Naruto RPG: Uketsugareshi Hi no Ishi

"A naruto rpg? Did i read it correctly?"

Introduction
First of all, I must say that I am not a Naruto fan, I just watched a couple episodes from the anime (thanks Khaamar-chan! ^_^ ), so I don't quite understand many stuff about this game. Therefore, if some mistakes are found in my review, don't worry... Above all, i'll try to evaluate the game itself without its context, but if that isn't fully possible, sorry...

Gameplay
As far as I've noticed, this game is based mainly in missions, meaning that you will have to conduct your characters (most of the times they will be Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, plus an "optional" character you may have or not, depending of the mission...) across lots of battles and missions that are given to you by a certain guy (along with Naruto's sensei...), which may turn out to be quite difficult if you don't understand any japanese language at all... Those "missions" may vary from finding a certain person (which happens near the beggining of the game...) up to sections in which you will need to defeat a specific opponent. Most of the equipment and items you will need can be bought on the main town (Leaf Village? Perhaps that's its name...), and better equipment will only be available as you advance forward in the game. Also, the battles are quite easy to play even if you don't know any japanese at all (after a couple fights you will fully know how to use it!), but if you do, even better, meaning that you will be quite at ease when it comes to using the same techniques that they used in the series and performing complex combos that surely will become useful in most battles. Finally, I must say that all the characters have strong and weak points, for example... Sasuke is quite strong but takes a long time to level up, while Sakura levels up easily but she isn't very strong at all... As for Naruto, he is just himself, meaning these words that he isn't very strong, but also he can level up quite easily... there are also weapons that can only be used by a specific character, which means that sometimes you will need to think if you should keep on using that weapon or exchanging it for a stronger, yet unspecific, one... As you may imagine, not everything is good about this game, or I wouldn't have given it the score I gave it... Your inventory is quite small considering the ammount of objects you will be finding in battles (or in the field) across the game, plus some of those are almost completly unuseful, speaking of the case of certain items that attack the opponent for 13 damage, while your normal attack will be hitting him for more than the double.

Story
I don't really cared for the story as I was playing this game, and as I already referred I don't know how ig it is related to the manga/anime. However, mainly I think that the story of this game is the training of the 3 kids (Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura...) for becoming better ninjas...

Graphics/Sound
The graphics look good, as you can clearly see all the characters and their faces, when they are speaking (yeah, when they are speaking to each other you can see their faces on the screen!), plus their animations on the battles are quite amazing. As for the sound, it is exactly what you would expect to see in this kind of game, I mean, it is neither too new nor old-fashioned, it simply fits exactly to the spaces in which you will be playing and on the various battles that you will face.

Play Time/Replayability
If you don't know japanese, you will have some problems trying to cross some of the events that you will face in this game, which may get you struck for more than a couple hours and wash away your will to play this game. As for replay value, sorry but I cannot say anything about it, since by the time I was writing this review I hadn't still completed the game.

Final Recommendation
You are a Naruto fan? You know japanese? If you answered "yes" to both this questions, you MUST get this game... If you don't know japanese, you can try to play it, but I don't think you will ever be able to fully enjoy it. Finally, if you replied "no" to those 2 questions, it means I don't think you will enjoy this game, as there are much better games out there which have exactly (or almost!) the same functions as this game!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/22/04