System 3 are probably best known for their ninja games, which have achieved cult status since they first appeared on eight-bit machines in the early 1980s. The team now present Ninja Remix, which they describe as the definitive beat-em-up.

Centuries ago the Brotherhood of the Ninja chose the island of Lin Fen as their site for the shrine of the White Ninja, a place where the legendary Koga Scrolls could carefully hidden from the rest of the world.

Taking the role of a young ninja acolyte, it is your solemn duty to repossess and return the scrolls, which have been captured by the mighty Shogun Kunitoki. Deep in the centre of the island stands the palace of Lin Fen - another fortress, but crafted by the very hands of the Mystical Shadow Warriors.

Having been to the island once as a young acolyte, you have a vague memory of where certain paths and passages are located. That was over 10 years ago, and since then much has changed.
Find your way around the levels you must pick up anything that you might find useful and locate the exit before you become just another memory.

The island has been divided into six different sections - the wastelands, the wilderness, palace gardens, dungeons, palace and the inner sanctum. Each has its own deadly dangers. Fortunately, you have not been put on this island totally defenceless.
Initially armed with only what you have learned over years of intensive ninja training, you have to defeat any of the Shogun's minions in hand-to-hand combat.
Later on you will be able to find and use various weapons dropped or left carelessly lying around by the enemy.

Each weapon has its own advantages and disadvantages. The sword, for example, is extremely effective in long range combat, but falters heavily at close range, whereas the nunchukas are as effective at either range.

After learning the rudimentaries of combat you begin to explore the island and its inhabitants. All of the levels contain logical puzzles and traps, most of which are solved with the help of objects or a little common sense.

This conversion by System 3 contains all of what Ninja II should have. It's a must for all you beat-em-up fans.

Ninjas are a secret British obsession. Every video shop has at least one shelf filled with duff films of the black pyjama brigade's antics. Computer leisure too, has had its fill of shuriken throwers. One of the first, and some would argue one of the best, was Last Ninja from System 3 on the C64.

Last Ninja II however, was dreadful and scored a surprisingly high 58% in AF14. This technically was System 3's first ninjutsu outing on the 16 bits. Now they have remastered the moves, changed the plot and revamped the graphics and proudly present to you... Ninja Remix.

Mature Normal Ninja Human
Taking control of a small ninja in an isometric 3D world, your hero ninja moves at exactly 45 degrees of from the joystick, an initially confusing necessity of the game. You have to walk and jump the ninja around six different landscapes collecting kit and beating people up.

The ninja is almost, but not quite, totally joystick controlled. Moving is a matter of stick rotation, rolling the ninj' to face the right direction and then pushing to send him on the way. Fighting and collecting is done with the aid of the fire button. Keystrokes are used to change weapons and objects held.

No More Deadly Hedges
The Ninja is vulnerable, but hard. He has a life meter that is surprisingly generous and takes multiple hits before cracking. Ostensibly, the plot involves jumping over rivers, noticing small but essential objects that lie in the hedgerow and bot being killed by the thousands of ninja hunters.

The graphics are massively improved from Ninja II. They work this time! Picking up objects no longer required pixel-perfect positioning, virtual perfection will now suffice.

The isometric environment is more friendly, no more getting killed by 2D rivers in a 3D world. Fighting has been improved, giving your armed ninj' three battle moves which vary in effect depending on which weapon he holds.

The map is large and the right route must be learnt if you're not in to banging your head against a cartographic brick wall.
Yet Ninja Remix is still only an isometric 3D adventure. It is a long hard challenge and not a trial of speed. Fighting is best avoided because the small sprites make it very hard to see what's going on. It's good, but not stunning.

Innovation is important for a game to become a classic. But what was innovative four years ago certainly can't be now. 1987 saw the release of The Last Ninja, a landmark computer game. But now, almost four years later the question to ask is has it stood the test of time?

Yes and no is the noncommittal, but appropriate answer. Yes in that the concept has yet to be successfully repeated, and not in that there's more than a few people have played the original game to death.

Although Ninja Remix isn't a copy of the original Ninja game, the design, and some of the ideas have been duplicated. For a start the play area is a system of paths, as in the original, which run through the background. This may sound restrictive, but there's more than adequate room to move. Some of the levels do look very similar to those in the '87 version. I suppose that's why it's a Remix, not Ninja 3.

The quality of the graphics is excellent throughout. Each level employs an individual style. Enemy Ninjas are tidy enough, and varied designs provide a constant stream of new opponents. On the early stages they're content with running at you with swords drawn, but as the game progresses, they get smarter, waiting for you to make a move before they attack.

A rather large status window runs round the bottom and right-hand side of the play area and displays your Ninja's energy, what weapons and objects he's carrying, and the status of any bad guys on screen.

Suitably oriental soundtracks accompany each level, nothing spectacularly technical, but well written and atmosphere enhancing.

The object is to pass through six levels, the wasteland, mountains, gardens, dungeons, palace, and, finally, the inner sanctum - where the mysterious Ninja scrolls are kept. Guarding the scrolls is an veritable army of nasty Ninjas, leading up to their grand master, who has to be destroyed on the final screen.

Level one kicks off with the Ninja standing alone and unarmed in the wasteland. This is an ideal time to practice controlling him. Rotating the joystick turns the Ninja around, pull in one direction and he'll follow that. Three types of jump can be accessed with the fire-button and diagonals.

The Ninja automatically switches to combat mode when facing an opponent, giving the player four attacking moves, jab, kick, high swing and a block. Obviously the attack differs slightly depending on the weapons used. Damage also varies depending on the method used.

The longer you leave a guard without engaging in combat the tougher he becomes. This is shown the enemy's energy bar in the top right of the display panel which steadily increases until it reaches maximum, or combat starts. It pays to move fast.

Apart from gratuitous amounts of violence, Remix relies heavily on puzzles. Level one ends with an indestructible dragon blocking the exit, here you need to work out what to use and where. The puzzles follow the standard use object to pass problem idea, hardly ground breaking. However, the puzzles are worked in such a way as to complimentary to the arcade feel of the game, striking a good balance between thinking and reflex.

Twenty five quid may seem heavy handed for a four year old title, and indeed it is if you owned the original. The package contains four disks, one for the intro (which can be bypassed) and six levels of game crammed on the other three. Definitely recommended for new comers to the Ninja games, for those with experience of the original Last Ninja they might find this lacking.