Naruto Ultimate Ninja: Storm

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Pros: Super fun, beautiful cel-shaded graphics, over-the-top techniques, choice of English or Japanese audio track (with English subtitles), follows the Naruto storyline before Shippuuden in the Story Mode, unique characters, extremely fun boss fights.

Cons: Simple one-button combination attacks, mini-games in Story Mode get repetitive, traveling around Konoha to pick up scrolls gets tedious, simple mechanics cause fights to be similar even when using different characters.

Comments: The Pros and Cons explain the basic gist of the game. This PS3-exclusive is the sixth installment of the Narutimate/Ultimate Ninja series for home consoles (ignoring portable and card games), and it does well to fit in. The control scheme is almost identical to past games in the series, changing L1 and R1 to teammate-assist attacks, and switching item use to the directional pad (forcing movement to be analog-stick-only). Ultimate Ninja Storm puts the series into 3D rather than the previous two-planes 2D system. This allows full three-dimensional movement across a battlefield, making fights seem more action/adventure-game-oriented not unlike the Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden series of games. The game is filled with tons of extras, from music and video collectibles to figurines and more special moves. All this is earned in the Story Mode by completing missions and purchasing items using earned in-game cash. Most of the missions are battles, but there are three types of mini-games that show up as missions as well: hide-and-seek, race, and chase; they are fun at first, but after the 3rd time, it gets a bit old. (There is actually a fourth mini-game, as a Boss Fight, but it remains fun). Because the game stops at the Naruto VS Sasuke match before the Naruto Shippuuden series, none of the "post time-skip" versions of the ninja are available as characters. This game is a whole lot of fun, and highly recommended to any fan of the series, especially those who enjoyed the Ultimate Ninja games. The simple mechanics keep this fighter from being on the same level as "real" fighters like Tekken or Street Fighter, and the repetitive mini-games and town-exploring could have been tweaked a bit. If you hate Naruto (the series), then obviously this game is not for you. A game for the fans; overall a 4 out of 5.

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Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm is the first Naruto game for the PS3. Personally, it has been because of this game that I have become hooked to Naruto and the Naruto Universe. The game features some of the most graphically impressive fights Ive seen for the fighting genre and has renewed my interest in that genre.

Plotwise, Ultimate Ninja Storm goes through about the first 135 episodes of the Naruto universe. It would have been better if it could have gone through the entire Part 1 of Naruto (about 220 episodes) but being that the English dub version of it is finally reaching its end, it would have been impossible.

The single player mode has modes ranging from fetch quests, treasure hunts, specialized fights with requirements (such as win the fight, while not going into awakening mode, and wining with one health bar or more remaining and perform 3 substitution jutsus). There are also other modes such as race up the tree (an aspect of the show which is for chakra control), in this case it is a mode in which you just race up the tree exceptionally fast, you can use powerups that cause fireballs to come down the mountain on your opponents. There is also another mode in which you face a giant boss fight (against a huge toad, Chief Toad from the show), and finally the other mode is that you get to jump from tree to tree in a forest. There are powerups here that allow you to get through the forest faster.

That is all that is to the single player experience. It is a requirement to go through about 60% of this mode. There are many more missions beyond that, but only the hardcore Naruto fan would go through it to get all the unlockables (character costumes, more jutsus, dioramas, music etc).

The fighting is the main aspect of this game. Unfortunately there is not any online multiplayer but there is offline multiplayer. Fights consist of the traditional normal type set ups, except here most of the moves are just mapped to the X or square button for simplicity. A guide of all of the moves is provided on the pause menu for all players, and with practice, virtually every move can be carried out. There is a chakra bar in fights, which is just your meter for performing advanced level moves (such as Naruto's special skill, the Rasengan, a huge burst of chakra at an opponent). It is also needed to be full, in order to do the special skills. The special skills all take you to a different vantage point and screen in which you have to mash the sequence that appears on your side of the screen. The opponent also receives a chance to mash buttons too and whoever can overtake more control of this bar will gain the advantage; if it is the opponent then they will sleazily dodge it with a log ala substitution jutsu style, or if it is the player, they will launch their killer attack, like the 3rd Hokage's forbidden jutsu, Reapers Death Seal. These are perhaps the best and graphically impressive moves and makes it worth it to play as every character. One final aspect of battle, you can also use support players who you can employ to launch an attack and catch you when you are blasted away. Finally fighting can take place on a 3d field, in which you can fight on the normal ground as well as on the walls.

Pretty much the main cast of our favorite genin are available to play with as well as their sensei's, the the legendary sannin are also available to play as. Support characters are also available to play as and are released as DLC.

The entire voice cast of the show has seemed to reprise their roles here with voiced scenes moves. There is limited voice acting in the story mode, but then there are maybe about five FMVs, and these are all fully voiced. Graphically, this game is shocking in how beautiful it is. It is hard to describe the style pseudo 3D, 2.5D cel shading but it works.

There isn't much more to crave for from this game except for a sequel. I implore you, if you are or aren't a Naruto fan, then you must still get this game!

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BRIEFLY

I liked the Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm for its:

great graphics

easy controls when in battle mode

big story

minigames

The only negatives I can think of is the somewhat long loading times and the lack of an online mode.

