New review, 4/5 stars.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Shinobi-3DS-review/tabid/418/articleID/232719/Default.aspx
Oh, on the subject of magic - only one of the spells reduces you to 1 hp, the one that makes you ridiculously powerful for a while. They all penalize you the same in terms of points though.
The Fire spell is a smart bomb but also leaves you able to fire split-shot kunai that pierce through enemies and shields for a time (works extremely well on certain enemies and bosses).
The Water spell gives a big increase to your movement speed, jump height, and kunai reload speed for a long time (the point penalty may sometimes be worth it if its the difference between getting a good time bonus or not).
The Lightning spell lets you take 3 hits without any damage or recoil/knockback (very useful to prevent getting knocked into pits).
Finally, the Earth spell makes you extremely powerful, fast, and invincible for a brief time but when it wears off it reduces your health to 1 and causes you to be slightly slower with no kunai for a while (great for pushing through to the next checkpoint in areas that are giving you a lot of trouble).