For the uninitiated Naruto is an anime and manga that
started in 1997 about a boy ninja growing up with the burden of having a
fox-demon sealed inside him and the enemies that wish to catch him and harness
the demons power, his wish is to become leader of his village and this pushes
him to grow stronger, along the way he makes new friends and faces endless
challenges whilst also losing people he loves and dealing with the inner
turmoil between himself and the fox-demon. Up until this point there have been over 50 video games
based on this series, each of varying style and quality but most being
fighting titles, Naruto lends itself to this genre very easily owing to the
fact that most conversations in the series end in some sort of fight, most of
these lasting a few volumes or episodes depending on which format you’re
viewing. The point at which the story mode picks up from is a war is
under way between a powerful ninja long thought to be dead and the united forces
of the various villages, the bad guy wants to trap the entire world in a dream
by resurrecting dead legendary ninja and harnessing the powers of the nine
tailed beasts, however this involves killing a whole bunch of people including
Naruto who holds the ninth tailed-beast and generally no-one is happy about it. It all plays out like the anime, short sections are told via
voice over and static images whilst the majority are beautifully animated
scenes, stunningly realised conversations and action between characters with
occasional quick time events that then lead into the battles, it’s all presented
in a cell-shaded style that hasn’t seen much change through the Ultimate Ninja
Storm series except being the first title on the new generation systems there
are some flashy new particle effects on most of the action as well as a greater
attention to detail on characters movements. The fight system remains largely unchanged with the controls being fairly simple, one main attack, a ranged attack, a jump, and a chakra (energy) charge button, it's then down to different combinations of these that alters what they then do, pound the attack button on it's own and you'll knock out a quick standard combo but tap chakra charge beforehand and you're character will launch a unique Ninjutsu attack at your enemy causing greater damage, tap chakra charge twice before attack and you'll pull off a Secret Technique, usually some over the top screen-filling blitzkrieg which will take a huge chunk of life from your opponent, the same energy charge can then also be applied to ranged attacks and jumps. Each of the fights are mostly
one on one with each fighter able to have up to two support characters who can
be called in to temporarily help if things get hairy, sometimes you’ll also face
horde battles where you’ll confront a crowd of enemies all at the same time but
these remain exclusive to the story mode along with the boss battles which we’ll
get to shortly. The big introductions for this title are the ability to
break down an opponent’s armour during the fights, as well as cosmetic
differences it’ll also lower their defence, to counter this there is now the
leader change system, allowing you to switch primary fighter mid-battle and
hopefully swing the fight your way, also Storm 4 sees the reintroduction of the
fan-favourite wall fighting, not seen since the original Ultimate Ninja Storm
in 2008, this mechanic allows for fighters to battle it out on the sides of the
arenas adding a new dimension to the combat as well as perhaps some much needed
breathing room during a fight. The enormous boss battles make a return in Storm 4 and they’re
bigger than ever, the opening clash finds you attempting to take down a giant rampaging
armoured version of the nine-tailed fox with a 500 feet wooden golem, an entire
forest area is destroyed during the scuffle with the nearby mountains not even
escaping damage when they all have their peaks sliced away by a huge energy
blade spilling molten rock onto the landscape below. Permanent stage marking and destruction is a new feature to
the Storm series, whereas in previous titles it was only possible to knock a
character out of a particular stage now we find that floors will be scarred by
scorch marks, fencing and walls knocked down and surrounding buildings reduced
to rubble during any hectic matches, which really adds a weight and atmosphere
to the world instead of it just simply being a background.
Once again the soundtrack mixes between soft or dramatic depending on what’s happening on screen and remains quite subtle focusing more on the sound effects or what’s being said by the characters, all of them shouting the names of their attacks or alerting you to when a support character is ready to summon back into the fray, you're able to also choose between the English and Japanese voices too which is good if like some you’re not a fan of the dub cast. One first for the series is the inclusion of a licensed song in the opening of the game, Spiral by KANA-BOON is brilliant and adds to the anime-feel of the title, brief scenes from the story flash up in-time with the track teasing the epic moments to come as well as introducing each of the main characters, just in case this was your first time with the Naruto universe. If you are a newcomer and the story isn’t something you want to dive into without reading or watching everything up until that point there are a wealth of other game modes to take part in too, Adventure lets you play events set after the story, exploring Naruto’s home of the village hidden in the leaves, this is a free roaming mode that has been featured in all but 2 of the Ninja Storm titles and finds you completing missions and quests for your fellow ninja throughout the world usually helping you unlock new characters and items for access elsewhere. Free Battle is where the local multiplayer modes are kept, including Practice, VS battle, Survival, Tournament and League, each with customisable options so you and your friends can perfect your skills and see who the best is on the many stages available, then there’s Online Battle where you can pit your wits against the rest of world for the title of Ultimate Ninja.
If that’s not enough once you’ve been through the other elements of the game there is the Collection, this houses all the items you’ve unlocked in your time playing, from music and character voices, finisher screens and substitution props, even battle ID cards and titles for customising your online ID. One drawback is that the story mode does not make itself very accessible to anyone who isn’t familiar with what has gone on before and even if the scenes and fights look and play amazingly anyone new is unlikely to grasp the gravitas of some of the events or the true history behind certain characters motives or actions, however Bandai Namco are re-releasing a complete collection of the 3 main previous Storm titles for PS3 so people can catch up but it does leave Xbox owners out slightly. That being said as a fan of the series and the games themselves, this title is near perfect for me, utilising everything the new generation consoles have to offer under the hood whilst not messing with the overall formula. Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 screams polish, it really is the culmination of 8 years of work, the team at CyberConnect2 have pulled out all the stops, never being afraid to try something new and sometimes it has worked and sometimes not, but with this being the last in the series it feels like they've taken everything learned from previous titles and poured it into this game making it an absolute must. Dattebayo!
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 is out now on PS4, Xbox One, and Steam