THE STORY MODE

The game follows the Naruto arc up to the point when Naruto battles Sasuka at the Final Valley but there are many other on the side.

You travel the Hidden Leaf Village collecting ryo and secret scrolls and other useful items while doing various missions. You get ryo by traveling the village, and smashing pots and paper lamps, or as rewards after completing a mission. You use ryo to buy items. If you find secret scrolls and sometimes you will be using your mind powers or detective skills to find them, sometimes you just notice them you can exchange them to get new jutsu (powers) for your characters.

After you complete missions, sometimes treasure chests appear in the village. These chests can hold some extra ryo, or new jutsu. There are also ingredient bags that are similar to treasure chests but hold ingredients. You can use the ingredient or certain items earned in missions to make ramen and increase your chakra (power).

In missions, you do things like complete a mini game, fight in battles or get items to a character. When you complete a mission you can get ryo, items, or characters. Certain missions cause for secret scrolls or chests to appear in the village.

The battles in the game make the player control the character easily and make the battle look epic at the same time. You can play as almost any character in the Naruto series. While in battle you can invoke support characters. Every character has their pros and cons, but learning a character's strengths and weakness can make you unbeatable. I found Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides) to be the perfect reference and guide for the game. Each character also has an awaking mode which is a more powerful version of them that can be accessed when they are week during a battle.

Not every mission is a battle. There are 5 alternate types of missions:

chase race against time or another character

climb like chase, only going up a giant tree

find giant games of hide and seek

giant battles fight some giant creature, dodge its attacks and seize the opportunity to attack

count missions must perform a specific set of actions to complete the mission

FREE BATTLE MODE

In the free battle mode you can select your costume, the field and the game will keep track of your score and rank you over many rounds. You can play against a human or AI opponent.

You have the ability to pick any character and support characters. You can only do battles in this mode, no missions. If you (player 1) beat your opponent, be it AI or human, you get ranked and you earn some more ryo. However, the second player doesn't earn anything.

ENHANCEMENTS

The PSN store has additional support characters that come with their own missions and figures. Up until now, they are all free.

MY RATING

I enjoyed the game and I hope you will too. I am giving it 5 stars.

_______________________________________

Note:

This was mainly my teen son's review. I am only responsible for the editor function.

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the game is fantastic and graphically astonishing the game is the very best in anime fighter style games.the game can also be compared to mortal combats next installment due to this game getting better scores and better graphics enhancements. this game thrashes the 360 versions of naruto due to controls,charicters and longevity. ask yourself why would i play naruto on 360 if the controls were terrible and full of fetch quests and sub par action. buy this it is definative for anime and fighter fans alike.

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Before purchasing Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm, you have to ask yourself a few things.First, do like the Naruto anime/manga series.Second,do you like semi-casual fighting games. Third,do you like anime/manga in general, and finally, are you patient. If you answered yes to these questions then this game might just be for you. Naruto:Ultimate Ninja Storm, a fast and furious adventure/fighting anime style videogame.It roughly follows the first 150 episodes of the anime which is basicly the entire original

Naruto anime series, not including any of the fillar episodes or arcs and it does it pretty well.Even though the fights and scenarios aren't a 100 percent accurate to either the anime or manga, it still does a pretty decent job at recreating them.In fact visual wise, it looks a dozen times better then the anime ever has.The cg/cell shaded graphics of the characters and enviroments( both the stages and the leaf village) are truly beautiful and offer quite a decent space to fight in.Speaking of space, you have plenty of space in which to explore the quite large Village Hidden in The Leaves when your not going through missions, you can nearly fully explore it there where you buy/ find new moves for characters, movies of ultimate jutsu attacks, stage music, figures of characters, and search for "hidden" scrolls that show up on the map clearly.The missions in Naruto:Ultimate Ninja Storm include fighting, and races through the forest from tree branch to tree branch, and running up a giant trtee while avoiding large branches in the way, as well as wird little side missions like playing hide and go seek with Konohamaru, the third Hokage's grand son. Now not including any of the fillar episodes or arcs features around 25 playable characters, plus 10 additional free downloadable characters, although any charater can be used as support, the 10 downloadable can't be played as one there own. By the way bothe japanese and english voice cast of the Naruto anime voice there characters here, and do it well. However this game isn't perfect, grips include pretty long loading times ( and lots of them), having to play through the story mode before most of the charaters and there attaks, are unlocked in the 2 player battle mode ,having to wait for the game to install it's nearly 4 gigabytes of data onto your ps3 when you first play it, oh and there's no online battling , or trophys.

Ultimatly(no stupid pun intended) Naruto:Ultimate Ninja Storm is a really fun game, even though it's not perfect, and is definitly a anime game you should but or at least rent.

Pros: -Beautiful visuals

-Lots of characters

-fun missions and fights

pretty closely follow and recreates the anime/manga arcs

-Well voiced by entire anime voice cast

Cons: -Long loading times

waiting to unlock characters

waiting for the sequal

no online battling

no trophys

-nearly 4 gigabytes of data need to be installed onto harddrive

Despite the flaws I would give this game a 4 1/2 out of 5

buy it or rent it !!