Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution

"Chidori!!!!"

Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution (Wii)

Overview:
I was browsing through a gaming shop one day and I saw this game on the shelf. I'm a Naruto fan though I haven't ever bought one of the Naruto games, so I brought it up to the counter and asked the guy about it. At the time I wasn't really sure if the guy was just trying to sell the game to me or if he was being honest, but either way I ended up walking out of the shop with this game in a bag. After I got home, I fired up my Wii and put the disc in and played it, and the guy in the shop was right, it is a really great game. So here I am, writing a review for you guys and gals out there.

Story: 9/10
Naruto features many different modes of gameplay, those of which I will cover in the Gameplay section, but one mode of the game is Misson. Mission mode makes you play through the story of Naruto, and it's well done. If you've never watched Naruto before you would be able to pick up what's happening very easily, as it doesn't go heavily into it. The story mode starts around the time of the Chuunin Exam Finals and finishes after the 3-Way Sannin battle. The Misson mode features a good 18 missions, and several bonus ones, and in each you must defeat a certain person with various conditions applying, usually related to what happened in the show. Before and after each mission, there are short cut-scenes in which the characters involved in the mission will be talking, following the story. Whilst there not in 3D or anything flash, they are still nice to look at and they do have speech in it. Either way, the story of the game is a solid 9/10, and the reason I didn't give it a perfect was because that I think they could've added a few more missions into it and it could've been done a little bit better for people who have never seen Naruto before.

Controls: 9.5/10
The controls for the game are done very well, with many different options. You can play with either a Wiimote + Nunchuck or with the Gamecube controller. The Wiimote can also be set to using movement or just with buttons. The controls all run very well and they pick up well with the Wiimote. Using the Wiimote option, you can use the A button to throw Shuriken or Kunai, shaking the Wiimote to use punches and kicks, the Z and B buttons to evade left and right as well as using a substitution jutsu, the C button to perform throws, the Control Stick to move and aim some attacks, as well as jump, and the D-Pad for performing special jutsu, or ninja techniques, which are significant to the character. Each character also has 4 other jutsu's which use less chakra, which is like the energy system in the game which is gained by attacking or being attacked, which are used by that character, such as Naruto being able to create a shadow clone or Sasuke being able to breath fire. The game is also very easy to chain combos, even for players that are new to fighting games or just press random buttons. During a characters D-Pad, or cut-scene jutsu, you can also shake the Wiimote in the way the game directs to deal extra damage. I didn't give it a 10 because I felt that whilst the controls are VERY good, I feel that there is better or there is something that could've made it better.

Music: 8/10
The music in the game is adequate. That's all there really is too it. The background music is generally good, however it's nothing special, and it's the same each time for each stage, so it can get quite repetitive. However it does get the job done and its still easy on the ears and isn't annoying despite it being the same each time. The voices and the sound effects of the game are fantastic however, so that raises the score back up.




Graphics: 8.5/10
The graphics of the game are overall very nicely done. The backgrounds and the stages all look very nice, especially some of the forest type stages. The characters all look very nicely done, as well as all the special effects and all of the different jutsu. Obviously the graphics don't compare to that of Twilight Princess or anything like that, but its better then Red Steel. I have two major complaints however. Firstly there are no shadows, and the ones that are there all look terrible and very pixelated. If you win a match with Naruto then you will clearly see this. The second is that Sakura's face looks really bad… (LOL) What I mean by that is that it doesn't seem well done, something about it just looks wrong. Note: I don't hate her if anyone is gonna say that. Otherwise the graphics all look very nice though nothing special.

Gameplay: 9.5/10
Let me just start off by saying what I took the .5 off from. I took that from the AI of Naruto's shadow clones. Sometimes they can just stand still for the whole time there active, though sometimes they can save you heaps and do fantastic. Now back to gameplay.

There are a total of 20 characters that are available to play as, 12 of which have to be unlocked. All the characters are from Naruto, and none of them are from Naruto Shippuden, which is Naruto except 2 and a half years later in the story. You can choose how many people are going to be fighting and which team and character they are going to be, and up to 4 people can play, and there is no wi-fi. You can choose different teams or have a free for all, which are extremely fun. The game is very fun to play, and is fun to play even with yourself, but its definitely much more fun when you have a friend or two. The game has no lag, even during intense parts of battle. Even in free-for-alls its very easy to keep track of your character and the camera moves very nicely to match where people are located in the stage. I can't really think of any flaw to the gameplay, though the mini games are a bit boring after the first two times, as well as them being only 1 player. I can't really think of much else to say on it, however it is very fun.

Summary:
It's a very fun fighting style game, with nice graphics and music, that should be bought by any Naruto fan as well as anyone that likes a good fighting game.

Positives:
+Nice graphics
+Very fun, with good replay value
+Great for Naruto fans
+Many different styles of play
+Easy to pick up and play

Negatives:
-No Wi-Fi
-Music can be a bit repetitive
-Only 20 characters
-Short story mode
-Too easy to unlock everything.


Scores
Story: 9/10
Controls: 9/10
Music: 8/10
Graphics: 8.5/10
Gameplay: 9.5/10


FINAL SCORE: 8.5/10

Written:
By- ThundaStorm64
On- 4th June 2008


Thanks for reading! :D

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/26/08

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