Sixth season of LEGO Ninjago: Skybound is now in Google Play

The sixth season of LEGO’s Ninjago will return to Cartoon Network this month, but you can already play season six, called LEGO Ninjago: Skybound, on Android. It’s a free install with no in-app purchases but plenty of LEGO, ninjas and sky pirates. What else do you need?

The game follows the familiar cast of Ninjago characters as they battle the evil Djinn, Nadakhan. The plot centers around Nadakhan stealing parts of Ninjago as he attempts to rebuild his skybound realm, Djinjago. Control the LEGO ninja, Jay, as he battles Nadakhan and his crazy band of sky pirates in this super fun side-scrolling platformer.

You are given a choice between how you want to play: stealth or fight. Conveniently placed objects and enemies with visible fields of vision allow you to stealthily pass, unseen, behind your would-be foes or to charge in blindly for some kung-fu hustle-style street fighting action. Fortunately, it takes a little while for the bad guys to see you, so you can kind of play in between styles and sneak up behind them for some stealth take downs.

Along the way you must collect studs and buy new weapons and power-ups to defeat Nadakhan, like Tiger Widow Venom or the Golden Sword. Fortunately, these power ups are bought with in-game currency and not through in-app purchases. The levels are big and nicely detailed, with plenty of fun platformer action to keep you entertained.

The controls are relatively straightforward: just tap the screen to move to a certain point and tap and drag to jump to different positions. You won’t exactly blaze through the levels at white-knuckle speeds, but once you get the rhythm down you’ll be moving along much faster than when you started out.

Unfortunately, the on-screen controls are probably the weakest part of the game. You do get used to them but they are far from precise and fluid. Nevertheless, navigating the sprawling and rich levels while jumping and sneaking around, taking out the bad guys and rescuing your pals is pretty fun and addicting gameplay. Considering it’s totally free and LEGO is super cool, Ninjago: Skybound is definitely worth a try.