A part me thinks that if you enjoy watching or reading Naruto, but somehow haven't had the chance to try CyberConnect2's damn pretty Ultimate Ninja games, you're missing out--I reviewed the hilariously long-titled Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 - Full Burst a while back and really enjoyed it. Much like how JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle was less a fighting game and more a JoJo game, the Ultimate Ninja Storm games go out of their way to be series-faithful Naruto games, with the fans at heart.
The latest game in the series, titled Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution, takes a different approach to the series' single-player experience. Instead of retelling the main story, Revolution's single-player content is broken up into a bunch of smaller original chapters. "Ninja World Tournament" has two main arcs, the first and some of the second taking place during a huge tournament between the series' characters and introducing new four-player battles. Playing out like Battle Stadium D.O.N. or Smash Bros.' Coin Battle, you fight enemies and collect dropped chakra orbs--whoever has the most orbs wins the match, and bringing an enemy's total to zero lets you knock them completely out of the fight. It's worth noting that all of this game's story content is essentially filler, and not particularly great filler--I skipped the vast majority of the cutscenes, but I will say that the last fifteen to twenty minutes of the "Mecha-Naruto" story was genuinely good, the kind of heartfelt heroism you get when Naruto as a series is firing on all emotional cylinders.
The latter half of the "Mecha-Naruto" story and the "Ninja Escapades" mode take the series' now-standard one-on-one approach. Ninja Escapades are basically untold stories, like how Akatsuki was formed, the backstory of Uchiha clan member Shisui, and a flashback story with Obito and Kushina, all with brand-new animation broken up by a series of one-on-one fights. Unfortunately, all of this flies by fairly quickly, and I was able to finish all the single-player content in three (admittedly very focused) nights, not counting most of the cutscenes. Ninja Escapades also doesn't save between matches, and some cutscenes can run kind of long (and one Ninja Escapade is just a long cutscene/episode), so grab a drink and a snack when you're ready to find out how Orochimaru joined Akatsuki (hint: it involved him getting beaten like he owed them money).
Revolution seems to be more heavily skewed toward multiplayer, with a huge 100-character roster (it's fair to note that transformations count as characters to this game), with multiple character combat styles--Ultimate Jutsu (build up power to unleash a big super moves), Awakening (build up power to transform into a usually-fight-ending super mode), and Drive (triple-team support with a powerful "Seal" ultimate). Building off the more generic triple-team combos in Full Burst, you're now able to do character-specific team attacks, encouraging you to pair up characters with story connections for more impressive finishers. The Dark Souls-like "Online Clone" system has been also been added, allowing you to challenge slightly-customized characters for in-game money and rewards. Other changes include the aforementioned four-player battles--while chaotic and kind of fun, it doesn't quite hit the highs of the Gekitou Ninja Taisen/Clash of Ninja series on GameCube. There are no Ultimates or Awakenings in four-player battle, only super moves, removing some of the most intense and exciting parts of the Ultimate Ninja franchise. Four-player arenas have added rails--yes, like actual rails you grind on and perform SiKk TrIcKz--and maintaining control of the rails can really push the battle in your favor, like so:
EXTREEEEEEEEEME NO JUTSU (aka Mountain Dew no Jutsu, aka Kage BROnshin no Jutsu)
As always, the action is incredibly well-choreographed, and the visuals don't fail to impress. It says something that I've been playing a lot of Destiny--a brand-new (ideally) next-gen game with great aesthetics--and I'm consistently more impressed by this last-gen game that manages to bring Masashi Kishimoto's detailed, yet clean-lined art to life. The problem is that Revolution kind of feels like a placeholder--the Fourth Ninja World War is still going on in the anime (and manga, I guess), so these filler stories have to do on the single-player front. For multiplayer, it feels like CyberConnect2 is testing the waters to see what people in terms of how they play with friends before fully committing to a next-gen Ultimate Ninja Storm on PS4/XBO. Ultimate Ninja Storm was a pretty big departure from the original Ultimate Ninja games, so I wouldn't be surprised if the next iteration of Naruto and company's adventures made as big a leap. Revolution is a good game through and through, but never fully delivering on multiple fronts keeps it from being as memorable as past entries in the franchise.
Naruto is a series I've kind of fallen out of love with. Sure, it got me back into shounen manga in a big way, and eventually introduced me to long-lasting favorites like One Piece and Gintama. But for everything I complain about as a reader and as a lapsed fan, and for all the issues I have with Revolution in terms of game design, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution does an unusually excellent job in reminding me why I liked this series about an orange-clad ninja with volume control problems in the first place. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think it's time for another marathon of the Chunin Exam and Sound Five arcs. It's been a while.
REVIEW ROUNDUP
+ The usual Ultimate Ninja Storm blend of gorgeous visuals and fast, easy-to-get-into action
+ Massive cast of characters spanning the entire series (so far)
+ Multiple fighting styles each feel different and fresh, along with team-up techniques
+/- Four-player combat is a welcome new addition, but removes some key series elements like Ultimate Jutsu
- Single-player content goes by very quickly, and not much of it really stands out
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