Thursday 31 May 2012

Review: Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations

As a fan of both the manga and the anime, Naruto has been a part of my life for the past couple years.
The story revolves around a boy named Naruto who is Shinobi, a ninja, who isn’t popular with the inhabitants of his village, known as the Hidden Leaf. This is due to him having a monster, the “Nine Tails”, trapped inside him. The series follows him on his path of making friends, overcoming obstacles and eventually being accepted as part of his village.
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations is a game that follows this story line in a style akin to that of Tekken. A noticeable feature of this game is that you get to play as either young, current or older Naruto. The game thus allows you to play right from the very beginning and follow the storyline until its conclusion. Although Naruto is the main character, in this instalment you get to follow the stories of multiple key characters that form part of the series, such as his arch rival and best friend, Sasuke.
Now for the most important aspect: the game itself. As I said before, the Story Line mode in the game follows a Tekken format, in that a background is given in the area of a fight and license is then given to brawl it out.
Due to this, the game is accommodative for fans of the series or for those who have never heard of Naruto. This said, a little more detail by way of a story book or some other media would make the story line more fluid. This isn’t a train-smash, all the key points are touched upon in enough detail to get the just of it.
Gameplay is a smooth affair. The key combo’s are pretty straightforward which makes it relatively easy for anyone vaguely familiar with a consol controller to jump straight into the game.
The animations are very well done and the amount of characters to choose from in the Battle mode is nothing short of mind boggling.
There is one complaint I must make though. First off, I did find that it didn’t hold my attention. Once you’ve mastered all the techniques that a specific character has, things begin to get tedious. Thus, a simple fighting game coupled with the ability to battle as or against your favourite characters, does not suffice. I need more. Some hook, something that I haven’t seen before. Everything there is to do in-game seems to be a slightly altered copy of things found in other games of the same genre. The game is simply a “copy and paste” title lacking any real substance.
Apart from the above, the game is capable of entertaining. A fun way to blister your thumbs or face-roll your controller and still have a possibility of winning: provided your nose is big enough to press both Y and B at the same time. Whether or not it’s worth the buy for those not familiar with the series, I’m not sure, but for any fan of Naruto, this is a must.

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