Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Review
After having built a strong series of games based on the Naruto manga on the Playstation 2 and Playstation Portable consoles, CyberConnect 2 is now attempting to bring their series into the latest generation of consoles through Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm on the Playstation 3 system.
The game covers Naruto up to episode 135 in the anime, the last games were well ahead of this but because of the US and Europe being behind in the series they have decided to only cover till the Sasuke retrieval arc in order to not spoil anything for western audiences. The game has two modes of play, the Ultimate Mission Mode and the Free Battle Mode. Ultimate mission is akin to a story mode for the game, you use Konoha village as your hub to complete small mini-games and missions in order to proceed with the main story by gathering XP and buying items either for use in battle, or to keep as collectibles such as music and figurines. The minigames range from, chasing someone down in a forest, to playing hide and seek with Konohamaru.
The game covers the story relatively well; it excludes a lot of content which is unimportant to the overall story like small fights between characters and choice missions from the manga. One glaring exclusion though is that of the Zabuza and Haku fights. Although this arc is small in the grand scheme of things, it would have been nice to have the 2 characters to add to the roster of characters, which is vastly smaller than that of the games predecessors.
Overall though the game covers the story well, and in some parts with absolutely brilliant interactive cut scenes, although these usually only occur during the end of arcs.
It must be said that the game looks stunning; it comes extremely close to looking like an episode of the show, and in some cases, better than the show. Even bit players walking around Konoha look great compared to the cel-shading seen in other games. The cut scenes are choreographed excellently whether it�s in a fight or part of the story and it really helps to immerse players in the game, fans and non-fans alike. It is without a shadow of a doubt the best looking Naruto game in existence.
The sound in the game is done well with scores from the show being used in the background. The sound effects during battle are also top notch and help add to the overall feeling of the game perfectly. All of the music in the game is also available to unlock and listen to, the music can also be used in the dioramas in the game, these are small scenes you can recreate from the show using the figurines, stages and music you unlock in the game.
The game looks and sounds excellent, but the gameplay is where the real fun is. CyberConnect2 traditionally used a combat system of fighting on a 2D plane in the previous games, but in Ultimate Ninja Storm, they�ve developed a system which is a lot more like the battles in the show, battles now happen in a full free roaming level. Players can run, hop and jump around in a stage; they can even fight on the walls if one player knocks another onto it.
The system is excellent, the action is fast and frantic and it keeps people on their toes throughout the entire match. The primary attack button is circle and this is used for all hand to hand combat, square is used to throw ninja tools. It makes the game seem easy at first but the intricacies of the system soon become apparent. Triangle activates and charges your chakra so that you can then attack with a special move or throw more powerful tools. On the d-pad you are given a range of items to use in battle, these can come in the form of an attribute booster or some type of projectile weaponry. You can also choose up to 2 support characters to join you in battle; they can come in with a touch of the shoulder button and deal some damage to your foe.
Each character is noticeably different, some more than others. While some characters have super quick and stylish moves, others will have stronger attacks but noticeably sluggish movements. This keeps the game nice and balanced and also prevents the problems of having some characters just being clones of others. This could be the reason why CyberConnect2 decided to choose a smaller roster of characters as it suits the game better to have small but varied selection of characters, rather than a load of characters that are too similar.
The game is not without its gripes, the lack of a competitive online mode is a disappointing exclusion from the game. Even after a small install the game has far too many loading sequences, some even come up if you just exited a menu. The mini-games can become tiresome after a while when you realise just how much of the same thing you need to do in order to keep going with the story, playing hide and seek is fun the first 2 times, not so much the 14th time. Some noticeable slowdown occurs if a battle becomes too frantic, but this is only in extreme cases and most players won�t see it at all in their play times. The final gripe is that some fairly important characters are reduced to just being support characters available through downloadable content on the Playstation Network. Not being able to face off against the original Sound 4 will annoy many fans of the series as they are integral to the penultimate arc in the story mode.
All things considered, the game is an extremely fun fighter and is one of the best, if not the best anime fighter available. CyberConnect2 have made a great start with their new series and it can only get better. An improved story mode, a bigger character roster and online play would make a sequel to this game truly brilliant, for now it stands as a great start to a rebooted series.
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echo 'hello';
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echo 'hello';
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echo 'hello';
Array
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[consoleID] => 1
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[wishlist] => 1
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[field1] => Fighting
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[field5] => Yes
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)
1-356131.jpg
