Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm (PS3)

Faithful to the anime, especially in its lack of online play.
11/25/2008 12:00 AM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 2

There's never been a shortage of titles for fans of the blond-haired, orange jumpsuit-wearing ninja Naruto to choose from. The latest of these, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, is the first to bring Naruto to the PlayStation 3. But can developer CyberConnect2 duplicate its success once again, or will the nine-tailed fox finally get clipped?

In case you've been living in a bomb shelter for the past few years, you've probably already heard about the Naruto series. Years ago, the Hidden Leaf Village in the Land of Fire was attacked by a powerful demon in the shape of a nine-tailed fox. The demon was defeated and his essence sealed inside the body on a newborn baby, Naruto Uzumaki. Shunned by the village for his secret heritage, Naruto grew up alone, causing trouble and pulling pranks, until he eventually earned his place as one of the village's newest ninja recruits. Ultimate Ninja Storm picks up right after this point, following Naruto and his friends through their various adventures.

This is, hands down, the best-looking Naruto game to date, and one of the PS3's better-looking games. The visual style looks like it was ripped straight from the anime -- the characters look and move exactly like their anime counterparts, but in free-flowing 3-D motions, and the environments (while a little sparse) are also true to the cartoon. The developers also, wisely, used a filter to soften the game's textures and to give everything a uniform look. When it all comes together in motion, the overall experience feels more like interacting with an actual episode of the show than playing a videogame.

There are still a few flaws with the presentation. One of the most noticeable is the lack of voiceover work. The game features both Japanese and English language voiceover acting from the principal cast, but there's just not enough of it. The bulk of the dialogue is presented in on-screen text scrolls. Considering the available space on a Blu-ray disc, it's hard to see why there's not more audio, especially considering that Naruto: Rise of a Ninja on the Xbox 360 easily had more than twice the voiceover work when it was released last year. It seems like a waste to have the talent available but not make the most of it.

The Ultimate Ninja series has never really been geared towards the hardcore fighting game market. The games have always been button-mashers, and Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm seems to follow the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality. Instead of having to remember countless controls to pull off chained combos, you pretty much hit the circle button to attack as fast as you can while dodging your opponent's attempts to do the same. There are no complex joystick motions to remember; no half-circle this way or quarter-circle that way; no light, medium or hard punches or kicks. It's quick and easy, and for this particular series of games, it's effective.