Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3

"The best Naruto game there is, and one of the best anime games"

Blah blah Naruto, blah blah port of old Japanese game, blah blah let's just get on with the review.

Story: 6/10
Hero's History follows the main Naruto story in a nutshell, but Ultimate Contest gets props for including a new, original story. Basically, Tsunade opens a contest, and the winner gets to create one law for the people of Hidden Leaf Village to abide by. Naruto, along with several other ninja (even Gaara, Temari and Kankuro enter!) enter the contest, Naruto hoping he'll be one step closer to being Hokage. The plot isn't really all that complex, but at least they tried.

Gameplay: 8/10
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja is basically Naruto meets Super Smash Bros.: you have to fight and get your enemy's HP to zero, and like Smash Bros., you can kind of interact with each stage. For example, in levels with water, you can stand on the water at the cost of expending chakra. The Ultimate Jutsu have been tweaked a bit. In UN 1 and 2, you had 3 of them, and if you pressed the right buttons in time or if you spun the control stick around fast enough, you could use another technique. Now, you only have one per match, in order to provide balance (full-powered Ultimate Jutsu could empty almost half of an opponent's HP bar). But, to make up for it, you have a selection of Ultimate Jutsu. For example, you can choose to deck Naruto out with Uzumaki Barrage, Rasengan, or the Combination Transformation, you have a choice of equipping Kiba with his Fang over Fang or Wolf Fang over Fang, etc. However, some characters (coughcoughanbukakashicoughcoughkabutocoughcough) only have one Ultimate Jutsu, which is kind of a downside. Like Ultimate Ninja 2, you can also customize regular Jutsu, but from what I've heard (to tell the truth, I've never played UN2), the selection is somewhat more limited. This game features a large amount of Naruto characters, from the regulars like Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Lee and Gaara, to others like Kimimaro and the rest of the Sound Ninja Five, and even (dun dun dun) the five Hokage, equalling 42 in all, and there is a new transformation system. For example, by using their Ultimate Jutsu, Sasuke and the Sound Ninja 5 can activate their curse marks to second state, Naruto can unleash the nine-tailed fox inside him, and Lee can become drunk/loopy by drinking alcohol/a potion. However, either I'm really good, or the CPU is really bad, because even on Insane, the CPU isn't that experienced (all they do, really, is spam Substitution Jutsu). In Ultimate Contest, you control Naruto as he roams the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and you can run errands like get some ointment for a wounded Hinata, or find lost pets. It's a cool process at first, but after a while, you don't really have anything to do. The missions, while some are rather entertaining, others will cause you to rip your hair out. But still, the gameplay manages to pass in my book.

Graphics: 10/10
The graphics are made to make the characters appear as if they came straight from the manga itself. The Ultimate Jutsu are the most visually appealing. For example, in the First Hokage's Ultimate Jutsu (Secret Wood Style Jutsu: Deep Forest Emergence), first he will create absolute darkness, then pummel the opponent. While they're down, he'll use his Deep Forest Emergence jutsu to create a jungle of vines and trees, and binds the unlucky victim to the tree. Finally, by making a hand sign, he blows up the forest, causing everything to burn into flames. Every time you see this jutsu, trust me, it will send chills down your spine. It's that cool. The cutscenes are full-fledged, real-time 3D cutscenes, thankfully, but all the characters really do is stand there. But some cutscenes will be computer-animated, and look amazing (for example, this is used when Naruto's Rasengan collides with Sasuke's Chidori, and when Sasuke is believed to have died at Haku's hands). No complaints here.

Sound: 9/10
The music and sound effects aren't that memorable most of the time, but they manage to fit. The English voice actors do a great job (Gaara sounds demonic and evil, Kakashi manages to sound calm, but he does a fantastic job at being serious when the time comes, etc.), but I may not be the only one who thinks that in Ultimate Contest, Shino sounds a little bit too quiet for my tastes, and some of the dialogue sounds a little bit awkward ("I'm a gazillion times more powerful!"). In a nutshell, the voices are great, the music and sound effects are forgettable.

Overall: 9/10
Overall, this is a solid Naruto video game. If you have a PS2 and you like Naruto, get this game. But like most other Naruto fighting games, it's boring without friends.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/08/08

Game Release: Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3 (US, 03/25/08)