Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm or Bust?

Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm is an action/fighting game. The game takes place in the Naruto world and was released on the PlayStation 3 in 2008. It has since been re-released on the Nintendo Switch, which is the version I am reviewing.

What’s a Naruto?

Naruto is the name of the main character from the show of the same name. The source material comes from both manga (Japanese comics) and Anime (Japanese Animation). Naruto is a trainee Ninja; he aspires to become the leader of the Shinobi in his village. The video game follows the manga or anime up until a specific point.

Why Shouldn’t I Play This?

If you have zero interest in Anime. You don’t enjoy the over-the-top nature of Japanese culture then this game will not appeal to you. If you are in the middle of either reading the Manga or watching the Anime it would also be advisable not to play. This game contains a lot of spoilers, but if you are careful, you can pace it with the other media you are watching/reading.

The Game

Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm takes place in the village of Konohagakure. You can explore the whole of the village. However, in the beginning, there is very little to do until you have completed some missions. Missions are accepted via the Pause menu.

Most of the missions are battles against other ninjas. Most of the time, you play as Naruto, though other times you do play as other ninjas. Combat is very simple to learn, but the game drops you into combat without any explanation. The Pause menu does provide a command list, which I recommend you read through before attempting a battle. To begin with, they are very easy, but the difficulty does ramp up once you get to the middle of the game.

Other missions include a tree running activity. Where your character must run to the top of the tree within the time limit or beat a competitor. There are powerups but it is a very simple minigame. The first time it appears it was enjoyable. But as more of these missions started popping up it became less so.

The other type of mission is a parkour challenge, where you must either get from A to B or capture a target. It is very similar to the tree-running activity, where there are power-ups to speed you up. This also has the same issue: once you’ve played it a few times, it becomes tiresome. Unlike tree running, however, this one does make more plot sense.

Verdict

I love Naruto, and I’m currently watching the Shippuden series, which isn’t covered in this game. The two minigames really do bring the game down and make it very boring. Combat can be quite difficult, but it feels very shallow. If they spent less time on the other two activities and focused on combat, this would be a great Naruto game. Unfortunately, due to how shallow all the activities are, this title gets a 3/5.

I’ve heard that the next game in the series is a huge improvement, I can’t wait to play that one next.

For another review, click here.

For more information on Naruto, click here