Naruto Shippuden: Legends: Akatsuki Rising

 PSP
Metascore
60

Mixed or average reviews - based on 15 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 15
  3. Negative: 1 out of 15
Buy Now
Buy on
  1. GamingXP
    74
    It won‘t disappoint you – 18 playable characters, a decent amount of customization possible, a good story, many rewards and last but not least, the original voices – for fans, it‘s a must-have, for everyone else: It‘s worth a try!
  2. PSFocus
    72
    A great game for short play sessions, it has a lot of gameplay and the game is visually stunning.
  3. Digital Chumps
    72
    Any Naruto or anyone just looking for a good button mashing brawler with RPG elements needs to take a strong look at Akatsuki Rising.
  5. Vandal
    70
    This new Naruto adventure is a different proposal, far from fighting games we were used to in the PSP, but very satisfying.
  6. Worth Playing
    70
    If you're a hardcore Naruto fan, you probably already have the game regardless of what any review says. More casual fans would be fine picking this up if they never bothered with Ultimate Ninja 4: Naruto Shippuden on the PS2. Everyone else will probably want to wait for the next fighting game to appear on the PSP.
  7. 3DJuegos
    69
    Naruto Shippuden Legends Akatsuki Rising comes to PSP in a new and exciting adventure where we can choose the good side of the story or being a member of the Akatsuki organization. We will assume the control of 18 characters, and customize them. Also we can use the new jutsus and unlock the new ones. The 3D scenarios are inspire of the original anime with an interesting 2 player wireless co-op. A simple action Naruto adventure what it seems focus more on the new players.
  8. Cheat Code Central
    66
    While neither the mission mode nor story mode have any outstanding elements, the game works well enough, and if you have to get your Ninja on with the PSP, Akatsuki Rising is your best bet.
  9. GameZone
    65
    While the battles with faceless bandits can get boring rather quickly, there are decent game modes and decent multiplayer fun to be had in this game if you give it a chance.
  10. PSM3 Magazine UK
    58
    An uneasy mix of brawler and RPG-lite. [Christmas 2009, p.90]
    All this publication's reviews
  11. GameSpot
    55
    Naruto's latest outing is yet another simplistic, mediocre brawler.
  12. IGN
    50
    But even with an interesting item system and solid Ad Hoc multiplayer, the unintuitive lock-on system, mixed with an overly simple counter system, make Akatsuki Rising a mediocre game at best.
  13. Eurogamer Portugal
    50
    Naruto Shippuden Legends: Akatsuki Rising is a mediocre game that could and should have a more intuitive combat system.
  14. Extreme Gamer
    50
    Naruto Shippuden Legends: Akatsuki Rising is a middle of the road experience that will likely keep the hardcore Naruto fans content while the others wonder what so special about Naruto anyway.
  15. Playstation Official Magazine UK
    50
    A control scheme and camera that are aggressively opposed to you actually achieving any success or pleasure. [Christmas 2009, p.116]
    All this publication's reviews
  16. Play UK
    46
    Boring to play. [Issue#185, p.83]
    All this publication's reviews

Awards & Rankings

54
#54 Best PSP Game of 2009
44
#44 Most Discussed PSP Game of 2009
25
#25 Most Shared PSP Game of 2009

