Game Review - Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm

Name: Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm

Console: PS3/4/PC/Xbox One/Nintendo Switch (PS4 Reviewed)

I originally owned this game on the PS3 when it came out and remember having a blast playing it.

As I mentioned in the previous Naruto review: This is basically a remake of Ultimate Ninja 1-3 but with some new features. With that being said the plot is the same but I'll run through it here.

STORY TIIIIME!

What's truly impressive here is the fact that this game tries to recap the entire original show with an exception but still impressive.

That exception? In order to retell the story in a fluent and a narrative that isn't overdrawn the fillers are removed, the first arc and the last arc are removed, and the story has been rewritten to fit in with this. Does it work?

In short: barely.

As a fan of the original show it was a bit jarring to jump into the show's second arc but it made sense to jump to where the action starts so I'll let it slide.

Seeing the Land Of Waves go wasn't a huge loss either although it does mean that character motivations make less sense now along with the debut of the Nine Tail Fox being right at the end rather than towards the start.

Some other things, such as the Naruto learning the rasengun, are shrunk or stretched out for the sake of keeping up the pace.

In short this is for the fans. Don't go into this if you're expecting a fleshed out or well delivered story buuut that's not why we're here is it?

GAMEPLAY TIIIIIME!

For the sake of not repeating myself I'll just say that the controls and battle system remains intact and the same as Ultimate Ninja.

As for the changes:

The arena is now 3D meaning full motion, free flowing combat. All directions are now available thanks to the magic of 33333333DDDDDDDDDDD! This means that awareness of your opponent is now more important.

Dodging and attacking are all reliant on your position as well as the enemies.

The triangle button still deals the chakra attack although it now comes in 3 flavours: jutsu attack, ultimate attack and awakening mode.

The standard jutsu attack is a basic "knock-em on their ass" attack with little interruption between that and the flow of combat.

The ultimate attack is similar to the ultimate attack from Ultimate Ninja except you only have to do the quick time event once and if you beat your opponent at the receiving end you can now dodge it entirely.

Awakening mode is enabled when you hold down the chakra button when the new bar is available and you will enter a state where you can use new jutsu along with being faster and stronger.

Another new addition to battles are Giant Battles. They act as bosses that remove ultimate jutsu attacks and rely on timed dodges and the use of combos to take down your opponent.

Like in Ultimate Ninja you can use a substitution jutsu to dodge and swerve however it sucks here. Tapping one of the trigger buttons will allow you to do this but a limited amount of times and only when the game feels like acknowledging it. In other words either spam it or ignore it.

Something rather interesting here is the inclusion of a hub of sorts. The Hidden Leaf Village.

For side quests and missions taking place here it's a fun place with some cool nods to the show however it's mainly used to just get side quests making it feel a little redundant to just walk for five minutes to talk to an npc to engage in a battle. Still it's a fun inclusion and I think the game benefits.

PRESENTATION TIIIIME!

I know I haven't really included this in my other reviews but I'm going to make it an effort to do so from now on.

The graphics here are cell shaded rather than the 3D manga aesthetic from the previous titles.

I think it's an improvement for sure. Adds some more colour here and it looks closer to the anime it's trying to replicate.

I don't know if there was a licensing thing for the soundtrack for the anime but, besides from the preview that plays before the game, the music here is rather forgettable.

I'd say the only reason I actually remember it is because it's reused in the later games...

This game's biggest weakness is most likely it's frame rate. 30fps on my PS4 and it calls itself a remaster...

It's a fighting game so I expected it to manage 60fps like the majority of fighting games in general.

CONCLUSION TIIIIME!

Similar to Ultimate Ninja, I would only recommend this game to fans of the franchise however, this time around I can at least recommend the game for its gameplay.

I really think this is a step up from the previous entries and I'm glad it becomes a series staple.

Yes the music and frame rate are annoying but not to the point where it compromises the entire experience.

It's a bit insulting to the story considering how little it matters to the game regardless of the game centring itself around it but I don't hate it because of this.

In short try it for the great gameplay but not for the lacklustre story.

8/10 - Great game but one for the fans alone.