Testing is the second chapter of the Namco Bandai game available on the European market starting next October 18th.
Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto
We had been to give you the news of the development first and the imminent launch then, of the highly anticipated second chapter of Naruto Ultimate Ninja by Namco Bandai, and we are among the first, now, to review it. There are many titles on the market for the different consoles and it is clear that the games inspired by the lucky manga of Masashi Kishimoto and the anime that was drawn from it, represent a big deal for the software houses which obviously compete in the launch your own video game transposition of Naruto.
Before diving into one of the most anticipated games among those that allow you to take on the role of the funniest and most promising ninja of Konoha, it is therefore good to spend a few lines for the presentation of the inspiring work.
Who has never heard of Naruto or who has never seen, even for a few minutes, one of the episodes broadcast for more than a year now, probably will not be able to fully understand the happening that has developed around to the world created by Kishimoto.
To get at least an idea of what Naruto is doing in Japan, the United States and Europe, we need to relate to an illustrious precedent that has remained like an icon in our mind: Dragon Ball.
Like Dragon Ball, Naruto has a compelling and innovative story, like Dragon Ball, Naruto immediately conquered his audience, like Dragon Ball Naruto, he developed an incredible merchandising regarding gadgets and videogames, finally, as Dragon Ball became one of the most followed manga and anime in history.
Unlike Dragon Ball, however, Naruto has a world and a much more complex genesis, the characterization of the characters and every single aspect of the story told continue, until now, after 373 chapters published in the manga and over 200 episodes of the anime, to be original and propose new ideas. From the protagonist, to the supporting actors, to the antagonists to even the simple extras, everything has been designed to give fans a sense of wonder, novelty and action.
Of course, perhaps Naruto is a manga intended for an audience that is not too young, but it can be received in a different way depending on the audience that approaches it: the action and fight scenes that are easily usable by all, intertwine personal and emotional states that make it a unique work for completeness and intensity. The topics covered are many and such as not to allow an exhaustive list, but it is easy to report that the usual relationship of antagonism towards evil (which is an indispensable element of any story) is combined with many personal stories, made of loneliness, friendship, relationships family, fear of the different, love, sense of belonging to the community and much more, all seasoned with an excellent dose of comedy, lightness and optimism that emanate from the protagonist and which therefore allow you to follow the whole story by taking two different paths : one immediate and not too busy, related to the clashes and acquired powers, the other related to the entire world of Naruto and the myriad of stories that he brings with him.
Provided the necessary, although not complete, information on the "mother" work, it is easier to understand now, what drives hundreds of thousands of fans to wait for a videogames, actually several videogames, which actually appear prima facie very similar not only to each other but also in relation to illustrious precedents such as the various Dragon Ball Budokai.
Naruto Ultimate Ninja 2
Naruto Ultimate Ninja 2 fits perfectly in the groove left by the first chapter of the series and other precursor games of the genre. In this second chapter, a main story mode "Ultimate Road" has been introduced that follows the canons of traditional RPGs while having a somewhat peculiar evolution.
[YOUTUBE = Rq2pHA9DvjA] Naruto Ultimate Ninja 2 presentation [/ YOUTUBE] First of all, the title is well defined at the temporal level, as the developer (probably in order to exploit the entire Naruto story as much as possible with subsequent releases) has created the game moving from the final phase of the chunin exam up to the appointment as fifth Hokage of Tsunade, which means, on the one hand, pulling into the final battles of the chunin exam, the clash between Naruto and Gaara and the one between the Third Hokage and Orochimaru, Naruto's training with Jiraya, the meeting between Sasuke and Itachi and finally the eventful confrontation that sees Tsunade, Jiraya, Narute and Shizune as protagonists against Orochimaru and Kabuto, but obviously leaves out many other things, which, who he managed to follow the speech up to this point, he can imagine even only in relation to what still has to be narrated to reach the end of the first series.
