Ultimate Ninja 4: Naruto Shippuden

"More Naruto?"

Nowadays, the main problem with anime-based games is that they only appeal to a particular audience, the one that purchases everything that is thrown at them, regardless of its content and quality. Naruto has been a series that suffered from this problem, with several games presenting a below-average quality. Fortunately, that's not the case of this game, which partially solves the problem.

Soon after watching the introduction sequence, you'll gain access to the main menu. Apart from featuring the usual options that every fighting titles presents us, most of your time will be spent on the RPG and Hero modes.

The interesting RPG Mode allows you to control Uzumaki Naruto, the series' main character, while he faces a storyline that could have been taken from the show itself. With a simple storyline that takes no more than six hours to complete, a player will have three different side quests to complete, all of which unlock bonus content. However, the main characteristic is that you will be controlling this character in a small 3D world, which you're free to explore, not that it has much to explore... eventually, you'll get into battles and while some of them use the classical interface seen in the "Narutimate Hero" games, others are held in pure 3D, with the same quality as the rest of the world. Those battles are generally boring and predictable, making you stick to the attacking button and using Rasengan as soon as possible, which is deemed harder if you think about the camera. Sure, you can control it by using the right stick, but the default view is usually bad and constantly adjusting it breaks the gameplay.

In fact, those battles are possibly the worst part of this mode. Sure, you can throw some shuriken at your enemies, but such action doesn't even harm them, providing you with the interesting battle strategy of constantly sticking to the same combo, followed by Rasengan attacks, when possible. Besides, since the game doesn't feature any kind of random battles, it is easy to predict when you'll be fighting your next one, which becomes too boring after a while, with you facing the very same set of enemies for several times. Sure, there are two different boss battles found in this mode, but they can be won by relying on the same strategy that you used in every other one, provided you heal at proper times.

Items are also available on this mode, with predictable results. You'll only need the ones who increase your current HP, with any other ones being hardly required. You'll find some money and orbs while exploring this small world, and since those are transferred to use on the other modes, they are probably more important than anything you'll get from this mode.

After acquiring some orbs, you're free to visit the Hero Mode. There, you'll be revisiting the storyline of the Naruto series, with orbs being required to proceed. Divided onto four different arcs, you get to see the main events that occurred in the series, apart from facing the same epic battles that you could see in the actual show, always fighting in an interface that resembles the ones from the "Narutimate Hero" games. There, some cut scenes are shown in the 3D and others with mere static images, always featuring voices that sound exactly like the ones from the show.

Obviously, you also have access to a Vs. Mode, where two characters simply fight each other and a Shop Mode, which allows you to spend your money in products related to the series, such as video clips and songs. While those only appeal to fans of the series, they harshly increase the replay value and play time of this game, with players trying to get as much money as possible to unlock all content available.

One on one battles, the ones usually fought in this game, surely deserve a mention. Apart from allowing characters to move in a 2D arena, fighters can also jump to other parts of the scenario, generally providing strategical bonus or the access to new weapons, which can later be used to inflict further damage on your opponent.

It is nice to see that this features a good number of characters, all of which play in a different way. You get to pick Naruto, Sakura or even Rock Lee, alongside less frequent characters such as Orochimaru, Itachi or Deidara. These are mere examples, with almost important character being controllable, some of which even with different forms. Naruto himself, for example, is available in his original self, along with an older (and more powerful) version.

Featuring so many characters and lots of content to unlock, this game will probably take a long time to complete. Fans will be happy, but I'm afraid that such content won't appeal to other players, those who aren't interested in the series.

Generally awesome and detailed, allowing you to clearly see all characters and the characteristics that compose them, the graphical quality seems to decrease in the RPG Mode, perhaps a consequence of the bad camera angles. All menus are depicted in a way fit to the series, which won't disappoint anyone at all.

In terms of sound, the quality of this product is also quite good. Some tunes appear to have been taken from the actual show, with all of them being fit to the game and a pleasure to the player's ears.

Requiring hardly any knowledge of the language, this is a game that every fan of the Naruto series will enjoy and it surely deserves your money. Non-fans could give it a try, if it was ever released outside Japan, since the bonus content is more appealing to fans themselves.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/10/07