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With a trio of games already past us, Bandai take the Ultimate Ninja series to the next stage with Naruto Shippuden, bringing this anime fighting game into the new Naruto story. Or so I thought. First of all, Ultimate Ninja 4
contains the same essential modes as its predecessor, you have the standard
practice and versus modes, along with a pair of single player options, one for
the main story and another that acts as a recap mode. The main mode, and the
one you are pretty much forced to play, is ‘Master Mode’, which begins the
Shippuden story. |
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Starting off with its own original story, before Naruto returned to the leaf village, Master Mode goes all the way up to about half-way through the ‘Gaara Rescue’ arc. The fact that the story mode finishes mid-arc is odd enough, but the fact that its in the middle of an important part of the story leaves me wondering if the development of the game was cut short. The gameplay in this mode itself is rather dull, while you are able to explore the maps as Naruto, jumping to higher platforms |
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and using skills such as Rasengen and the Shadow Clones to help you
get to the next area, the fighting system that has been introduced
is rather bland. When you enter a fight, which is always in a set
area, not random, the only thing you really have to do is constantly
mash the circle button and then Naruto will dash about the
area as he unleashes a torrent of attacks on the enemy, only
occasionally allowing you to mix things up by pressing triangle or X
when prompted to finish the combo in a different way. |
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‘Hero
Mode’, as it’s called, is one big recap on all the main events that took place
before the time-skip in the series. It pretty much covers the entire story from
the start all the way to the end of the ‘Sasuke Retrieval’ arc. During this
mode, you will be able to replay some of the important battles in the series,
such as the battle against Haku and Zabusa, or the third Hokages battle with
Orochimaru. Laced between the battles are various cutscenes and anime-stills
used to explain the story. |
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may have never played the first 3 games. Its only real problem is that it all has to be unlocked, as I mentioned earlier, and it can be frustrating to have to spend a large number of points on cutscenes, only to run out before you get to an actual fight. Probably the best part of the game, comes from versus mode. With a grand total of 52 characters to choose from, being spoiled for choice is an understatement. That is until you take a look at the characters available. Of the 52 characters, 40 of them have been copied from Ultimate Ninja 3. Most of the remaining characters are the new versions of characters, such as Naruto himself and Sakura, who have been updated to show off their new looks, along with some of their new skills. If you were to look at things technically, there are only actually 3 brand new characters; Sasori, Deidara and Granny Chiyo. Ultimate Ninja 4 is a poor sequel after Ultimate Ninja 3, which so far stands out as the best of the PS2 series so far. This game feels more like something of a 3.5 rather then an actual sequel. With the sheer amount of characters from the last game, this title doesn’t really need to be played, perhaps Ultimate Ninja 5 will change things around. Extras Ultimate Ninja 4 has the same collection system as the previous games; you can collect money to buy figures of the characters in various poses, videos of their special attacks along with music from the game. While there is a fair amount to collect, there seems to be much less then before. Ratings Game:
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