21.12.2008

I'll be honest, I was already in love with this game long before it came out based on the extremely limited but fun demo released several months before the game got released, and the full game was everything I could have hoped it would be... almost.I'll start with what's good, because boy is it good. A fighting game first and foremost, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm's first stand out feature is obviously it's deeply striking visuals, which are easily the best anime based graphics ever seen in a game, with vibrant, detailed, colourful representations of each character from the Naruto series(With a handful of exceptions, but I'll get to that)set against an admittedly limited number of combat arenas that look equally stunning and contain a surprising degree of depth and variety in how to play the game. The game looks incredible, and this is before you see it in action... and that is where it truly shines brightest. The animation is fluid in a way no game with this visual style has ever come close to, with flips and attacks and combos all being carried out with such unprecedented grace it's almost a thing of beauty to see the game in action.The gameplay, too, is equally fantastic, with an initially simplistic one attack button system giving way to a surprisingly deep combat system that, when you try it against a skilled opponent after mastering things for yourself, can be incredibly intense to play. The variety of dodges, jumps, counters, items, and combos on offer forces you to not only rely on just charging in and attacking constantly, but actually how and where you attack your opponent from in the completely free roaming 3D combat arenas, where battles can go completely airborne or vertical up walls and cliffs in an instant. It's quite a ride. The controls also have enough of an edge of familiarity about them from the PS2's Ultimate Ninaj series that veterans will feel right at home, but also have enough new material to sink their teeth into.Another excellent touch was how completely individual each character in the game feels. In pretty much every other Naruto game, almost each character carries out the same generic series of punches and kicks in their combos, with only their Jutsus to distinguish them... not so here. Each character has an utterly unique style about them, from Shikamaru's combos that rely almost entirely on ninja tools and traps rather than straight hits, to Kabuto's 'Chakra knife' that sees him twist and dive around an opponent to strike individual body parts to disable them a piece at a time to Kiba's slashing attacks where Akamaru(His dog) is an independently moving character who partcipates in your attacks as he freely runs around your feet awaiting orders. It all feels so utterly authentic it hurts. And this is before you get to the absolutely spectacular cinematic Jutsus and transformations that alter your character's fighting style completely. It's a real joy to play.Getting away from the combat, there is also of course the free roaming Konoha hub world that you are free to explore at will in between 'missions'(Be they fights or one of many decent mini games that you can challenge). While it is impressively open and detailed, there isn't a huge amount to do around Konoha beyond collecting scrolls and hidden items(That you can use to buy various new upgrades and extras for the game among other things) that randomise and respawn at different points as the story progresses. It looks fantastic, sure, but for the most part you'll simply be running back and forth looking for characters to initiate the next mission. It is a lot of fun using Naruto's shadow clones to propel across Konoha's skyline like a cannonball though.Which brings me to the story mode itself, which is where things get a tad iffy. While it does a fine job of recreating almost every battle from the anime's main story, there are a few glaring omissions, mainly the rarity of actual cutscenes in the story. For the most part, battles are preceded by first person 'journal entries' but Naruto telling you what is going on, with the only cutscenes being centred around the first and last battles of each story arc. Saying that though, those cutscenes in there are amazing to behold, with most completely overshadowing the events they portray as they appeared in the anime series itself(Tsunade's battle with Orochimaru being a prime example of this). It's just a shame there are so few of them. Other glaring ommissions are on the character front, with Zabuza and Haku excised from the story completely, and a lot of characters reduced to 'supporting character only' status(Where you call them into battle to assist you at any time without actually being able to play as them). It's harsh, but even with that, the story mode still took me around 12 hours or so to work through. And the game has a whole ton of side missions and quests with their own self contained side stories(Mostly played for comedic value) to work through, so it will last a while.The bad doesn't stop there though, as the most glaring omission of all from this game is the lack of any sort of online multiplayer. Online is more or less an essential requirement for any multiplayer enabled game these days, and while, yes, beat em ups don't have the best reputation with online modes, there's simply no excuse for excluding the feature, and that's the sole reason this game only gets 4 out of 5 from me. With online, it would have been perfect. Add to this the fact the game requires(Unadvertised on it's box) a 4.5 GB install on your HDD and things take a pretty hard hit and no mistake.One last sticking point is the way the downloadable content is being handled with this game. While it is admirable to have new missions, costumes and support characters up for download every month, the fact that these downloads are merely unlocking content ALREADY IN THE GAME that we can't access(The first and second Hokage support characters are in the story mode, but we'll never get the chance to use them ourselves as they were only available as a pre-order incentive with the US version of the game. Low low tactics). It feels exceptionally cheap.On the whole though, this game is still an immense amount of fun despite some issues. It is the most fluid, amazing looking anime game yet made, and provides an unparalelled Naruto experience.Try it out and be amazed... if you can get past what's missing from the game.

