Naruto Shippuden: Kizuna Drive

It doesn't offer anything new when played solo, apart from the beautiful graphics, but it improves a lot when played cooperatively.

Naruto reappears on PSP with a suitable beat'em up with a mode for four simultaneous players. This option is by far the highlight of this release, a game which otherwise follows the guidelines set by previous titles.

Fans of the series will have a great entertainment here, and with all the missions to unlock more interest will come to evolve the characters.

A better adventure than many past Naruto games have been, and its focus on highlighting the four-man teams featured in the show is unique and novel.

Naruto Shippuden: Kizuna Drive suffers from a very repetitive gameplay. In every mission you have to fight a certain number of enemies, then go to another zone and repeat again, doing always the same combos. There's an interesting cooperative multiplayer mode for up to four players, but it's only local.

Naruto Shippuden: Kizuna Drive is at its best when enjoyed with multiple people. Playing missions with a team that's totally in sync makes for some fun gameplay, and this is only helped by a combat system that feels faster than most Monster Hunter clones. However, as a solo game, the free missions are painful, as the CPU AI never feels intelligent enough to do anything unless you're babysitting it every step of the way. As with the rest of the games in the series, fans will have already purchased the title, but non-fans who crave a simpler game in this vein should try renting Kizuna Drive.

Multiplayer is clearly Kizuna Drive's focus. Playing alone is a different story. [June 2011, p.80]

Sadly, even the veteran Naruto fans will find this title to be a dud. You can't very well enjoy a beat 'em up brawler who has a terrible AI and boring battles. What you've got here is a title that had potential but failed.

Played in single-player, Kizuna Drive is an unconvincing chapter of the Shippuden series, with a bugged A.I. and a boring gameplay. Things are much better when this game is played in multiplayer.

The game features a new plot, with a co-op gameplay, too easy and only dedicated to fans of the animated series and manga.

Hardcore Naruto fanatics will buy this, but I would advise casual fans to save their money for something else. Even with multiplayer, Kizuna Drive just didn't deliver.

Naruto Shippuden: Kizuna Drive is proof that the franchise needs a pause. The combat system is dull and multiplayer simply doesn't work.

We've seen a lot of good Naruto games and this one isn't one of them. There are problems with the fighting system, the graphics are pretty bad and the gameplay is way too repetitive.

Ugly and limited. [May 2011, p.103]

Naruto Shippuden: Kizuna Drive contains a fun and original story, but everything else stands in the way of your ability to enjoy it. Especially during the story-mode, the game can be more frustrating than challenging. The biggest problem is though, that all of the unlockable extras, like more characters and new assignments for the Free Mission-mode, are directly connected to the story-mode, which makes them unavoidable.

An incredibly customizable experience from top to bottom, but it has enough problems to keep it from ever becoming anything.

The game may have been better suited for PlayStation 3.

This game screams 'avoid'. [Issue#205, p.90]

Inspired by the success of Monster Hunter, Dragon Quest IX and the like, Naruto enters the realm of multiplayer play and characters customization. An enticing idea, but its execution is failing because of an ordinary gameplay, poor visuals and dull combats.

The frustrating AI ultimately ruins what could have been a decent PSP brawler. It would take an extreme amount of patience or loyalty to the Naruto brand to even see this game to the finish, especially when it's a side story of the franchise.