Naruto: Ultimate Ninja

"So What if it's the Worst Narutimate Game? That Doesn't Make it Less Fun."

Naruto, the hit manga/anime all over the world, finally has a game of the well-received Narutimate Hero series over here in America. Good news right? Wrong. Great news.

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja is the premier game of the Naruto: Narutimate Hero series. With 12 (or rather, 14) playable characters, Ultimate Ninja is a good start for the western hemisphere.

Quick, one-on-one matches with you as Kakashi (or 13 other characters), and your friend as Lee (same as before... duh) is the motif of this game. Basic Naruto techniques are abundant here. Walking on water, climbing trees using only your feet, substitution jutsu, specific Ninjutsu, and fundamental Taijutsu is the way to fight. Characters have their own specific jutsu (as it should be), Sasuke has use to Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu, while Kakashi has the ever hilarious One Thousand Years of Death. Although it should be mentioned that Sasuke and Kakashi have access to the Sharingan, which allows them to copy *most* jutsu that their opponent use, the only person who can't be copied is Garaa (which makes sense considering he doesn't use jutsu, rather sand that can't be controlled by the Sharingan).

There really isn't much depth to Ultimate Ninja, only a small number of combos can be strung together. Taijutsu makes up the vast majority of attacks, with Ninjutsu being used little during a fight, and Genjutsu being all be gone except for in the secret techniques of certain characters. At the most, three to four attacks consuming Ninjutsu can be used before being completely predictable to the opponent. The player does have the option (unless you turn it off) to use secret techniques (examples being Chidori and Raikiri, NO RASENGAN) to deal massive amount of damage to the opponent, although this isn't the best idea as it consumes all or most of your chakra.

Anime style graphics are what you'd expect and what you get in Ultimate Ninja. Nothing overly amazing here, just picture the anime with more lines drawn on the characters (come to think of it, the graphics are similar to the manga with color). As said, nothing super impressive, but they're good.

Of course, who could forget the musical aspect? It's is what makes the game tolerable. No matter how enjoyable the game, if listening to it causes your ears to bleed, then it can't be played. Anyway, the music for this game is phenomenal. Of course, the music from Naruto is amazing, so not using the actual themes would be...pathetic. Memorable and likable, I find myself walking around whistling these tunes quite often. A great job was done with the music.

Well, I suppose that now's a good a time as ever to mention something that I haven't yet mentioned (that I probably should have, but whatever); missions. With 60 missions that have specific goals, be it simply win the fight, don't attack on land, or don't use an Secret Techniques (or anything in between), honing your skills will be necessary to receive the valuable rewards given for finishing these bouts.

You can also collect hundreds – no, thousands of figures, videos, music, and scrolls that will keep you playing for years. Seriously, years. I mean, there are fourteen characters, and one of the missions that you have to (optionally) do is play 99 versus matches with each character. You do the math. Scared yet? I hope not, because, although it's an impossible dream, it's still fun to chase.

In a nutshell, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja has virtually endless replay ability.

Recap:

Story: Put quite simply, there is none. You can play through a one player mode where the character of your choosing is the main character, and you have to fight other characters, but that's as far as it goes.

Graphics: For all intents and purposes, it's the manga, only colored.

Gameplay: Pretty much the same as most any other fighting game. You fight against the other characters, then when you're done, you fight again. And again, and again.

Audio: It's made up almost entirely of themes from the anime, so if you're a fan of the show, you'll know how it sounds.

Replay Worth: There's a lot to do, beating missions, collecting videos, getting all of the figures, you'll be playing this game for quite a while.

Summary: I'd definitely recommend this game, it's one of my favorite for the PS2 and a great fighting game (both for fans of the series, and those not so in-tune with the adventures of Team 7). This is a good game and is well worth the money that it will take to buy it. I've logged in many hours playing this with my friends and still it doesn't get boring. Trust me, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja will keep you entertained and enjoying yourself for a long time to come.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/13/07