7.2.2010

I only got this game yesterday and already I'm hooked on it! In my books, it's by far the best game of its kind.PROS:>easy to get into>pretty deep, which allows for more advanced fighting>sometimes strategic>accurate to the anime/manga>everything looks really impressive and correct>more to do than just fightingCONS:>Not enough emphasis on fighting>Not enough cutscenes>Some pretty poor voice-acting (not all though)>Not enough characters>Not enough story arcs>just generally, not enough stuff...The basic fighting is really simple and intuitive- you can learn it in just a couple of minutes. After that there's still lots to improve on- timing your attacks right, knowing when to block,mastering combos- that makes it pretty deep in some ways. It can also be fairly strategic at times, which has always been a crucial element of the anime, making the fighting seem really authentic.The main outstanding point here is the graphics: they are, frankly, phenomenal. Each character animation looks fluid and accurately represents the anime. The battle arenas are also excellent representations, as are the ultimate jutsus (absolutely EPIC cinematic moves, which you'll find yourself wanting to use again and again if only for their sheer awesomeness).The game goes further than just the fighting though. There's the hub world of konoha, which at first i thought would just be a rubbish gimmick. However, it's great fun to explore (using ninja free-running skills!) and find all the secrets there. You can collect ingredients to boost your chakra (energy used for special skills). You can find secret scrolls which you can trade for secret techniques, and you can look for treasure chests with secrets hidden inside.There are also the mini-games, which are surprisingly robust. First is the tree-running exercise, where you leap from branch to branch avoiding trees. The sense of speed you get here makes it surprisingly fun and challenging. There is also the tree-climbing game, where you run up a really, really tall tree, racing an opponent. This is similarly impressive. The problem with these minigames is sometimes the game puts too much emphasis on them, and forgets that it is first and foremost a fighting game. That's what most people will buy it for, right? Occasionally it gets annoying, how you have to run around performing these little side-missions before you can actually advance through the story.The plot essentially follows up to the end of the first series of naruto. It does it pretty accurately, but unfortunately there are some huge omissions. The haku and zabuza arc- a pretty important encounter early on- is completely ignored. As are the otonin trio. And the sound four. And several konoha jonin ninja. And... you get the idea. The game includes all the major characters, but skips out on some who it'd be nice to play as. Luckily some can be downloaded as 'support characters'- you can summon them to your aid, but you can't actually play as them.This is the only big problem with Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm- it's a great game but just 'not enough'. It skips out important story points, removes vital characters, gets rid of cutscenes... it's like a delicious meal but on a tiny plate, if you get me. Fortunately there may be hope! The sequel has been announced, and perhaps this will provide more of what the first game has started: fun, adrenaline-filled ninja fighting...

8.1.2009

lets get this straight, this is a fighting game. not an adventure game. the graphics and sound are amazing and in places beat the anime.the game has a story mode which basically tells you the story from 1-135. however, some memorable/important parts are missed such as the fight between zabuza and haku, and also the sound four. the sound four are in the game as support, and will be usable as support characters as DLC in the future, but zabuza and haku are just omitted from the story. annoying.next, the story mode 'adventure mode', is quite annoying, you have to run around and collect scrolls around konoha to upgrade characters, CONSTANTLY. thankfully, once done,

31.8.2008

I think Naruto anime is amazing.To be fair the Naruto Wii and PS2 games are not good quality.However Ninja storm is very good.I have now played the game, having pre-ordered it from amazon at 29.99. Bargain!! BUt why limit to so few playable characters!!The fighting is fast and furious, it takes getting used to. The campaign /quest mode is good, but takes ages, like a final fantasy game, thus it takes ages to unlock every one. You need experience points to do the story quest mode , and in the later half experience is very hard to get. So I found the quest a drag. Kinimaro and Sasuke, guy ,rock-lee alter - ego characters, dark versions.Why have 25 characters, and within that have doubled 4 - of the characters.

