Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2

[Tailer]

Best of luck!

I finished the main storyline earlier. This game, in a word, is "epic" and whether you're a fan of Naruto or not, you have to admire the sheer scale and scope of the storyline mode. Of course, I've now got hours and hours of extra content to unlock, and I've already found all the Cursed Dolls and completed the cool "Fragment" storyline. The freedom suddenly opens up, too: you can now go anywhere, use Warp Scrolls to get around instantly (saves so much time) and pick your own four-man squad to take on missions.

I know this'll sound like a fanboy fangasm, but this really is the best Naruto videogame I've ever played. And I've played a lot of 'em, all very recently.

Highly, highly recommended.

Full review coming soon.

Sounds awesome, now I really wanna buy the game. But I will (try to) wait until the price goes down and then buy, and how long is the game?

Edited October 20, 2010 by Tailer

[Glenn]

Sounds awesome, now I really wanna buy the game. But I will (try to) wait until the price goes down and then buy, and how long is the game?

I've had the game since Friday, and only just completed the main storyline. Plot spoilers below, so only read if you're familiar with Naruto Shippuden.

It covers seven arcs from Naruto Shippuden, from the very beginning of the Rescue Gaara Arc, right through to the apocalyptic fight between Naruto and Pain. While there are a few events edited out to keep the pace (obviously needed, as there is simply so much plot to cover... and they're never that huge, the missing bits) it does remain highly faithful to the manga and anime. In fact, if you're following the anime in Japan, this game brings you pretty much up-to-date with it, impressively.

Mahzes and I were chatting earlier and we both took between twelve and fourteen hours to clear the main storyline. Side missions, unlocking a bonus story, playing as all the characters, collecting items and earning trophies/achievements adds countless hours to that.

It is, basically, the biggest Naruto game to date.

[Tailer]

I've had the game since Friday, and only just completed the main storyline. Plot spoilers below, so only read if you're familiar with Naruto Shippuden.

It covers seven arcs from Naruto Shippuden, from the very beginning of the Rescue Gaara Arc, right through to the apocalyptic fight between Naruto and Pain. While there are a few events edited out to keep the pace (obviously needed, as there is simply so much plot to cover... and they're never that huge, the missing bits) it does remain highly faithful to the manga and anime. In fact, if you're following the anime in Japan, this game brings you pretty much up-to-date with it, impressively.

Mahzes and I were chatting earlier and we both took between twelve and fourteen hours to clear the main storyline. Side missions, unlocking a bonus story, playing as all the characters, collecting items and earning trophies/achievements adds countless hours to that.

It is, basically, the biggest Naruto game to date.

Niiiceee unfortunately for me I have to wait a bit since I just bought or ordered a puh-retty expensive capture card, and planning to buy blazblue(and sell the BS game MW2). Or should I buy naruto instead, hmm which one should I choose... Nah I'm gonna go for blazblue(checks wikipedia) FFFFFFFFFFuuu-shot-.

It got delayed, oh wth might as well just buy this. Or should I wait.

[Glenn]

Better late than never, but as promised all the same, I've gone and written a full review. Hopefully it'll help!

Also, spoiler warning to those who don't know the plot.

***

NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: ULTIMATE NINJA STORM 2

PlayStation3 – 2010

For seven years in Japan and four in the West, the decidedly marmite ninja Naruto Uzumaki, created in the manga series by Masashi Kishimoto and made famous by the subsequent anime, has graced the Sony games consoles with his hyperactive presence in the Ultimate Ninja fighting game series. While always achieving generally positive reviews, none of the seven entries have truly managed to live up to the use of the word “ultimate” in their titles... until now.

The closest that the developers CyberConnect2 and Namco-Bandai ever came before was with the PlayStation2 game, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3. It featured a healthy roster of characters, all from Part One of the manga/anime, and wrapped itself in a host of hilarious minigames, fully-dubbed side quests and gorgeous visuals. It was and, in my opinion, remains the ultimate Part One videogame. Unfortunately, when the series moved to the current generation of consoles with Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm in 2008, an attempt to provide a HD update of the winning formula fell flat. An impressive yet lifeless Hidden Leaf Village gave way to multiple menu screens and walls of text, all untouched by voice actors, in an awkward “flashback” single player mode. The roster of characters was slashed, minigames deleted and all focus seemed to be on the (admittedly beautiful and groundbreaking) graphics engine. Ultimate, it certainly was not.

