Naruto: The Broken Bond (Xbox 360)

Fingers in the pie.
11/24/2008 12:00 AM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 2

According to the Chinese zodiac, 2008 is the Year of the Rat. However, take a quick look on videogame shelves and you might think it's the Year of the Nine-Tailed Fox. Every time you turn around, there's a new game coming out based on the popular anime and manga series, Naruto. There's been no shortage of consoles, developers or publishers, all with their fingers in the pie.

Combining the best elements of an action-adventure game and a good old-fashioned beat-'em-up, Naruto: The Broken Bond picks up right where the previous game left off. The story covers the second major story arc, including the fallout from the ambush on the Hidden Leaf Village, the eventual Darth Vader-esque turning of Naruto's best buddy Sasuke, and the ultimate explosive battle between the two. If none of that made any sense to you, you'll need to brush up on your Naruto mythology -- there's no "Previously on Naruto..." recap to bring you up to speed on what you've missed.

Fanboys, on the other hand, will be itching to pick apart the presentation. Good luck with that, kiddos, because the folks at Ubi have pulled out all the stops. Purists will be happy to know that the developers learned their lessons from the first game, and have included both English and Japanese voiceovers from the original cast right out of the box. Also, the game's story is advanced through the use of in-game animations, rather than the anime clips used in Naruto: Rise of a Ninja. Switching from high-definition 3-D cel-shaded visuals to standard definition cartoon clips and back can give a person whiplash; The Broken Bond never removes the player from the overall experience.

While Naruto still hogs the spotlight, this time around, the supporting cast gets to join in the Story mode. Teammates open new options to get past obstacles, expand the game's plot, and let players get their feet wet with characters other than Naruto. Teams are obviously a main focus of combat in The Broken Bond, which tosses in 2-vs.-2 and 3-vs.-3 team battles. Players familiar with other tag-team fighters (Marvel vs. Capcom, Tekken Tag Tournament, etc.) will feel right at home swapping on-the-fly between team members.

The controls are straightforward, and it's simple to chain together some pretty impressive combos. The powerful Jutsu attacks have returned: With some deft manipulation of the two thumbsticks, you can charge up and unleash character-specific special attacks. These moves take some time to pull off successfully, leaving you open to a pounding if you charge up too long. This is never clearer than when you're playing on your own and the artificial intelligence -- which very rarely makes any mistakes -- pummels you relentlessly. Taking the fight to your buddies, either online or off, levels the battlefield, and makes the fighting some of the best the 360 has to offer.

Up to four players can go at it in a tag-team vs. mode with any of 30 or so characters. You can also compete in a continual tournament mode over Xbox Live, earning experience points to rise through the ranks of a low student to a true Genin and all the way up to the title of Hokage. In the games I played online, I never had any issues with lag, which left me without a convenient excuse when I started getting my rear end handed to me by a kid less than half my age. Still, it was a lot of fun, and worth every bit of the beatdown.