Naruto: Clash of Ninja

"Na rip-off. They should've skipped the first installment of Gamecube Narutos and brought out a real game."

Let me begin by stating that I have played up to the third installment of this series of games before going into my review. I must also state that to even remotely enjoy this game, you MUST be a fan of the series, as this particular version is so lacking in every department that there really is no other reason to touch it.

I originally played Naruto because my friends were hardcore Naruto fans. I soon became addicted as well, and would play the second version of this game often with friends. The battle system was mostly fun, but what made it great was the fact that a multiplayer function allowed for Smash Bros.-like game play (i.e., one-on-one, two-on-two, two-on-one, or three-on-one). Wanting to practice and save money, I bought THIS version of the game off of a friend who had already bought Naruto 2. Low and behold, this version of the game was inferior in every way. There is only a one-on-one versus mode, the game only holds a mere 8 playable characters AFTER unlocking everything (9 if you include a character's “special” mode), and everything gets old extremely fast compared to the game's sequel. I quickly made its way to the local import game store, where I sold Naruto for about $10 (about as much as the game's worth), and I then waited for Naruto 3 to come out instead. This version of the game is without a doubt one of the worst attempts at milking a popular Anime series for all of its worth by turning it into a below-average fighting game. Here's the breakdown of this joke of a game.

GRAPHICS: 5/10
I admit: the graphics aren't too shabby, even by today's standards. Nice character designs, movements, character trademark moves, etc. give a great visual of the overall feel of the series. Now onto the next decent aspect of the game: the Sounds and Music.

SOUND/MUSIC: 5/10
THE only saving grace: they used the actual voice actors from the series for this game. If it had been any different, this would've been a 2. It is because of the terrible music used that I chose to give this section a low score.

Though not using actual music from the series, the producers saw fit to make up their own mediocre music. The only example to illustrate my statement would be how Cartoon Network butchered both the voices and music of Dragon Ball Z when they decided to bring out the last two-hundred or so episodes of the series out to the United States in English dubbing. They brought in their own pathetic group to make new, terrible music (not to mention the terrible new voices of all characters).

GAMEPLAY: 1/10
Here's where the game should shine, but doesn't. There are only 8 playable characters. That's a ridiculously low amount of characters for ANY fighting game currently. The only mode of fighting in this 3D-type fighter is its basic storyline mode and a couple variants of it, as well as a one-on-one fighting mode. The actual game play itself is terrible as well, as it helps to be a button masher in order to win. Seriously, I took on people who had played for months and won easily from button mashing and little/no strategy.

BONUSES/LASTABILITY: 1/10
What bonuses? Unlocking a couple of characters and a sound mode, there's little else to do in this game. What's more, the lack of characters to chose from and repetitive specials, coupled with the weak versus mode, makes this game boring within a couple of hours.

OVERALL: 3/10
This game is a total insult to us all. It barely made the cut about 3 years ago when it first came out as one of Gamecube's few fighters, but it simply cannot stand up to anything on the system currently. D3 should've released Naruto 2 first instead of giving us all a game that was aged before it even came out, as Naruto 2 offers much more in every way, and the third and fourth installments of this series have since simply been refinements of Naruto 2's game play/music/graphics system. The only real justification for bringing this version of Naruto out to America is that Naruto 2 may spoil the plot for those who have not seen up to or past the Haku/Zabuza saga. However, the fact that this game doesn't even hold one-third of the second installment's characters, game play modes, music, and bonuses makes this particular version far too dated to even be considered worthy of purchase. Had D3 brought this trash out for $20 new instead of the $40 price tag they're assigning it, D3 may have had some justification in bringing this dated game out simply to appease Naruto fans. I just simply cannot stress enough the rip-off this game is to us as consumers.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 02/16/06