Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution

"Fun, but overly shallow fighter"

Here's my review on Naruto: Clash of the Ninja Revolution.

Story

Being a fan of the Manga/Anime I'm glad to say that Naruto: Clash of the Ninja Revolution stays true to the source material. Naruto Clash of the Ninja: Revolution's storyline follows the popular television series, so fans looking for a new and original plotline, look elsewhere. The game begins with the Sand Village attacking the Leaf Village right up to the legendary Sannin battle. The problem is, the Storyline usually takes place during bland unanimated cutscenes that take place in between, before and after missions. It's basically a much more simplified and abbreviated version of the television show.
6/10

Graphics/Visuals

The Visuals have improved vastly from the previous instalments in the series, much sharper and vibrant then before. The Cell-Shaded visuals, fit the game's setting and style, the characters move fluently, and their attacks flow nicely in motion. The background environments look good, and the overall presentation of the game is great. Only gripes are the noticeably blurry and pixilated shadows, they look absolutely terrible. While they're not to noticeable during gameplay, they really do detract from the games overall look. During four-player battles, the framerate also tends to drop a bit.
8/10

Sound/Audio

The Sound/Audio is pretty much what you'd expect from the average anime game. The soundtrack is decent, but it's limited by the small amount of stages there are in the game, and the game's sound effects are good enough. The Voice Acting is good and there's a lot of it. Almost all of the story mode is voiced out, and all the characters sound just like their American counterparts (Sorry Naruto fans, there's no Japanese voice option).

Sound: 8/10
Music: 6/10


Gameplay

You can only talk so much about the game's graphics, sound and story, before you get to the most important bit . The gameplay. Naruto: Clash of the Ninja Revolution is your standard Anime fighter. Expect no more, Expect no less. There's a Story/Mission Mode in which you can take part in one of the games many scenarios, and also an Arcade mode in which you can face off against 10 different enemies. The game's Duel Mode is the game's highlight. You can face off against your friends with 1-4 players, or simply battle with the computer.

The fighting is quite fast paced, which makes for a great multiplayer game. Player's can knock their opponents out of the arena, DOA-Style, and even hide behind objects placed within the area. The main problem though is the lack of depth. Sure there's a little bit of thought put into timing combos and executing special moves and such, but you can't help but think that the game does feel awfully rushed and as a result of this, the gameplay is quite shallow.

Regardless, Naruto: Clash of the Ninja Revolution can be surprisingly quite fun.
The game's ‘Jutsu' are basically the special attacks. Each character has 1 or 2 Justus, each of them an extremely powerful attack that can take out an enemies entire health bar if used correctly, these Justus can be executed by doing different motions with the Wiimote to make your attack more powerful, and hopefully K.O your opponent.

With a cast of 20 different characters, you can play as all your favourite characters from the Manga and the Anime. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, Rock Lee, Neji…they're all here. As well as quite a few unlockable characters that can be unlocked during the games Story mode. As I mentioned above, there are a limited number of stages. Although a few can be unlocked with the completion of the main game.
6/10

Controls

The Wiimote & Nunchuk can be used, with several different attacks mapped to the buttons and the Wiimote's motion control. Obviously you move your character with the control stick, and you can jump and duck by tilting it up and down.. Tapping A allows for a Strong , but slow attack. Swinging the Wiimote results in a weaker but much faster attack. The game's special Justus are mapped to the down button, and B or Z can be used to dodge, block and use the Substitution Jutsu. You can also throw with the C button. While the game's controls are good , nothing really takes advantage of the Wii's unique motion controls and it can get quite tiring flailing your arms about trying to perform special moves and such. Thankfully the game allows you to use the Classic or GameCube controller.
6/10

Now for a quick revision

Story: 6/10
Graphics/Visuals: 8/10
Sound: 8/10
Music: 6/10
Gameplay: 6/10
Controls: 6/10
Overall: 6/10

Pros:
+ Easy to pick up and play.
+ Nice Cel-Shaded Visuals
+ Fun Multiplayer
+ Decent Voice Acting

Cons:
-So-So Single Player
-Shallow Combo System
-Incredibly Simplistic Fighting
-Nothing really takes full advantage of the Wii's motion controls.

Overall, Naruto: Clash of the Ninja Revolution is a fun, but overly shallow fighting game. Definitely not a buy by all means, but worth a rent if your looking a multiplayer fighter, with fun and playable gameplay.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 08/04/08, Updated 03/17/09

Game Release: Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution (AU, 05/08/08)