Overview: Ninja Warz is a clever expansion on the basic “duel”-type game. You manage a clan of ninjas who battle other clans for fun and profit. Win battles for gold and experience, level up to gain Karma Points to train your ninjas, and spend the money on everything from katanas to deadly mustaches. No, really. The actual battles are one-on-one matchups repeated until all of the ninjas on one side have fallen, so there are tactical choices involved in deciding whether to pick a single ninja and train him up to black belt or to spread the learning out among your clan.

Karma Points are also the real-money currency, which leads to some interesting problems. Spending money and getting more Karma than your level would usually allow will give you a tremendous advantage over your fellows – people who are willing to drop a relatively small amount of cash can make themselves virtually unbeatable. This is mostly just tedious, but in the Tournaments – the best way to get high-end weapons – you have to beat a string of randomly-selected opponents and running into a souped-up clan over and over can really ruin your day.

However, there are other ways to get Karma Points. If you hoard your points and purchase one of the Karma-generating trinkets, you’ll have a steady (if slow) stream coming in. The Daimyo rewards often give Karma as well as gold. And the most fun way is to dig into the achievement system. Some early planning can net you tons of extra Karma for doing things like getting five ninjas with the same blood type, or losing ten fights in a row. This won’t put you ahead of someone willing to drop twenty bucks early on, but it levels the field a little.

This is not a terribly social game, but there are some advantages to having friends. You’ll get regular chances to post a status update so your friends can claim a reward, and the free gift system is alive and well. You can also play a little minigame once per day for every friend, saving one of their ninjas from a monster or defeating a mysterious invasion of blimps. The minigames are very simple but fun, and a fast way to get a little extra gold and experience.

The leveling curve gets pretty steep pretty quickly, so unless you’re in it for the grind, Ninja Warz may not have a ton of long-term appeal, but it’s worth checking out for the crazy dust-cloud combat between hordes of ninjas and some of the really wacky weapons and bosses. (Ever get thrashed by a girl with a lunchbox? Now’s your chance!)