Unlike its predecessor, Naruto Ultimate Ninja 2 has a real story mode with an RPG aspiration, the latter guaranteed by the possibility of earning points to be used later to improve the characteristics of the characters based on the technical and combat indices already introduced by the manga (attack, defense, chakra, speed, endurance, utility items).
As previously mentioned, the story mode can only be partially defined as that of a normal RPG, because if on the one hand it allows the evolution of the character, the narration of the "obligatory" story is very short and once the main quest is finished (which in reality does not give sufficient freedom of action, but is limited to being a sequence of clashes even if interspersed with narrative sequences), the game returns to be led by a sort of inertial movement where the only element that pushes you to continue the game is the ability to advance your characters or to complete side missions. And so here is the element that gives a consistent longevity to the game; the missions are divided according to the ninja classification: Grade D, Grade C, Grade B, Grade A and Grade S (plus some random missions in the "Infinite Mission" section), each one concerns fights, collection of particular objects, sporting challenges or training and each donates the points that increase your characters' abilities and the money to spend in the village markets or at the Tanzaku Market.
Gameplay and Graphics
In addition to the "story" mode, the game allows you to undertake, as happened in the first chapter, the direct confrontations between characters in the "Vs duel" mode. The characters that can be selected this time are 32 among which the three Sennin and Itachi Uchiha stand out, but many of them must be unlocked during the missions and the main story "Ultimate Road".
The main menu still allows the choice of training mode with Iruka, a special mode during which you will fight with an opponent having active energy regeneration so that you can help yourself to compose your jutsu in complete tranquility. Finally, giving a last look at the main menu, we find the Tanzaku Market where it is possible to buy objects that are not only needed during the battle: there are collectible pieces that make the game more exciting, ranging from the figurines of the characters, to the discs to listen to. in the “Naruto's House”, to the extra videos to view.
The "Ultimate Ninja" mode is the main game mode, the scene opens with the talk between Kabuto and Orochimaru on the invasion of Konoha and then continues to the point we have already talked about, namely the investiture of Tsunade's fifth Hokage . The characters, it goes without saying, are substantially identical to those of the manga, being not so difficult a transposition from a work similar to a videogames. What instead leaves pleasantly surprised is that in the dialogues the characterization of the character is perfectly evident as realized in the main work and therefore we will have Naruto impulsive and noisy, Sasuke contemptuous and proud, Hinata shy and clumsy, Jiraya sympathetic and womanizer (so much to maintain the title of “Pervy Sage”) and so on.
After the brief introduction, the real battles begin, which, except for a few minutes of freedom, follow one another at a fast pace. The individual clashes, however, in Naruto Ultimate Ninja 2 should not be simply won but you must, where required, achieve specific objectives; if on the one hand this new feature eliminates the monotony of the single clashes that do not present macroscopic differences between them, in some cases it subjects the player to moments of impatience towards the incessant attempt to satisfy the objectives, which put a strain on not only patience but also the joints of the hand.
In fact, as anyone who has previously played Naruto Ultimate Ninja knows, the battle is a continuous succession of moves and the special techniques of level one, two and three require the combination of keys in a repetitive and fast way. As for the actual difficulty in following the rhythm, this can be seen much more during the scattered missions, among which the “sports” competitions in which the fingers are subjected to stresses almost at the limit of sustainable.
[YOUTUBE = AigGGU-_Uls] [/ YOUTUBE] The clashes between the characters enjoy a good fluidity and general playability, the scenarios are wider than the previous ones with even three or four levels of depth on which to move during the clash; the abilities have been differentiated and increased even if not substantially and as regards the special techniques to be performed with the chakra most of the time the new ones have been obtained for part from the union of those seen in Naruto Ultimate Ninja, for the other from newly introduced techniques. Let's take Naruto's special techniques as an example, the technique with level one and two chakras are basically the synthesis of the three special techniques of the first chapter, while the third, introduced from scratch, contains the deadly technique of "rasengan" followed by one state of excitement on Naruto following the exit of the nine-tailed fox chakra.
