Graphics 9/10

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja’s goal when it comes to graphics is shown to imitate the manga style that the anime (or manga) had. It succeeds phenomenally. Battles take place in a pseudo 3-D world, where characters move across a 2-D plane with 3-D images. While many games have used the same concept before, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja doesn’t stop there. It takes every chance it gets to recreate the manga style. Dark shadows and lighting effects are fueled by strong lines and shading. The backgrounds burst with color and action as a move is used. The battles capture the over-the-top battles that both the manga and anime are known for, creating a stunning merge of manga art and anime motion. Rushing camera angles and extremely cinematic special techniques tie the game’s anime and manga styles together to create an amazing looking game. Cutscenes are rather disappointing, with little animation combined with still-images, but prebattle cutscenes are focused in panel effects, excellent like manga. Even cooler is the ability to change the battlefield in game. When changing locations, the camera pans out to reveal a manga graphic novel which literally turns the page before resuming battle. Naruto: Ultimate Ninja is an amazing use of cel-shading and manga-style and does an excellent job in making the game feel like its source material.

Audio 7/10

Yes, the voice acting isn’t perfect, but the English voice actors do a respectable job of keeping the story and characters interesting. From Naruto’s "Believe it!" to Kakashi’s cool and relaxed tone, each character’s voice acting is well done, thanks to a slew of good voice actors like Quinton Flynn and Yuri Lowenthal. Music, however, is less than stellar, thanks to some repetitive sound effects (especially on menus) and some stale themes. While it is great that the music merges the new-age sounds with Naruto village songs, but none of it is particularly groundbreaking and eventually becomes indistinguishable. The voice acting is plentiful and well done, but the music and sound effects don’t live up to the calibur Naruto is known for.

Gameplay 8/10

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja is a very unique fighting game. It takes many of its trappings from traditional fighters like Virtua Fighter and Soul Calibur, but it also uses items and open environments used in more frantic fighters like Super Smash Bros. Naruto: Ultimate Ninja brings these different fighting game aspects together to make a surprisingly deep and engaging game

The story behind Ultimate Ninja is pretty much a following of the Naruto storyline. After a tremendous Kyuubi (fox demon) ravaged the land, a hero ninja called the Hokage offered his life to seal the beast into an infant. The infant was Naruto. Known through his childhood as a monster, Naruto trained hard to become a ninja and gain the respect he desired. With his team of fellow ninjas and teachers, Naruto and his friends Sasuke and Sakura fight against dangerous opponents in a chaos filled world. The Naruto storyline takes ninjas in a bold new direction, while still keeping the world familiar. The game itself follows the anime, along with its many characters.

Controls are very unique, once again bridging the gap between traditional and untraditional fighting games. Move with the left analog stick or D-Pad, X to jump (twice for a double jump), square to fire a ninja projectile like shuriken or kunai knives, circle for hand-to-hand combat. Defensive techniques are equipped to the L2 and R2 buttons, where holding it allows a guard and pressing it right before an opponent attacks allows for a surprise reappearance behind them using a Substitution Jutsu. Pressing Triangle allows the character to charge up the special energy (kept in a separate gauge than health) called Chakra, a manifestation of physical and spiritual energy. Depending upon how many times the triangle button is pressed or how much Chakra is available, the player can execute a character’s Special Jutsu. The controls themselves are surprisingly simplistic, but a solid counter system using the Substitution Jutsu and Chakra system make gameplay deep, proving good timing and skill to be important during the many battles throughout.

Battles take place on a two-dimensional plane, but in fact are on two separate planes. Each arena has a background and foreground simultaneously. Therefore, a player can press either up or down and the X button to disappear into either plane. This tactic can prove its worth in the strategic combat aspect. Escaping a dangerous encounter or obtaining a strong item can lead to an advantage and the two-plane system keep the strategic aspect available without complicating it. Also, gameplay balance has been carefully tuned. For example, after a strong attack a player can pursue a flying player for a follow-up attack (or Additional Blow as the game calls it). To avoid a hit, the flying player can press circle and move toward the attacker at the right time to counter the follow-up with a Substitution Jutsu. The first player can also counter it, but the counter timing is shortened. This balance not only keeps gameplay deep, but it also involves some skill and timing to get the best out of the situation. Another example is the Special Jutsu techniques. When the attack connects, both players go through a minigame with a cinematic going on screen. Both players must press the face buttons in a correct order quickly: attacking player to increase damage and keep the attack going, defending player to lessen damage. This balance does give the attacking player a bit of an edge, but overall, does an amazing job of balancing gameplay without losing the strong and fast-paced fighting.

Ah, yes, and items. Like Super Smash Bros., Naruto Ultimate Ninja allows the player to grab items from teammates who appear during the course of battle. Whether it’s a Demon Wind Shuriken or a helpful attack from an ally, there’s a diverse amount of weapons to choose from. Pressing L1 or R1 makes cycling through your arsenal easy without bringing the battle to a screeching halt. Although a few more items would have been better and some of the items do feel a bit unbalanced compared to others, the item system keeps gameplay fresh and diverse.

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja has a variety of modes to choose from. Scenario Mode allows a player to play through the adventures of the characters. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, among many others make appearances as their story unfolds. Playing through battles allows the player to unlock even more characters and modes. Mission Mode follows the Naruto style of ninja missions in the anime, giving a set of rulings during battle that must be followed. While some provide some inventive challenges, others can drag down to a frustrating fight against the clock or enemy. Some challenges also feel recycled, and while some are great, the Missions don’t break very much ground when it comes to originality in fighting games. Free Battle allows for versus CPU fights and two-player battle modes, a welcome addition to the fast-paced fights. One problem is that the AI can be a small bit easy over time and the combat can result to a button masher in severe cases. Nevertheless, the diverse and balanced combat system gives Naruto: Ultimate Ninja a strong way to back up its action-packed source material.

Along the way, you can gather Ryo, the Naruto currency to spend at the Capsule Machine. The Capsule Machine allows the player to collect music, video, voices, info cards, among other prizes. While a die-hard Naruto fan will find it amazing to hear every voice in the game, a casual player won’t be very impressed at the limitations. A few new modes would have been nice, or another character, but relying solely on the license makes the Capsule Machine concept less than enjoyable. There’s a ton of fun to be had in Naruto: Ultimate Ninja’s gameplay, despite a slight reliance on its source material.

Replay Value 7/10

The game’s replay value is a bit too focused toward fans of the anime or manga, but that’s probably to be expected. The Capsule Machine will draw die-hard fans to the game, but seems to leave anyone else behind with its focus on every piece of Naruto info. However, anyone looking for a unique and deep fighting game will be happily surprised at Naruto’s cinematic battles and diverse combat. A plethora of missions, unlockables, and a VS. Mode gives the game a lasting appeal.

Final Verdict 8/10

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja is definitely a surprise. Beneath the license lies a surprisingly deep and unique fighting game. Despite having a bit too much focus towards die-hard fans and a few gameplay mishaps, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja is an amazing way to present the story of Naruto as a fighting game. Diversifying combat captures the multi-faceted ninja style that the anime and manga are known for. Combining the many moves with over-the-top Special Jutsu and a strong counter system makes the game not only deep, but balanced and accessible. The characters and their amazing use of the ninja combat way give the game an amazing style. There’s plenty to like about Naruto: Ultimate Ninja. Any Naruto fan should definitely buy this game, and anyone looking to try out a new variety of fighting game shouldn’t fear the license and should surely check it out.