Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2

"A Huge Improvement From the First Clash of Ninja"

Naruto Clash of Ninja 2 is Tomy's follow up to Naruto Clash of Ninja. While it touts itself as a sequel, it's more of an update to the original game. The original Naruto Clash of Ninja was a solid game, but lacked a bevy of things that kept it from being a great game. The character roster was incredibly small, there were not enough single player modes to play in, and the story mode could be finished in about twenty minutes.

Naruto Clash of Ninja 2 does a great job of fixing almost all of these issues that plagued its predecessor and adds a bunch of new characters and content that makes it a much better game. The original game had 10 characters total, and Naruto Clash of Ninja 2 has 23, more than double the amount. Some of these characters are available right away and some have to be unlocked through different accomplishments.

When you beat different modes of play, you will be awarded money that you can spend in the shop. The shop has all kinds of items, from CPU handicaps, to hidden characters, to new modes, and of course new stages to fight in.

While the battles have mostly remained unchanged, there are a few more options to consider. Up to 4 characters can now be on-screen at once, so you can set up fights for 2 on 2, 3 on 1, or you can just do the standard 1 on 1 battles. So basically, Naruto Clash of Ninja 2 can be a 4 player game if you want it to be. I chose to stick with the 1 on 1 battles since I was used to them, but there are times during the story mode where you will be fighting 2 characters at once, or you and another character will be fighting 1 or 2 opponents. It gets kind of crazy at times, but it remains solid, despite being a bit overbearing.

Everything about the core gameplay has pretty much been left the same. The easy move inputs have been carried over, keeping the game out of compliance with standard fighting games. The easy move inputs may disappoint some hardcore fighting game fans, but the quick and easy inputs help to perpetuate the action, which is just as fast paced as before.

Some of the old characters have received some tweaking to help balance them out better, and the new characters seem to fit in very well with the existing characters.

There is a lot more that is new in Naruto Clash of Ninja 2, but even after all of the changes, the game still feels more like an update than a complete sequel. It's more like Naruto Clash of Ninja “Champion Edition”. (That's a Street Fighter reference)

Graphics 8/10

The graphics in Naruto Clash of Ninja 2 are almost the exact same as they were in the previous game. In fact, some of the character models look identical. However, this isn't really a bad thing, since the first game looked pretty good. Naruto Clash of Ninja 2 now supports a progressive scan option as well, in case you have component cables for your Gamecube.

The most interesting thing graphically about Naruto Clash of Ninja 2 is the look and style of the new characters. Tomy had the challenge of bringing even more characters from the Naruto universe into their game, and they did a great job. Two of the most noteworthy additions are Gaara and Kankuro. For those of you that don't know, Gaara is a ninja that has a strange power to control sand and carries a giant gourd of sand on his back, and Kankuro is a puppet master ninja, who fights with his puppet named Crow.

All of Gaara's sand attacks are animated beautifully and you can really tell that the developers stuck close to the source material when designing him.

Kankuro is much the same in that he looks and fights just like you would image he would in a fighting game. Kankuro has control of his puppet Crow at all times and some of his attacks will have Crow flying all over the screen. When Crow is not being used, or when Kankuro is knocked down, Crow will go limp and fall over, as the strings between him and Kankuro fall to the ground. It may not sound very cool on paper, but seeing Kankuro in action is awesome to say the least, and controlling him and Crow is a blast.

Sounds and Music 7/10

The sounds and music are a bit better than they were in Naruto Clash of Ninja, since there is just more of everything. The intro is now a cool montage of some high energy moments from the series, accompanied by one of the intro songs from the Naruto series. I found this to be a welcome addition, and I watched the intro every time before I played.

Most of the original songs have returned from the previous game, and a few new tracks have been added for the additional backgrounds. Most of them sound good and fit right in with the others.

The sound effects are great as well. Again, a lot of the sounds were imported from the previous game, but the new characters up the ante and they all sound great. I'm guessing the original voice actors did the voices, because they sound identical to the TV series.

Controls 7/10

The controls have not changed one bit since the first Clash of Ninja game. The “A” button will be your Ninjutsu button, and “B” will be your Taijutsu button. Special Jutsus can still be performed by pressing the “X” button. This unleashes a devastating attack on your opponent.

While I really had no problem with the easy to use control scheme, it does indeed make many of the characters play the same, but there is a bit more variety in the roster of characters, so it's not as big of an issue as it was with the previous game.

Maybe I'm just getting used to the control layout for this series, but I think the game controls just fine. A bit too simple for hardcore fighting game fans, but most people should be able to pick up the controls quickly and start handing out beat downs shortly after they start to play.

Gameplay 8/10

Naruto Clash of Ninja 2 plays the same as Naruto Clash of Ninja, but the increased character roster makes things a bit more interesting and gives you a lot more options. Picking a character is just as arbitrary as it was before, and choosing a character is not really based on move sets, but more on who you like, since many of them play very similarly. However, due to the variety in the new characters there are a few more contingencies to consider.

Some characters like Rock Lee may have a tough matchup with someone like Kankuro, since Rock Lee lacks any projectiles, and Kankuro has his puppet at his disposal, which allows him to abuse long range attacks. However, Rock Lee has many attacks that will allow him to close the distance between him and his enemy quickly, and dish out some up close punishment.

Speaking of the characters, I have not even talked about who the new characters are. Some of the characters that have been added in Naruto Clash of Ninja 2 are: Hinata, Neji, Gaara, Kankuro, Might Guy, Ino, Shikamaru, Kiba, Mizuki, Orochimaru, and a few others. All of the characters from Naruto Clash of Ninja have been included, bringing the grand total to 23 available characters.

There are now a bunch of new story modes to go through, and each one focuses on a different story arc from the TV series. Some story modes will have you playing as Naruto, others will have you playing as Rock Lee, and others will have you playing as Sasuke or one of the many other characters. The expanded story modes are very welcome, and add a good bit of playtime to the single player game.

If there was ever a game that rendered its predecessor obsolete, Naruto Clash of Ninja 2 would be the game. After playing Naruto Clash of Ninja 2, I see no reason to re-visit Naruto Clash of Ninja for any reason.

Longevity and Re-Playability 8/10

There is a lot more to do in Naruto Clash of Ninja 2 than there was to do in the first game. I'd say there is at least 4 times the content. The ability to do 4 player battles also heightens the replay value, and the multiplayer mode can be played for as long as you can find people to play against.

Conclusion

Naruto Clash of Ninja 2 is a huge step up from its predecessor, and not only is it a game that Naruto fans should check out, but any fan of casual fighting games will find something to like here.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/23/08

Game Release: Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2 (US, 09/26/06)