"Fan of Naruto or not, this is a fun and very accessible fighter."

There are a lot of ways to get into the Guinness Book of World Records. You could try to balance the most spoons on your face, eat a 12″ pizza the fastest, or type the most books backwards. CyberConnect2 tried to get in the spotlight by having the world’s longest game title, Shonen Jump Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja: Storm 2.

As if the title wasn’t confusing enough, there are two more unrelated Naruto games coming out in a week. But before you assume this is another slapped together licensed game, I’m here to tell you that, not only is Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 fun, it also has some insanely high production values.

Like the first game, Storm 2 is a 1 on 1 (excluding support characters) fighter. But rather than the typical side-view perspective that dominates the genre, the camera is closer to that of a third person action game where you and your opponent share the spotlight equally. Given that both players have free movement in all directions, it’s an impressive feat that local multiplayer matches are possible without the need to split the screen and still manage to not have any camera problems.

Much like the Super Smash Bros. series, Storm 2 is incredibly easy to learn. You won’t be performing any “quarter circles” or remembering giant lists of input that only apply to a single character. Instead, melee combos are all performed with a single button, but can be altered by holding different directions on the analogue stick. Projectiles, guards, throws, and everything else can also be accomplished by one or two simple button presses.

One of the interesting aspects of the controls is the “Chakra Load” button. While holding it will make you power up DBZ style (filling your Chakra gauge), pressing it acts as a modifier to your other buttons. It can increase the ferocity of your projectiles, turn melee attacks into special attacks, and make your jump button perform a super fast dash maneuver; all of which spend Chakra.

“Playing online is less daunting than more technical fighters.”

But while the input for every character is the same, that doesn’t mean every character plays the same. Each of the game’s 40+ characters have their own distinct flow. Special attacks can be especially different. While one character’s special has them charge forward, another generates a dome of energy around them. The same goes for characters in the support role. In fact, when selecting support characters (which pull from the same roster as the characters you control directly), an indicator shows whether your support is an Attack, Guard, or Balance type.

While it isn’t as technical as Street Fighter or Tekken, that doesn’t mean Ninja Storm is devoid of strategy. It’s a game of timing and managing the distance between you and your opponent. Timing is especially key when you’re on the defensive. Hitting the guard button at the precise moment an attack is about to hit will make you appear behind your opponent. This allows you to break free from your opponents combo and unleash your own brand of ninja-related punishment.

The story mode is leaps and bounds better than the original game. Unfortunately, that really isn’t saying much considering how monotonous the first game’s campaign was. It definitely has a slow start, but once it get’s going it’s actually pretty enjoyable, assuming you ignore the boring parts in favor of moving forward.

There are a lot of sidequests you can do for people in the village, but none of them are particularly interesting. There are also a lot of shops where you can purchase items and use materials to expand each shops’ inventory. But like a “filer arc” in the anime series, it all feels very unnecessary. If you ignore these elements, the campaign becomes much more enjoyable. Sure, the world becomes an empty (but beautifully rendered) vehicle to get you to the next fight, but the actual fights and the story itself are the interesting part, so why waste your time?

“Elaborate boss battles don’t happen often, but are stuffed with QTEs when they do.”

I was surprised at how closely the story follows the manga it’s based on. It’s a compressed version of course, but there were plenty of opportunities for them to shoehorn in extra fights and for the most part, they avoided this. What’s most astounding, though, is the story’s presentation. This is cel-shading at its best. It’s amazing that a video game can actually look better than its cartoon counterpart. Almost everything is fully voiced (thankfully with the option for Japanese), and all the animation is full of life.

This is especially apparent during the large-scale boss battles. There are only a small handful of these, but they are real visual treats. This is where the game periodically wrestles control away from you in favor of Quick Time Events. In fact, unlike the first game, these select few battles are thankfully the only time you’ll see QTEs. Don’t worry. You’ll still perform some normal combat on these parts as well, and it’s admittedly hard to get too upset when the QTE segments are so mind bogglingly gorgeous.

My experience playing online has been excellent. I never experienced any lag, and getting into a match was never a problem. And thanks to the accessible nature of the gameplay, fighting random people online is far less daunting than in more technical fighters. There are a few balance issues with certain characters, but they aren’t too bad.

If you’re already a Naruto fan, chances are good that you’ll love Ultimate Ninja Storm 2. But even if you’re not, this is still a really enjoyable fighter. The combat is extremely fluid. It’s really easy to learn, but still has enough depth to be interesting. There are tons of unlockables and multiplayer (local and online) can be a lot of fun. But do the clerk a favor and find it on the shelf yourself. If they have to type that full title into the computer to check their inventory, their fingers will start to hurt.

This review is based on a copy of the Xbox 360 version of Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 purchased by the reviewer.

Tags: Bandai Namco, CyberConnect2, fighter, fighting games, licensed games, Namco Bandai, Naruto, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, ps3, Xbox 360

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 10th, 2010 at 5:00 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.