Naruto: Ultimate Ninja

"I'm gonna be the Hokage, believe it!"

I borrowed Naruto: Ultimate Ninja from a friend, and the moment I played it I was in love immediatly. It does have some annoying downsides, but all the good sides totally make up for it.

Graphics: 3/5
Okay, the graphics don't look that good, but I still do like the manga looks. They should have used a better facial motion system, because the character's mouth don't match their lines at all. It's a good thing you can switch between the American and Japanese voices, though. Trust me, Japanese is a LOT better on this one.

Gameplay: 4/5
I'm especially impressed in the gameplay system. The controls are easy to learn. If you're a newbie to this genre, you'll still have a good chance against all opponents, even without training. Only one downside; the standard level of difficulty is far too easy. Once you change it to hard, you shouldn't battle opponents like Orochimaru, Curse Marked Sasuke, or Kyuubi Naruto.

Sound: 3/5
Sound... Impressive, but not quite as good as the gameplay. The characters seem to be voiced by the same actors as in the anime. I must say I do prefer the Japanese voices though, it can be changed in 'Naruto's House'. The music at the 'new game' and 'load' screen sounds really good, as well as all the other soundtracks. I don't like the sound you get as you teleport behind your opponent, however...

Storyline: 4/5
Still not as good as the gameplay, but it certainly comes close. All the characters have different stories or 'Saga's' to complete, almost all with another final boss(Orichimaru, Sasuke, Gaara, etc). I don't like the missions, though. You can consider it as an 'extra' storyline to play through. It can provide you loads of money to spend in the 'shop'. But, it lets you play some horribly annoying levels against either crappy weak opponents, or insanely skilled opponents... Either way, it's a drag.

Difficulty: 2/5
This varies. Mostly, it's a simple beat-em-up game that's easy to pick up. By setting the game to hard difficulty, you shouldn't have too much problems either, except for opponents such as Orochimaru.

Frustration rating: 1/5
It's always annoying when you lose a match, but not with this game. Somehow, you won't feel like you just want to throw your controller out of the window when losing to someone, not with this game. It's a rarey, though.

Overall rating: 7/10
I'm statisfied. Good graphics, outstanding gameplay, nice sound, etc. Not too much downsides. Though please, Bandai, kick the difficulty level up a notch!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/03/09

Game Release: Naruto: Ultimate Ninja (EU, 02/09/07)