Naruto: Ultimate Ninja

"One of the worst fighting games ever spawned."

I'm going to make this short and to the point since I have no feelings whatsoever for this game, even to write a review on it.

Graphics: 7

The visuals in this game are relatively good. The comic look is excellent and the effects seen when slamming someone onto a tree are satisfying. The only thing that got on my nerves were the constant pop-ups on the screen while in the heat of battle, which constantly distracted me.

Sound: 4

The sound effects in general sound very compressed and made me wonder if there was something wrong with my TV. The voice acting is HORRIBLE beyond imagining, but that is to be expected in an anime-based fighting game with no option to switch to Japanese voicing.

Gameplay: 3

I got this game because I was blinded by my undying love for the show and thought that a game was just what I needed to make life even better, but oh my GOD was I wrong. I mean, holy sweet mother, the fighting in this game is flipping TERRIBLE. The biggest screwup of this game is the controls. Never in my life have I been so frustrated inputting a standard 3-button combo. It's like the game has trouble keeping up with you. When you press O, O, > O, you expect to see the combo follow through, but NO, not in THIS game. Instead you have to press OO>O at the speed of light and spam the last input in order to get the damn thing out. The blocking seems to come at random or something. Half of the time I block, but sometimes I do the replacement jutsu instead and end up getting confused. Other times I just get smacked. The special attack are really cool and appealing at first, but after about 2 hours, the novelty wears off, and you start wondering why in the hell you bought this piece of garbage.

Now, as for the gameplay modes, let's just say I hate them. The story mode is just a really bad summary of the first 50 episodes of the anime, and the mission mode is so insanely frustrating and luck-based to the point where I want to yank the disc out of my PS2 and run it through with a chainsaw. Now, I'm no vet at fighting games, but I don't think the missions could be potentially easy for ANYBODY. I mean, the game throws in HUNDREDS of unlockable items, but makes it so that beginning players or just fans of the anime are forced to find an easy, low-paying mission and grind it for HOURS UPON HOURS to get them.

Replay Value: ? (0)

What replay value? I don't see a valid reason for anybody wanting to grind for all of that bullcrap again. I get fighting games to have a fun, challenging, and in-depth fighting system that doesn't take too long or too short of a time to master. I get these types of games to play as my favorite characters and kick some ass with them, but instead I get the worst controls I've ever had to endure in my life and something that went WAY overboard with the challenge.

Final Thoughts:

I get fighting games to have a fun, challenging, and in-depth fighting system that doesn't take too long or too short of a time to master. I get these types of games to play as my favorite characters and kick some ass with them, but instead I get the worst controls I've ever had to endure in my life and something that went WAY overboard with the challenge.

All in all, horrible fighting game with fancy comic strip visuals. Not even fans of the anime should have any excuse to get this game, especially now.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 08/19/07