikens, bombs, or kunais dropped by enemies. The catch is that you can carry only one item at a time, which means hoarding a health pickup costs you your ranged option, a small friction point that adds a thin layer of decision-making. Against that, the controls carry a noticeable delay between input and response, and character movement feels sluggish in a way that works against the game's own design - some enemy types demand distance to handle safely, and getting there feels like wading through something thick. At least two bugs in the build tested for Xbox were notable: a charge attack advertised in the tips screen that never triggered, and a rumble-disable option that had no actual effect. Whether those landed in the PC version unchanged is unclear. The production values are where the trade-offs sit most uncomfortably. The cartoon-style art design is colourful and friendly, and the time-themed level variety gives each world a distinct look. But the audio work undercuts a lot of that goodwill: the soundtrack repeats the same tune with minimal variation from stage to stage, and the voice acting has an unpolished, close-mic quality that younger players who watch the YouTube channel might forgive entirely, while everyone else will notice within minutes. The cutscenes are light and breezy rather than cinematically ambitious, which is probably the right call for the audience. Here is the honest framing, though. This game was built for children who already love Ninja Kidz TV, and judged by that measure it lands better than the technical shortcomings suggest. Parents report kids playing happily and with real engagement, recognising the characters, and not particularly caring about input latency. The four-player local co-op works, requires controllers (no keyboard support for multiplayer), and gives families an easy couch game with a clear, digestible structure. If you are a solo adult gamer drawn in by the beat-em-up genre framing, the issues will chafe. If you are buying this to share with a six-to-ten-year-old who follows the channel, the roughness fades into the background and the charm carries more weight. Kai, Scout Team