Naruto: Rise of a Ninja

I loved this game. I love the Naruto world and this game was amazing. The fighting sequences of the game were very fun but seriously challenging at points. There's quite a learning curve when it comes to mastering the fights. Exploring the city is very fun, it's massive and with the help of the mini map it almost reminds me of a Naruto-Grand Theft Auto mix. The only real drawback I've noticed has been that in the animations, the mouths of the characters don't move. It can be a little unsettling at first and looks awkward. I really feel like the designers just got lazy and didn't feel like making mouth animations. All in all this game earns it's four out of five stars mainly due to the unique fight sequences and varied gameplay.

My son is really enjoying this game. It is one of his favorites -- and that's saying a lot considering the number of video games that he has.

Thanks.

Naruto is a Great Anime and making a video game RPG was a pretty big step this game takes new leaps and puts you in the driver seat as Naruto himself and it gives you a full point of View of this Ninja's Hardship to fame in his home village. If you are not a fan of the show this will not be a game for you due to its simplicity and redundancy of the game. Be sure that the Sequal to this game which comes out in Nov Naruto:The Broken Bond is a huge upgrade and I think that Fans and even non fans of the show willl enjoy due to the new style of game play and the multitude of characters you get to be. Good Luck with this game Its Fun but its only preperation for the Sequal.

I play this everyday. I've watched the anime "Naruto" on CN.
I like how all the characters look and sound. Above all 10/10!~
Can't wait for {Naruto: The Broken Bond.}

Being a hardcore Naruto fan playing Naruto games are nothing new for me. I own Uzumaki Chronicles 1+2 (PS2), Ultimate Ninja 1+2 (PS2), and Ultimate Ninja Heroes 1+2 (PSP)...so naturally once I bought an Xbox 360 this game was a must have on my list. I'm sure other reviews have stated the pros and cons of the game already, so I'll mainly focus and compare for those other hardcore Naruto fans who have played the other games on the PS2. (note: Ultimate Ninja Storm for the PS3 is not out yet during the time of this review, neither was the upcoming sequel Broken Bonds)

Voice Acting:
But first, I'd like to comment on the English and Japanese voices. One of the major hypes for fans of the series (especially those who hated the dub) was the option of the Japanese voices that could be downloaded from xbox live. However, there is something I'd like to be slightly point out that may or may not irk hardcore fans. Be warned, some of the voices are diffrent in both the English and Japanese version.

In the English version - for the most part, the main major characters keep thier dub voice actors. The three major ones who change are the Hokage, Iruka and Jiraiya; it's made even more apparent when anime cut scenes feature the original dub actors but change dramatically during gameplay (just something to note if you're picky). You'll also suffer through horrible mispronunciation...ie "Naruto" becomes NURUTO and NAROOOOTOH...also it is funny how ramen is suddenly RAYMEN.

In the Japanese version - things become a bit more bearable to listen to...at least they can say Naruto and ramen right. Yet, if I'm not mistaken the voice cast changed a bit as well. Now, it may not be apparent, but if you are a sub watcher [raises hand] you may be able to tell the difference. The ones I noted who changed were the Hokage and Sasuke (though I didn't get I chance to evaluate anyone else).

Graphics/Visual:
Being next gen...yeah the visuals are pretty amazing. Ubisoft really went into detail with reconstructing the Leaf Village, so exploring can be a blast. Cel shading keeps with the theme of the anime cut scenes. An interesting detail is how Naruto interacts with the enviroment, meaning if you speed dash you can actually crash into people and objects and are then treated to Naruto spinning around in a daze for a moment. Also if you jump off from too high a building, Naruto face plants himself into the ground (loosing some health to boot).

As far as I can tell, unlike Uzumaki Chronicles 2, you can't enter any buildings within the village, you just jump, climb on, over and around them. The one thing I would have like to see was Naruto's home, but the closest thing you get is a building that sort of resembles Naruto's house, but there is nothing too major really.

Gameplay:
You don't have to be a fan of the anime to play the game. Since the game incoorperates the actual abbriviated anime scenes you'll be able to get the jist of what's going on and basically that's all you need to know really. That's a major plus considering other Naruto games are really aimed for fans of the series and don't concentrate on growth and development. The game plays like a mix between platform, rpg and fighter. You collect coins which help you buy things and strengthen Naruto, you retrieve objects, deliver ramen, race around the village or diffrent places, do side quests, explore and fight enemies and bosses. Exploring can be fun at times, but for a ninja universe it was kind of interesting to note the corridor like layout of the game. Basically it was like going down a winding road so there wasn't too much guess work in where you needed to go for missions.

One of the biggest suprises was the lack of team play in the game. Uzumaki Chronicles (PS2) had the benefit of recruiting teammates for a mission and using thier own special skills to help...however, Naruto really plays a solo gig in game. If you were expecting Sasuke or Sakura...heck even Kakashi to help you during missions...too bad, your teamates are only there for optional vs. matches within story mode.
Fighting and abilities are diffrent from the models seen previously on the PS2 games. In short...practice makes perfect.

Personally I prefer the fighting style of the PS2 games then that seen on the 360. If you like a little challenge when battling, then this may be your cup of tea. Pulling off jutsus require a bit more timing and precision then compared to the simple combos and triangle button in the Ultimate Ninja series (PS2).

There is no Kyuubi or curse seal transformation for Naruto and Sasuke persay...instead they have "Rage Modes" which all chracters have anyway so it seems less special. Substitution jutsu does not work in mid-air and really weapons usage is almost useless. Overall, you could say Rise of a Ninja's battle system is more "realistic" as far as the difficulties of performing a jutsu in mid-battle, dodging and using weapons, which makes sense since you are starting Naruto from the bottom up. But personally, I think it's more fun to speed dash in mid-air, use substitute when I'm grabbed by an enemy instead of just watching as I'm face planted and play with a variety of weapons like windmill shurikens, poison bombs and scrolls (Ultimate Ninja PS2).

One annoyance I had was when you messed up the timming of a jutsu. It's a quirky little detail, but it does get annoying especially during a race. If you mess up a jutsu you are treated to a mini scene of a deformed clone (shadow clone) or Naruto passing gas (chakra concentration). Again it could be viewed as more "realistic" but the amount of time Naruto needs to get over it wastes too much time during a race...seconds count man! Does he really have to do it everytime he messes up? Ah well...

Online play is something I can't comment for the moment...but I heard a mix of good and bad things, so do your HW if you are really are into that. Note, you'll need an xbox gold membership to do so though.
The main story is SHORT...really, you'll be done before you know it. As I said before, Naruto pretty much fights solo. You fight each major boss (Haku, Zabuza, Neiji Gaara...yeah that's pretty much it) twice. The game is basically over when there is nothing left to do (still working on the side quests).

Overall not a bad game...especially for being around $20 (I got mine used for around $15), so it's worth the price. For a Naruto game taking it to the next level it really does a good job. Sure it can get repetative, and the stupid racing (I suck at timed things) does irk you every now and then...but really...it's not bad. Not a master piece, but very diffrent from Uzumaki Chronicles and Ultimate Ninja. With Broken Bonds and Ultimate Ninja Storm comign out soon, there really will be something to compare.