Home

 › 

Articles

 › 

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations Review for PlayStation 3 (PS3)

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations Review for PlayStation 3 (PS3)

The Best Naruto Fighting Game Yet?

Naruto fighting games have never sold themselves on their tournament viability. Instead of building a solid and balanced fighting engine, Cyber Connect 2 has always been more concerned with delivering an authentic Naruto experience to fans of the anime and manga. Knowing this, CC2 went all out when they made Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations. The game is just stuffed full of enough fan service to make any Naruto fan scream with glee.

Every fighting game fan wants to know about the roster first, and Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations does not disappoint. Following in the footsteps of games such as Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, UNSG seeks to include as many characters as possible. Its roster of over 70 fighters spans all Naruto storylines from the very beginning of the anime to the current story arc of Naruto Shippuden. This means that you will encounter multiple versions of the same characters, even though they play differently. For example, you’ll see young Naruto, old Naruto, sage mode Naruto, and more. Not only that, but each of these characters has an “awakening” mode that gives them entirely new moves and abilities. For example, Naruto’s awakening envelopes him in a veil of the Nine-Tails’ chakra. The roster alone is filled with references to events in the anime and manga, and that is only scratching the surface.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations Screenshot

For those of you who have never played a Naruto game before, the Ninja Storm series plays out a lot more like a 3D action game than a fighter. You have an attack button, a block button, a ranged attack button, and a chakra button. The majority of the game involves stringing together combos with the attack button to produce different interesting attacks. Combos are fast and hit from many directions, and as a result can be very difficult to block. Luckily, you also have the “substitution” button, which makes you instantly teleport behind your opponent while getting hit. Substitutions now operate off of a substitution bar which fills over time, so you can’t spam it as much as you used to be able to. Instead, it is used like a sort of “burst” mechanic—a get-out-of-combo button that you only use when you feel like you will be taking a lot of damage.

Each character has the normal array of attacks from the anime that you would expect. Naruto uses the Rasengan, Sasuke uses the Chidori, and Rock Lee punches people a lot. It’s all practically copy/pasted directly from the pages of the manga. You activate these by using the charka button in conjunction with your normal attacks. Unfortunately, the system of “press the chakra button a certain amount of times before attacking” feels a little weird. There’s no visual confirmation that you are pressing the button outside of the normal “chakra charge” animation you get when you hold the button down normally. As a result, it’s a little hard to figure out whether or not you have pressed the button twice for a charged move or three times for an ultimate move when you are frantically button mashing in the middle of a battle. On the upside, this new system makes it easy to work special moves into your combos.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations Screenshot

What’s interesting about Generations’ battle system is its level of complexity. Outside of the normal moves, special moves, blocking, substitution, chakra charging, awakening, jumping, aerial combat, throws, and other basic elements of the battle system, there is also an assist system as well. You can bring two assist characters into battle, which can be called on to help you when their assist meter is full. Using assists successfully builds your team meter, and when your team meter is full your assist characters will enter the field and fight for you automatically. This then unlocks a special ultimate team move which does an incredible amount of damage. Assist characters range from the normal fighting roster to obscure NPCs from the Naruto series. The ability to craft your own dream team and bring them into battle is one of the coolest parts of the game.

The battles aren’t the most balanced here, but they sure are fun. Unlike past Naruto titles, you don’t run into circumstances where the most powerful character in the story is the most powerful character in the game. Powerful characters are given flashier moves, but the damage output of each character is fairly standardized across the board. Granted, there are characters that have many more options, and I’ve encountered more than a few characters that can just cheese you out every match by spamming one exploitable move. Still, just about every character feels somewhat viable. It doesn’t feel like the game is punishing you for choosing your favorite character anymore, which is a welcome change.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations Screenshot

Believe it or not, the multiplayer isn’t the most appealing feature of Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations. For once, the single-player portion of a fighting game takes center stage. Generations’ single-player walks you through the entirety of the Naruto storyline from the very beginning to the current plot arc. In fact, the game even gives you previews of plot arcs that haven’t yet made it to America. The story is told through still frames from the anime as well as full anime cutscenes. In fact, the game includes over an hour of brand new anime footage made by the same people who work on the animated series. Every character is voiced by their official actors in both English and Japanese, allowing you to listen to the game in whichever way that you prefer.

Now, the Naruto anime and manga are normally told from Naruto’s point of view. However, the story mode of the game tells the stories of other characters independent of Naruto. You’ll be able to follow the adventures of loved side characters like Rock Lee and Kakashi during important events in the Naruto timeline. Once again, these events are animated by the official animation team and acted by the official voice actors. Not only that, but these side-stories are officially canon. They are aspects of the Naruto story that you can only see by playing this game. That alone makes this a must-have title for any Naruto fanatic.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations Screenshot

The game also has a fully implemented online mode, but the netcode isn’t the best around. While you can join lobbies and voice chat, there are times when lag becomes noticeable even through local connections. Finding a match was also rather difficult, but that may have only been because the game was so new.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations is easily the best Naruto fighting game to come out to date. The single-player alone makes the game worth buying, as it boasts one of the most competent and well-put-together story modes ever seen in a fighting game. The game system itself is complicated but easy to learn and accurately simulates an epic Naruto anime battle. Unfortunately, there are still some massive balance issues for some characters and the uses of the chakra button could have been planned out better, but these are just minor gripes. Though I wouldn’t recommend this game to the serious tournament fighter that is looking to go to EVO this year, I’d easily recommend it to anyone who has even a passing interest in the Naruto series.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 4.3 Graphics
The graphics in this game are rather impressive. It looks like an anime in motion. 3.5 Control
The controls scheme could have been better thought out, though it is responsive enough. 4.8 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Official voice actors and music from the anime? That’s exactly what we want. 3.5 Play Value
The online seems buggy, though the single-player is astounding. 3.9 Overall Rating – Good
Not an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.

Review Rating Legend
0.1 – 1.9 = Avoid 2.5 – 2.9 = Average 3.5 – 3.9 = Good 4.5 – 4.9 = Must Buy
2.0 – 2.4 = Poor 3.0 – 3.4 = Fair 4.0 – 4.4 = Great 5.0 = The Best

Game Features:

  • Most characters of any Naruto title, spanning generations of characters in the series; 70+ playable characters and 15 support characters, includes characters from Storm 1, Storm 2, as well as new characters.
  • Over 60 minutes of all-new animated content from Studio Pierrot; includes anime content detailing the Naruto story from certain characters’ points of view, many of which were never shown in the anime or manga!
  • Expansive new online modes; Online Battle Modes include Tournaments and Endless Battles. You can also view other players’ battles in real time from the online lobby, or voice chat with other players during battle and in the online lobby.
  • Offline single-player mode detailing Naruto & Naruto Shippuden storyline. Players are treated to the same storyline they love from the anime and manga, as well as completely new content detailing the story from certain characters’ points of view.
  • Avatar exchange system and Ninja Info Card system; exchange Ninja Info Cards and use abilities from the cards to power up characters, personalize nicknames, and card appearance.

  • To top