The management of the chakra has improved considerably, with greater ease in reloading and a greater probability of success in the execution of special techniques even if balanced by a lower probability of finding the opponent uncovered and therefore being able to perform the special technique.
At the end of each battle, in addition to being able to continue with the story, you will get money (ryo) and improvement points. At the beginning of each clash, cartoons often appear, typical of comics, in which the characters exchange a few words before starting the actual clash, a very pleasant feature the latter, already present in the first chapter of the game.
After the narrative phase of the story phase, it is possible to face the missions to be selected in the character menu. At the beginning of each mission it is possible to select the character who will have to face it, this choice allows you to earn points for the character whose skills you want to increase.
From the pg menu you can therefore use other sections: Customize (implementation of pg technical features), Mission (select the missions to be faced), House (you can listen to music, see videos, consult the collection of stickers, etc.).
The graphics are essentially the "cardboard" one of the various manga transposed into videogames, there are no particular qualities, except that the animated scenes of the special techniques (although not an example of high-level graphics) show the players funny and well-kept gags. in details.
In some passages of the clashes the management is confusing and the control on the characters is limited to the use of the circle button only, as the other buttons are dedicated to the jump, to the chakra, to the movements and to the shuriken or tools.
The loading of the chakra during the fight has been made faster as well as the possibility of losing small amounts of it has been made more probable, during the course of the meetings the picture interacts in a useful way with the characters offering objects or energy from time to time. But help will also be provided to you during the battle by the support character, in fact in the individual missions and during the clashes of the "Vs mode" mode it is possible, once the character has been selected, to also set a support of your choice that will intervene in some circumstances (each character has certain characters to choose from, for example Naruto can ask for the support of Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi and Iruka).
[YOUTUBE = _n8BIW1510Q] Vs duel mode [/ YOUTUBE] The present modes: "Ultimate Road" with main story plus additional missions, "Vs duel" with clashes even with two players, Tanzaku Market which allows the purchase of blocked content , make the game very long-lived and substantially infinite in the "clash" mode, giving the player several hours of play that can be used even in the company of friends who are equally passionate as Naruto.
Sound and Final Considerations
The sound effects and music pleasantly echo the soundtrack of the Naruto anime and those already used in Naruto Ultimate Ninja; in particular, the music of the story mode has a more marked continuity with the anime, while those reserved for the other game modes as well as the sound effects tend more to fit into the fighting games vein, leaving in some cases perplexities such as the constant use a little everywhere of the exclamation "yoh" already sore point of the previous chapter.
The dubbing of the characters was performed keeping in mind the character facets and the vocal properties of the anime characters making an excellent overall impression on the entire audio sector. It must be said that the version in our possession is the one for the American market and therefore the dubbing is in English with English subtitles, so it is easier to be carried away by the similarities with the anime and to follow the speech without departing from the audio. . In the European and in particular Spanish version, surely the game will be proposed, as happened for the first chapter, with the subtitles in Spanish and the audio in English, a choice that does not make it possible to correctly enhance the original dubbing.
Ultimately, the title seems to us satisfactorily to meet expectations as regards the clashes and the use of the contents even if it remains too tied to a specific phase of the manga. From the point of view of the game, we do not report relevant news except the fact that it is possible to implement the characteristics of the characters and that the selectable characters come to be 32 and the arenas in which to fight 16.
The combat modes are the classic ones of unrealistic fighting games, but we underline the novelty element (for this series) given by the introduction of the RPG features. Overall, the game gets full enough without being able to aspire to become an icon of the genre as it lacks significant novelty elements and in many respects it follows its predecessor in an embarrassing way. On the other hand, Naruto lovers can not help but appreciate the fidelity of reproduction and the continuity that the title shows with the manga and the anime, which, in hindsight, represent the immediate term of comparison to any product that interest the world of Naruto.
Naruto Ultimate Ninja 2 is published by Namco Bandai and will be distributed in Europe starting next October 18th.
