Games Review: Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution

Oh, I spent $40 on a DLC pack.

Let me preface this review with a tiny story. Around March or April, I bought Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst. Bandai Namco rereleased the game on PC, PS3 and X-Box 360 for those who either: wanted the added bonuses of an episode based on Itachi and Sasuke teaming up, or extra costumes, missions or Sage Mode Kabuto. Or, like me, missed out the first time, and wanted in on the fighting action. It was a great purchase for $30.

My problem comes with when game companies decide to put what can amount to a DLC pack onto retail, especially when avenues like Steam, X-Box Live, and the PSN Network all exist. I can see this at $15, or even $20. I’ve bought map packs for Halo and CoD for that much. That, in theory is what Ninja Storm Revolution is. It’s a map pack. This is commonplace for fighting games, especially games in the Naruto universe. They will periodically put out new costumes, generally what looks like comes out of a fan-fiction writer’s wet dream. Yes, because we want the 15 year old kunoichi in the skimpiest swimsuits possible. I would rather have Naruto skin where he’s in Goku’s gi if we’re going for fan serivice.

There isn’t a story mode here, per se. There’s a mode called Ninja Escapades, where you get three short stories penned by Masashi Kishimoto himself. These are the best parts of the game, because these actually flesh out instances that are talked about in the manga and anime. Kishimoto finally allowed us to see how the Akatsuki formed, which has been shrouded in mystery since Itachi attached the Leaf. Another moment that was finally visited was Shisui’s death and disappearance. I found this more engaging, because you see the depths that Danzo would stoop to so he can get unbridled power. Well, before he fought Sasuke, anyway.The third story was a story with Kushina and Minato. You don’t actually play during this, so get your popcorn, and watch a well written and a pretty story.

And, somehow, this is supposed to be a robotic representation of Naruto. If you want a good representation, just check the screen cap below this. The biggest letdown for this mode was the Mecha-Naruto story.This has been Kishimoto’s bad story for the game, because it’s a bad story, with no animated cut scenes with a shitty narrative of Mecha-Naruto falling in love with Hinata. For most of the story, he has an ulterior motive to take over real Naruto’s life, even though he’s kind of a robot. For a filler character, that has a lot of time in the anime, there is not a lot of stuff going on with Mecha-Naruto, and the script didn’t even have Orochimaru as the creator of Mecha-Naruto, just a certain someone. You can tell that this was just thrown together feature that didn’t do anything to advance anything, except to get a substandard Naruto robot as a playable character. Not to mention that this story is based all around the Ninja World Tournament, the most redundant mode ever to hit a fighting game.

Speaking of which, the Ninja World Tournament mode is one of the most redundant fighting game modes I have ever seen. It takes novelty game modes like Tekken Tag Tournament’s Tekken Tag Bowling, and give it a terrible stigma. I would rather play Naruto Bowling. That could be fun to play with the special powers that the Naruto characters have. Instead, we get a fighting game where not only do you have to defeat three other fighters, but collect fucking orbs. Why would a ninja collect orbs? People that know me know that I HATE Super Smash Brothers. It’s a game that just requires timing, but no skill. Ninja World Tournament makes me want to play Smash Brothers, because at least I can beat up a Pikachu. This is just bad. When a game makes me want to play a game I have never wanted to play before, that speaks volumes to the game I am playing at the time.

Of course, the fighting is there. It’s still the same, rather polished fighting game that came around with Ninja Storm 3. While I did say a lot about the skins that Pedobear would go crazy for, others have a lot of thought going into it. For instance, I thought that the Samurai costumes for Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto looked fantastic. It just seemed like a cop out for the skimpy swimsuit costumes. And then I have to remember where this game originated from. Thanks, Japan. This game, unfortunately, will only appease the most die hard fans who just want to use Ninja World Tournament to get the characters and skins so they can use the vs. mode with friends. And there’s a lot of characters to acquire. So, if you plan on grinding Ninja World Tournament, start now. I’m still not done with it. When the game has nothing to do with the story currently going on in the anime, it’s too much of a chore to want to get through.