Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes (PSP)
A great-looking fighting game with many game modes to kick through.
1/31/2008 12:00 AM | 1 Comments | Page 2 of 2
What's Hot: Multiple game modes (including wireless multiplayer); Attractive graphics; RPG-like upgrades; Controls are easy to pick up
What's Not: Main story campaign is relatively short; Couldn't find anyone to play online
Marc Saltzman
Status: Wishing it was Saturday ... even on Saturday!
As with many fighting games, you'll see your (as well as your opponent's) health bar on top of the screen, and the first to dip down to zero loses the fight. Underneath the health bars are shakra gauges, which will begin to recede after using special attacks and long, drawn-out battles, but you can press the down arrow on the d-pad to slowly charge your chakra gauge.
Along with the Heroes mode is a Vs. CPU mode, where you can select from any of the unlocked characters and take on the computer in one-on-one battles. You can also choose your fighting arena and tweak the rules such as length of battle, chakra levels (infinite or normal), handicaps and so on.
In Wireless mode, gamers first enter a waiting room to check out other player's profiles or initiate a battle. The problem is, despite logging in many times over a three-week period, not one player could be found to play, therefore I'm not able to report on the online experience. What did work, however, is the Game Sharing feature, where you can play against a friend even though only one gamer has the UMD.
Players can visit Naruto's House from the main menu, where you can view obtained items, unlockable goodies (such as game music, images and movies) or edit your character profiles. Another accessible area off the main menu is called Promotions Power-Up, a role-playing game (RPG)-like feature that allows players to use awarded power-up points to improve a character's abilities in a number of categories: Attack, Defense, Speed, Chakra, Stamina and Ninjutsu (weapon attacks).
For a PSP fighting game, there is certainly a lot of meat on which to gnaw in
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes, and it's certainly more than a brainless button masher. It's also quite a looker with bright and colorful anime-style graphics and animation. While some players might write this game off as a shameless cash cow tied to the popular TV series -- which might very well be the case -- it's a fun ride nonetheless.
This review was based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.
