Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm

Naruto is a great action game that lives up to its series with ease. What stands out is the overal quality of the graphics, sound and the unique battle system. Unfortunatly there will be no 'friends battle frenzies' because of a total absence of any type of online play. Nevertheless Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm adds a new breeze of fresh air in the fighting genre and even the players that are new to the Naruto world will enjoy this game.

You'll be hard pressed to find a better looking Naruto game, however, with amazing cel-shaded characters (25 in all), vistas and gigantic bosses that make trudging through the adventure worthwhile. A lot could be improved in a future iteration, but the game should please most fans.

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm really, really, really needs to support online fights. Publisher Namco Bandai’s last big fighting game, Soulcalibur IV, did it. There’s no reason for this not to as well.

Fighting section is good...RPG section is problematic. [Summer 2009, p.74]

As a fighting game, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm is a complete success. The extremely accessible fighting engine benefits from a great deal of hidden depth and a pleasing penchant for the extravagant, while the excellent camera, colourful cast and brilliantly over the top move list combine to create an experience that feels like a playable Manga cartoon. As an RPG-lite adventure however, it tends to come up a little short.

As an adventure game, UNS' pacing feels slow and forced, with the best parts (the bosses) at the end of a chapter. As a fighting game, UNS defies conventions by using an atypical third-person approach, but its execution feels a bit loose and sloppy. The beautiful visuals may attract a new audience outside of the Naruto brand -- but not many devout followers.

They might want to cut down on the load times, too. Or at least come up with a few more pretty pictures to admire while we wait.

There’s no denying Ultimate Ninja Storm has its moments and can even be dazzling on occasions, but such instances are purely visual and lack depth. Enthusiasts may be content at first, but even they will get tired of Naruto’s only trick.

I can really only recommend Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm to the die-hard. And even then, I'd recommend older titles in the series, if you can find them.