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Gamertell Review: Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2 for PSP
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Fans of the first Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes game for the PSP should just go ahead and stop reading since you either a) already own Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2 or b) already have it on your shopping list. You wacky fans seem to buy anything with “Naturo” in the name
Alrighty non-fans, the rest of this review is for you.
Naruto 101
Naruto games are generally all fighting games where even friends battle each other for whatever reason, building up mystical powers to unleash ungodly, glowing, swirly particle-packed attacks that really nothing should ever survive. The characters bicker, there is a lot of yelling and it all comes down to lots and lots of fighting. In this game, the fighting takes place in Super Smash Bros. style arenas with various platforms, moving sections, obstacles and stuff to bust up to pick up powerups.
In pretty standard Japanese role-playing game fashion, there is a lot of story, which translates into a lot of still character images with scrolling text boxes that you button press to get through. In this instance, the story is actually interesting, if you can forgive the expected familiarity with the franchise’s many, many characters.
The story mode for this game has you climbing 99 floors in a haunted castle in the sky, going from room to room either taking part in mini games, battling, watching a bit of drama (aka cutscenes in appropriately named “Drama Rooms"), replenishing your health or gathering treasure. You begin with a small band of adventurers but pick up others as you progress, although only four can be in your primary group. Each character has his or her own fighting style and extra ability which help you get through map-based obstacles, but every character performs the same core of basic attacks, a unique power move and a distance/tossing attack.
The rooms on each floor are not all predetermined so you choose the type using a bank of four randomly generated scrolls. There is the Battle scroll, which pits you against a random opponent and five mini game scrolls: Tree Climbing (Naruto dashes up a tree and dodges broken branches), Shadow Possession (Simon Says style button pressing), Amusement (slot machines), Riddle (answer Naruto trivia) and Clone (the shell game where you try to follow the real clone).
Fight Fight Go Go!
Except for the choose-your-own-type rooms, three additional characters (Third Hokage, Shizune, and Kabuto Yakushi) and equipping characters with items before each Battle, this is essentially the same as the first Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes PSP game. While neither a technical masterpiece nor a unique game, Ninja Heroes 2 is surprisingly addictive.
The Battles are clearly the game’s strongest element with furious action and lots of pickups to keep things even more interesting. I liken it to Super Smash Bros., so that should give you some idea of the pace and fun potential.
The ability to choose what your next room will be adds a gambling element since the scrolls are randomly generated (you can see it in the Next box, much like Tetris). Although you might try to get through the 99 floors in the story with as few battles as possible, you might occasionally end up with all Battle scrolls to choose from, and no one with any power to switch them turn them in to something else.
The developers wisely avoided the PSP mini thumbstick for controls. using the more precise and easier-to-use direction pad for movement. Attacks are primarily based on the “O"/Attack button, which can make it seem like a button masher at times, but the other buttons become more useful for faster wins and especially important against human opponents in the non-story modes. In any case, the action, is fast, smooth and fun.
The minigames, however, become boring after the first 20 floors. The Clone game becomes uber easy (80%+ of the time he’s in the right position) and the trivia is truly intended for Naruto fans (although the question repeat, so even I could all three correct after a while). My favorites are the Tree Climbing, since it actually involves some skill, and the slot machines even though every turn at the handles yields either 2- or 3-of-a-kind, with the rare Bonus Round being the only time you really earn worthwhile points. The points earned in each room are then used to unlock photos, videos and music, which is really not worth getting too worked up about.
The RPG aspect of the game relies entirely on gathered scrolls found in Treasure Rooms approximately every third or fourth floor instead of battle experience, resulting in one improvement point that can be used on one trait for one character. Also, your primary party of four characters can only be edited at each health room (one on bout every fourth or fifth floor), even though you accumulate a dozen characters. Both of those conditions are too slow and limiting for most RPGers.
Like any good fighting game, there is a Vs. CPU mode so you can hone your fighting skills. Even better, this game has an ad hoc wireless battle mode where you can fight against a friend using only one UMD (but two PSPs, of course).
Never Ending Naruto
The Naruto franchise is certainly one of the most prolific with a seemingly endless stream of games being released and quickly sucked up by fans. It’s a bit daunting for non-fans. Generally, I’d suggest that you might want to avoid anything named “Naruto” especially if you cannot get past the Japanese way of the videogame or don’t have some affinity for anime.
Naruto name aside, as a RPG, this is a completely skipable game. If you enjoy fighting games and need something to take on the road, however, Ninja Heroes 2 for the PSP is a fairly addictive and fun.
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