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
5.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 19 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 19
  3. Negative: 6 out of 19
  1. lelbro
    Jan 3, 2022
    3
    I really wanted to like this game, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I love the anime, but this game is just really boring. The storyI really wanted to like this game, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I love the anime, but this game is just really boring. The story (scenario) mode is mostly just a retelling of the first arc of shippuden, which is fine and was fun to play through in storm 2, but the gameplay in this game makes it not worth it. You have a very basic combo system and then a few jutsus and kunai that typically don't link together/flow very well. Fighting is the crux of the gameplay, so for the fighting to be lacking any satisfaction or stimulation is a huge blow. Then, there's the rpg system/elements. Each character has individual stats that can be increased by leveling up (i.e. through defeating enemies) or by using items. While this system sounds fun and interesting on paper, like I said, the combat is very boring which disincentivizes the player to level up. Instead, I always just found myself running and dodging to get to the boss since fighting the enemies is not required. In addition, as you play through the story, you unlock new characters that are at higher levels by default. Therefore, all the time I would have spent leveling up the last character would have been in vain since my newly unlocked character would still usually be better. This also creates a conflict of interest. I would like to strongly level up a certain character, but I also want to use the new character that I just unlocked, who will likely be much better than the one I am leveling up because it takes so long and is so monotonous to level them up. So, I believe the final character that you unlock in the story is rock lee who is at level 30. But you unlock Neji at level 25 and he has a ninjutsu that is extremely strong if you hit it (8 trigrams 64 palms). So basically, all I did was play as neji for pretty much the rest of the game. I believe by the time I stopped playing he was around level 50. I would select neji, then I would add supports like naruto, kakashi, or sai. This would give my ninjutsu and chakra buffs, categories in which neji already specializes. I would run past all of the enemies to the objective in every level to finally get to the boss. Once there, I would just spam 8 trigrams 64 palms until they were defeated. Like I said, since I was running past enemies, I was always under leveled for the boss, but that never really mattered. I would stock up on medicinal pills (which revive you) and duplex pills (which regenerate your chakra and health), and any time I would become low, I would just use the pills or I would die and neji would automatically use the medicinal pills. This is pretty much how you can boil down every mode in this game. Just spam an overpowered jutsu on the main enemy until you win and heal when necessary.

    I did the exact same thing with neji in mission mode which is just a collection of filler missions. This was my least favorite mode because 80% of this mode is just running to the objective or trying to figure out where to go and what to do. Multiple times, after the mission, you would just have to return to where you started which is just meaningless padding that wastes more time, especially when other missions don't do this.

    The only mode that I found kind of interesting was the akatsuki filler arc. Just the concept of me playing as deidara and blowing up all of the leaf ninja was really funny to me. However, after the first few missions, you realize your efforts are meaningless and the akatsuki never gets anywhere in the story and the characters are never actually affected by what the akatsuki does. For example, you fight naruto like 3 times. I blew him up with detonating clay every time, but he just keeps coming back seemingly unaffected. There just seems to be this disconnect between the gameplay and the akatsuki story which results in a net zero. Keep in mind, it is still just the same concept of "find an op jutsu and spam it and heal and regen if necessary". In my case, I just used clay birds and spiders from afar to blow up every enemy in this mode.

    The same also goes for the survival mode. All you really do is fight bosses or hordes of enemies. Here, I just spammed sasuke's chidori which is more efficient for multiple enemies instead of neji's 8 trigrams 64 palms (more useful against singular bosses).

    The battle mode is boring as well, because it's the same gameplay. Also, why are there only 18 characters? Jiraiya and Tsunade appear multiple times throughout mission mode, so why can't I play as them in battle mode? Where is Kurenai's squad and the rest of Asuma's squad? Again, I know that they weren't part of the arc, but neither were sai and sasuke and you can unlock them after the story. If anything, you should make them playable instead of the akatsuki and sasuke because then you would be able to use them in mission mode. The only positives I can say about this game is that it doesn't look bad for the psp, it's cool that they got the original voice actors, and it is fun to break.    … Full Review »
  2. Cat_Anarchist
    Dec 3, 2019
    6
    Long videos, which based in engine. Boring fight-mode. You can`t ulnlock nothing interesting like arts / music etc. But also existLong videos, which based in engine. Boring fight-mode. You can`t ulnlock nothing interesting like arts / music etc. But also exist Akatsuki-filler arch, and usual missions like "kill several birds" contain story with videos and text! So it`s interesting walkthrough usual missions!… Full Review »
See all user reviews »