What’s with the history lesson, you say? Bear with me. Because if Ultimate Ninja Storm was an attempt to make a HD version of Ultimate Ninja 3 then, without question, this latest entry, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 for PlayStation3 and Xbox360, is an attempt to make a HD version of Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja 5. Confused? Trust me; you’re not the only one!

In a nutshell, what happened when the series shifted to covering the Shippuden second half of Naruto’s storyline was a shift in gameplay modes. No longer was the single player a mission-based fighting game accessed through a 3D hub world. Now the series was a free-roaming RPG-lite, with a world beyond the Hidden Leaf Village to explore and a knuckleheaded ninja in orange to level up. And that is the most important reassurance to give about this new game: for those disappointed with the monotony and awkwardness of Ultimate Ninja Storm and those “flashback” missions, Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 is a refreshing walk around a vast world and a chance to control multiple characters as they head down multiple plot strands. No longer do you select a fight from a menu screen. Rather, if there is a confrontation at Tenchi Bridge to be had, you go to Tenchi Bridge. If you need to deliver a message to the Hidden Sand Village, you go to the Hidden Sand Village (although thankfully, the latter doesn’t take three days).

This new RPG-lite system works by putting Naruto and his friends in environments decorated with beautiful anime backdrops. While this means some are restricted by a camera in a forced perspective, enough graphical flourish is given to them to ensure they never feel quite as 2D as they could have done. Indeed, some major locations are fully 3D, and they provide a wonderful moment to stop and sweep the camera around with the right analogue stick. In all environments, you’ll stop and explore bushes, tree trunks and crates, searching for items that you can later transform into ninja tools, power-up snacks or money. Back at either of the major villages, shops exist for you to exploit your horde of items and suddenly those bare twigs and that feather you found are an explosive paper bomb. If only Tesco did the same, eh?

Storylines really flow this time around, too. And that’s a key element to get right, as this game covers tomes of story material across seven lengthy chapters. Starting with the heavily-covered Rescue Gaara Arc after a surprisingly lengthy prologue featuring Kakashi-Sensei and the famed bell test, you’ll play through a (mostly) accurate version of events from the Shippuden anime, bringing things right up-to-date with episodes shown in Japan this summer. Admittedly, some important edits are made for time, but they’re usually in places that other games in the series have covered already. For example, poor puppeteer Kankuro is deleted from the Rescue Gaara Arc... but then, after both Ultimate Ninja 4 and Ultimate Ninja 5, the long-term fans are probably bored of getting their backsides whipped by a mechanical tail in the desert, so one can forgive and forget. All told, it’ll take an average of between fifteen and eighteen hours to clear all seven chapters. And even when you do, the experience for the single player is far from over.

It should be pointed out that you expect a lengthy game after sitting through the mandatory 4GB install on your PlayStation’s HDD. Previously, Ultimate Ninja Storm did the same and it was difficult to see why, but at least there’s some justification with the sheer size and scope of Ultimate Ninja Storm 2. Nevertheless, it would appear that loyal followers of Naruto’s high-definition exploits should ideally upgrade from a 20GB console if they want to play anything else.

Not that you’d really need to for a week. As I said, there remains plenty to do after the storyline is completed. A secret bonus “fragment” unlocks two new characters, and there are two further bonus characters that are unlocked by earning Storm Points, which act as a sort-of EXP after winning fights. One of these is Lars Alexanderson from Tekken 6 and if you’re wondering why for the love of Akamaru he shows up, remember that Naruto’s creator, Masashi Kishimoto, designed his costume. The hilarious dating system returns from Ultimate Ninja 3, although this time toned down slightly to avoid the awkward consequences of Naruto going out with dudes. There is, however, a brilliant new Message Station system. By using various types of birds Naruto can capture, you can send and receive mail from your fellow ninja. There are multiple types of response you can send back, either strengthening the bonds of friendship or shattering them... and, of course, everybody has at least one character they hate, so writing “Get lost, leave me alone, you jerk!” provides a certain, cheeky sense of satisfaction. A plethora of collections, cutscenes and bonus objectives are available, too. Also included are multiple nods back to the history of the Ultimate Ninja series, hence why I started with a lengthy history lesson: characters such as Aoi and the Black Shadow, stars of Ultimate Ninja 4, are referenced.

