Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2
Score: 90% ESRB: Teen Publisher: BANDAI NAMCO Games America, Inc. Developer: Cyber Connect2 Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Fighting/ Action/ Adventure
Graphics & Sound: Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2 is a great example of what a sequel should be. Ultimate Ninja 2 keeps all of the interesting fighting mechanics that made the first one the same and gives it a graphical overhaul. The art style found throughout the game (in the menus, character select and in the hub world for the story) take on a more manga-comic look with hash-marked shading and very striking colors. During the fights themselves, this same style can be seen a little, but it is nowhere near as evident as in the rest of the game. Audio is what you would expect from an anime-to-game. All of the characters are voiced by the same actors and actresses that are used in the American-version of the series. Meanwhile, the sound effects also come through loud and clear. Everything from the tell-tale "poofing" sound of substitutions to the background music just fits the overall feel of the game and show.
Gameplay: Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2 becomes more than just an anime-inspired fighter because it does a really good job portraying the events of the series in a different manner that shows there really is a story. Ultimate Road is the game's story mode. It is here where you will see the events of the series from the Chunin Exam Finals and the destruction of the Hidden Leaf village, to the search for the Fifth Hokage and the coming of the Akatsuki. Between events, you can run between various sites of The Hidden Leaf and Tanzaku Town and talk to various characters to not only initiate fights, but also mini-games that help you increase your characters' abilities. These events include the Chakra Tree Climb, push up competitions, handstand races and various other similarly styled events. It's also in this mode that you unlock more characters to be used in the Versus Mode as well as unlock the ability to customize your characters so that you can do crazy things like teach Naruto the Leaf Hurricane move. Iruka's Training Mode is used to give you some practice on characters that you unlock, as well as helping you learn the more basic fighting moves. The last two Menu options, Naruto's House and Tanzaku Market, go hand-in-hand. You use Ryo (money) that you earn in Ultimate Road to purchase various collectibles like figures, videos, voice clips and Ninja Info Cards from Tanzaku Market. All of these unlockable objects can be viewed or listened to at Naruto's House.
Difficulty: Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2's Ultimate Road mode has a fairly steady increase in difficulty, but I was able to blow through most of the fights in one or two attempts. There were, however, a few fights that seemed very one-sided and just took a lot of effort to get past, The Third Hokage versus Orochimaru for instance. This particular match required that I use a third-level attack to finish off Orochimaru. This makes sense in the context of the show since The Hokage used this technique at the end of their battle, but it took a whole lot of practice, and at the end it seemed more like luck than skill to get past it.
Game Mechanics: Like I said at the beginning, the core fighting mechanics of Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2 are just like they were in the previous game. Basic attacks are done with combinations of face buttons and D-pad presses, while more advanced Jutsus require you to go into more complex maneuvers like spinning the analog sticks faster than your opponent, or pressing a particular random button sequence. Fights still have items that pop up that will do everything from help you recharge your Chakra, throw weapons, increase your attack or defense and many other modifiers that are designed to make the overall match much more interesting. If you found the first Ultimate Ninja fun to play, or at least mildly interesting, then this one is a must-buy. As an added bonus, if you have the first title saved on your memory card, you will get a couple of bonuses when you first start up Ultimate Ninja 2.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
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