Naruto: Rise of a Ninja

"The highlights of Naruto with a few hiccups"

Naruto's fame is large in the hemispheres. It's a breakthrough anime that became a blooming franchise thanks to interesting characters, plot, world, and inventive fight choreography.

Naruto tells the tale of a 12-year-old boy with the sealed demon Nine-Tailed Fox living within him. The nasty Fox caused plenty of havoc in its day, and those around Naruto give him the cold shoulder because he serves as keeper. This only strengthens his resolve, and he swears one day he will become Hokage, the leader and top ninja of the village. He gets his chance when he becomes a full-fledged ninja, paired with two others low-level ninjas and a teacher, and sets off to accomplish missions and work towards his dream.

What separates Naruto: Rise of a Ninja from the myriad of bad anime adaptions is ambition. Developed by Ubisoft in France and exclusive to the Xbox 360, the game's very development already side-steps the usual: It's developed outside of Japan and specifically targeted at English audiences (though through a Live download you can switch to Japanese voices if you please). Ubisoft set out to recreate the Naruto experience in full, and for the most part they succeed. Meshing platforming, fighting games, and RPG elements, the game comes together as a unique experience.

RoaN fully recreates the town of Konoha with impressive results. It has nooks and crannies, rooftops, a full population, and a towering Hokage building. Sprinting through the village as a ninja is a blast, and besides a few camera hang-ups here and there, very fluent. Soon you'll be ziplining about Konoha as an orange jumpsuit blur.

While Konoha is impressive, there's just not much to do. The citizens are initially unhappy with Naruto, complete with angry faces bobbing above their heads. To melt their hearts, you have limited sidequests: Deliver ramen, complete a race, collect objects, go on a fetch quest, or use Sexy Jutsu, turning Naruto into a busty babe that nosebleeds the perverted. Each quest completed turns frowns upside down until all 100 are pleased with Naruto and shouting "Good morning!"

All of these are entertaining at first, but about halfway they drag. They don't ever really change, only get more challenging, and the later ones are more of a chore. Only the dedicated and Achievement thirsty will fuss with finishing them. The fetch quests in particular force you to cover the same ground dozens of times.

But appeasing villagers is optional and takes a backseat to the main plot. This covers episodes 1-80 of the show. But it's a rushed experience, as the game flies through the episodes at a brisk pace. The developers basically made a list of important checkpoints from the show and went down it. It's a frustrating recap for fans who've already seen it, and too thin for newcomers to appreciate the universe in full. Many of the cutscenes in the game use actual footage of the anime. It can be jolting to flip from the in-game engine to a rather compressed and somewhat poor looking animated scene. Sometimes these anime sequences spin together so fast they would be barely cohesive to those unfamiliar with the show. Worst of all, it leaves no time to become emotionally attached and well acquainted with the characters' personalities.

The single-player plot pits you against a handful of the show's characters, such as Zabuza in the Land of the Waves or Rock Lee during the exams. There are not enough of these, and some fans may feel disappointed more characters weren't given a chance to face-off with Naruto.

When you do get to fight, the game switches to a full-fledged fighting engine. It's not very deep, but it does the job. The combo list is small but varied just enough. There are no counters, but pressing B at the right time teleports you behind the enemy by substituting you with a log right out of the show, and fights become frantic substitutions and combos. The substitution consumes chakra and cannot be used infinitely, applying some needed strategy.

Learned jutsus can be used in fights by also consuming chakra, and this in particular gives the system a unique feel. By holding the L-trigger, you use the analog sticks to mimic the handsigns of the show. A growing bubble reaches different tiers signifying power, and releasing on a tier unleashes the jutsu. This launches you and your opponent into a mini-game where you must out dodge a target reticle or press buttons first or faster. The jutsus are used often, but the interactivity keeps things fresh. Toss in throwing kunais used to interrupt an opponent attempting a jutsu, and you've got a system worth exploring.

Completing these plot points and side-challenges bestow you with increased health and chakra and training points, which can be used to learn new abilities and combos. These can be used during the game's fighting engine and on the field, such as breaking through walls with the clone jutsu or climbing up certain walls with chakra concentration. It truly gives you the feeling you're a ninja progressing and helps motivate throughout the story.

Traversing outside the village is like a platformer. Again, it works, but it's a shallow version of other games, and they force you to retread too much ground. Swinging logs blocking your path are, by the way, rather outdated. Naruto also can't fall in the water and it's rather strange to see a ninja that can fly across rooftops incapable of swimming. Eventually he learns how to use a Jutsu to walk on it, but once you're plummeting from a high point into the depths it's still lost health. While running around these segments, random bandits will attack you, launching you back into the fighting engine. The bandits have barely any variations and aren't difficult, tilting on a precarious edge between annoyance and fun.

Finally you have short tree sequences. Naruto learns how to leap from branch to branch to change between areas early on and this launches into a mini-game all its own. It's rather simple, consisting of directing Naruto to specific branches and timed button presses to make him go faster. None of them are too challenging, but they manage to give a great feeling of what flying through a forest would feel like.

While only Naruto is playable during the single player, there's a complete fighting game built in that gives you the chance to play as other key characters. You can play by yourself in specific matches, in a tournament, or with a friend. The list of characters isn't huge, though Ubisoft continues to add more through Xbox Live for small fees (save for Shikamaru -- he's free).

But the real attraction is taking the game on Xbox Live. There's the option for a Quick Match to dive right in or The Forest of Death. This pits you in a ranked match where points are earned, each win elevating you. If you lose, you must start again at the bottom. It's a fun experience somewhat soured by lack of balance. All the characters are perfectly usable and capable of winning, but a few have a bit of an edge and online players typically use them. Out of my many matches online, 2/3 were against Rock Lee. But they aren't a sure win, and any player can adapt with any character.

Naruto: Rise of a Ninja ends at a short 6 or 7 hours, a few extra if you do all the side-quests and further longevity from Live matches. It's a fun ride and a must buy for fans of the show. For the uninitiated it serves as a step in the door and just might convert a few non-believers into exploring the universe further. The game can get slightly repetitive, but it paves the way for future anime games and gives fans hope for quality over quantity. At the very least, it's the best Naruto game available.

7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/11/08

Game Release: Naruto: Rise of a Ninja (US, 10/30/07)