21.9.2008

by Louise Logan .I'M a hudge Naruto fan its a great series i have all the games graphic novels also the Naruto speacil limited boxsets dvds i'm waiting to get boxset 10 thats the big fight between Naruto and Sasuke.now Naruto has moved from PS2 TO PS3 i down Loaded Naruto ultimate ninja storm and its amzaing its just like the tv show, you can walk on water walk on walls and use your best moves also use your team mates to help out thats baced on the demo.the demo you can change the voice to either english or Japanses what ever you prefer, true Naruto fan prefer the Japanese voice to the english voicethe demo is short but it gives to a taste what the game is like you either play Naruto Vs Kakashi

14.9.2014

This game is a lot of fun. the battle are the best part of the game and are done perfectly but after a while is AI becomes to easy to beat and the challenge is taken out of the game. the story mode allows you to explore a small open world city and there are plenty of things to collect. i fell as if the story mode of this game is completely ruined by the silly mini games in between which you have to do in-order to progress the main story. the story itself is very entertaining albeit a direct copy of the story told in the anime. another problem with this game is the lack of online multilayer which would have been so much better instead of just playing vs the AI.

22.7.2008

I've only played the demo not the full game but even the demo is awsome.It look's just like the anime and so easy to play. I think even if your not a fan of the animeyou will still love this. You have support characters, special items, special moves, massivefree roaming battle arena's. You can even fight on the sides of mountains and on top of water.The reason why i give it 5 stars (apart from being a fan of naruto the anime) is that i feel it willhave a lot more to offer than the usual one on one beat em up's eg- vf5, tekken, street fighter.And the ps3 has a shortage of beat em up's

18.7.2010

This game was so much fun! And being able to re do missions meant that I could continue playing the game even when the main story had ended. I would definately recommend it for any naruto fan, the animation is great and the voice cast is basically the same as the shows. There does seem to be a tiny delay after you press an attack button, however im pretty fussy when it comes to controls so it's not something that faults the game over all and many other games have a similar battle system. Plus seing the super jutsu's in action is bad ass ;DReasonable price and fast delivery A+++++

2.7.2010

I bought this game a few weeks ago and overall had a lot of fun on it. Not only was the main character fights fun but the side missions also provided hours of fun.Play as naruto and build up on the story from the Ch'nin Exam to the Sasuke Retrieval arc with a number of side missions running along side the main plot. Overall the game was very good and i would say to anyone who watch the episodes to buy the game.However I couln,t give it the full 5 stars as I felt the game ended a bit to fast and that it should have went further down on the story

3.5.2011

Great game for anyone, especially enjoyable for fans of the Anime series.Lots of fun missions and battles, can get a little repetative in some aspects especially when collecting "Secret Scrolls" or redoing missions to gain 3 stars but never once got frustrated or bored!NOTE: Not a serious game, not an RPG or adventure game and not really a beat 'em up... just plain, simple fun!

23.5.2009

I played the Demo of this and loved it straight away i played the demo over and over i ordered this game within minutes and as soon as i got it i was not disapointed fantastic game i'm a big Naruto fan this is the perfect game for Naruto fans gameplays awesome the fighting is awesome frankly everything about this game is awesome i highly recomend this game especialy to Naruto fans

21.12.2013

Do you want to know the best thing about these PS3 games. The quiet around the house, your buy them for your teenager and then don't see them for days (well apart from when their hungry or need to get ready for school). It's wonderful. My nephew especially loves anything that's manga related or marvel so these Naruto games are just what the doctor ordered.

24.10.2012

the game is fantastic the game is worth every penny the graphics are amazing the game play is fantastic and when it comes to naruto games it is good on xbox 360 but on ps3 it is down right amazing if you dont know what game to buy and you like action and rpg then i recomend you get naruto ultimate ninja storm 1, 2 and generation

19.3.2021

For those who follow the series, this is the real deal. This game allows players to live the Naruto character and his story, developing skills and techniques. All the graphics and combos are fantastic. There are a lot of missions to accomplish.There are also many characters to unlock and enjoy in multiplayer mode.

7.8.2009

The Game-play of this game is Exellent compared to Naruto Broken Bonds, it has no chance with this game The fighting stye graphis/quality is amazing and i have to say its worth buying this game no matter what. However this game coud be alot better if it had a Online feature to compete online with other players.

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm (PS3) - Reviews

Info

Analysis

Detail