Okay, so what about the core of the game? What about the fighting system? Well, it remains essentially identical to the fighting system from Ultimate Ninja Storm, albeit with a few important tweaks. Thankfully, they’ve kept the good and changed the bad, and so we’re left with perhaps the most streamlined and accessible Naruto fighting game to date (not to mention, the most eye-poppingly gorgeous). A mixture of Circle and a direction initiates one of many devastating combinations; Square performs a distance attack; L2 and R2 block and, if timed right, pull off a substitution jutsu and a sneaky chance for a counter-attack. Triangle is your “chakra load” button and, depending on what you press next, is responsible for all your most powerful moves. This time around, your almighty Ultimate Jutsu feels much more natural and smooth: rather than changing the music and initiating a button-pressing minigame it simply becomes an insanely powerful (and often laughably unfeasible) move, difficult to dodge and capable of halving the enemy’s health. Once again, those finding themselves fighting a losing battle can enter “awakening mode” and gain a helpful boost of power. To round off the combat, L1 and R1 can call in support characters. Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 does improve upon this old system, giving those who build solid friendships with their supporters a chance to pull off the Team Ultimate Jutsu. Some supporters come with different types, too, and often you’ll see one pop up and take a hit for you, or join you in an attack, lending an extra (and welcome) degree of tactics to what is, essentially, a one-button beat’em up. In fact, that is the absolute beauty of this refined fighting system. While it remains very easy to hammer Circle to initiate an impossible gravity-defying, toad-conjuring piece of buffoonery, while praying to Jebus that it beats your opponent’s own gravity-defying, toad-conjuring piece of buffoonery, there is a pleasing degree of intelligence to actual triumph. A game that is easy to learn and yet difficult to master, while wrapped in such striking visuals, is sure to elicit that “Oh, just one more go!” response.

Several of the key single player fights, too, are given a boost of adrenaline and turned into massively epic boss fights. These are built of a relatively standard punch-up that will suddenly transform into a mind-bending, blood-pumping QTE of cinematic flair rarely seen in even the best of Shippuden anime episodes. Moments such as these are guaranteed to impress and often surprise with a hefty dose of emotional impact. For example, in one, you control a character doomed to die: given limited control, all of your attacks are reduced to weak, pathetic struggles and an agonising hobble. I found myself feeling guilty as I watched the scene unfold... as I had control of the character, yet could do absolutely nothing to help. I just had to watch him die. Such tiny moments have never before existed in Naruto’s gaming world, and really drive home the emotional effectiveness of the excellent storyline. Regardless of whether you’re familiar with the Shippuden storyline or not, I would seriously warn those prone to being influenced by sad scenes. This is the first videogame that has ever made me cry.

Longevity will also come for many from the new ability to take your ninja online and participate in international, ranked matches. A shop in the single player allows you to buy various Ninja Info Cards, any of which you can customise with various images and titles to represent you over the PlayStation Network or Xbox Live. This is where you’ll meet the fiercest of opponents, so take your best game with you and use a character you’re overly familiar with. Because while the controls are all universal, various people’s moves unfold in various different ways. That’s right, not all of them conjure toads and defy gravity. Some conjure dogs. And crabs, too.

So, in a nutshell (several of which you collect and give to the shop to transform into poison daggers... somehow), every base is covered. From a gameplay perspective, a solid fighting system is given just the right amount of tweaking to make it ultimate. From a single player perspective, there is the ultimate lengthy cinematic experience to enjoy. From a replay value perspective, all modes ultimately offer good reasons to return. From a graphical perspective, there is nothing to improve upon the ultimate splendour.

And from, well, every single other perspective imaginable, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 truly does become worthy of the “ultimate” title. I can imagine that casual gamers will enjoy the professional and accomplished feel but, for fans of the ever-popular anime and manga, this is truly something special.

Final Score

TEN OUT OF TEN

Regardless of whether knuckleheaded ninja in orange float your boat or not, there is simply no denying how impressive this game manages to be. At the touch of a button, hugely spectacular events unfold that are a joy to behold. And with a surprising depth and emotional maturity in covering substantial plot, the future of the series looks difficult, as it’ll take something as-yet-impossible to better this.