NARUTO Shippuden: Ninja Council 4 – NDS – Review

Naruto
fans, I share your love for Masashi Kishimoto’s story of a social misfit that
became one of the most powerful ninja in his village so as a game reviewer I
find myself occasionally disappointed and sometimes delighted with some of the
Naruto titles available across various platforms. Thankfully, the recent
Naruto games have been really good and that’s great news for loyal fans
but then a game like Naruto Shippuden: Ninja Council 4 for the Nintendo
DS comes along that just doesn’t quite have what it takes to compete with the
other Naruto games.

Ninja
Council 4 is the
first game in the series that covers the new Shippuden series that no longer
features a younger Naruto. In fact, the game loosely covers the events of what
occurred when a slightly older Naruto, having disappeared with Lord Jiraiya for
more than two years, returns to his home in the Hidden Leaf Village. For years,
Naruto and his fellow Leaf Ninja have been going up against Orochimaru but now a
new type of enemy called the Akatsuki threatens the village.

The game’s
main Story mode finds Naruto reuniting with his old squad that now just consists
of Sakura sans Sasuke who ran off with Orochimaru in search of more power to
catch up and kill his brother. With the open slot, Naruto can have another
support member that includes members of other squads as well. In fact, you can
even take Sakura out of the picture and head out on missions with support
teammates such as Rock Lee and even Neji. You can even start the mission as one
of the support teammates, which is a major plus if you get tired of pulling off
the same moves as Naruto. As a fan of Might Guy, I was glad to find that you can
play as him in most of the levels.

The support
role, however, is often reduced to a teammate popping into the battlefield (by
tapping their portrait on the touch screen) and unleashing their specialized
Jutsu move. Each character has their own level of Chakra (how much power they
can unleash) and Jutsu (a Chakra-fueled specialty or power). Sakura, for
instance, is also a medical ninja that has the power to heal while Neji’s
ability is to see his opponent’s Chakra to use it against them during battle.
Calling upon your support helps during battles against Aktsuki bosses as well as
when you’re attacked by more than one enemy.

Of course,
your playable character has the benefit of their own unique Jutsu move like
Sakura’s Girl Power Jutsu or Naruto’s Uzumaki Barrage. Speaking of the Jutsu,
unleashing it requires you not only to tap said Jutsu move among the choices in
the menu and then carrying it out via a touch screen mini-game. If you want to
unleash the Uzumaki Barrage, you’re asked to rub the screen horizontally until
the Chakra meter is filled for the move to be completed and executed. Other
mini-games have you rubbing the screen in a circular clockwise motion.

The game
plays like a platform game and this would have been Ok if the combat wasn’t too
imbalanced. I found myself pressing the attack button only for the punch or kick
to come way too late and this is even more noticeable when you’re trying to
fight enemies in a crouched position. Oh, and forget trying to kill an enemy
hanging from the ceiling like a spider because it’s practically impossible
without resorting to using a kunai knife or a throwing star. Unfortunately, you
don’t get too many throwing weapons in the game so you’ll have to make them
count.

The controls
also get in the way of most of the platform puzzles such as the wall-walking
move that has you scaling up walls to reach a higher platform. It’s a
frustrating experience trying to jump from one wall to the next wall you can
wall on to the point that you’ll be glad that there’s a button to make your
character run. Some levels are rather basic while others can be a bit complex
thanks to the addition of spiked walls and floors as well as other hazards.
There are also old-school-styled revolving platforms and floors that crumble and
disappear when you walk on them.

Sadly, the
levels are trail-and-error and occasionally frustrating such as the level that
has you assuming the role of Gaara from the Sand Village. Normally, breaking
away from the action to play as somebody else mid-way is great but Gaara’s level
is more annoying than fun. There are also boss battles but anyone who has played
a classic platform game knows that all you really have to do is memorize your
opponent’s attack routine.

The game
does add a multiplayer match for up to four-players and there’s a Ninja Mode
that allows you to go through each level again without restrictions. Ninja
Council 4 also has plenty of extra characters to unlock in the game to use
as well such as Kakashi, Tenten and Jiraiya just to name a few.

Visually,
Ninja Council 4 is a bit better to look at than the last game in this
series. The colorful backdrops and sharp character models make it easy to
identify each character during each level. Add some impressive Jutsu effects,
manga-styled “sound effects” and you have a game that would have made a
great-looking GBA game. Sadly, the real sound effects aren’t plentiful but at
least there are character specific grunts and the music slightly resembles what
is heard in the anime’s soundtrack.

As a devoted
Naruto fan, I expect a lot from the Naruto gaming franchise and
found myself both disappointed and even impressed with the titles available
across the various platforms. Naruto Shippuden: Ninja Council 4 for the
DS is a platform game that falls short thanks to its control problems and uneven
level design. If you haven’t played the other Ninja Council games and
cannot go without a Naruto game on the DS, this is the one to own but
returning fans should just consider a rental or just skipping it altogether.

Gameplay: 6.0
The good news is
that you’ll have a good roster of characters to use in the game and their unique
Jutsu is represented well enough. The bad news is that the platform portion and
the occasionally unresponsive controls make for a frustrating time. This is a
game best played as a multiplayer one.

Graphics:
5.9
The game’s
graphics are actually quite sharp in certain places but this game looks more
like a really attractive-looking GBA game than a DS title. The Jutsu moves
really lights up the screen, though.

Sound:
5.0
There are a few
sound effects in the game with grunts for each character in the game. There’s no
voice work to be found and the music – which is stuck in a loop – sounds close
to mimicking the anime’s soundtrack.

Difficulty: Medium/Hard
The boss battles
aren’t too challenging once you memorize their attack patterns and most of the
enemies you’ll meet along the way aren’t too hard to figure out how to beat.
Some of the levels are frustrating trail-and-error missions.

Concept: 6.0
At last, the
Shippuden chapter of Naruto’s life arrives to the Nintendo DS. There are touch
screen actions but they aren’t inventive, though. The support characters are
actually quite impressive so if you ever wanted to see a three-man team with
Rock Lee, Naruto and Kakashi.

Multiplayer: 6.5
The game supports
up to four players and the battles are actually fun seeing there are enough
characters to use in the wireless multiplayer mode. It’s great to see that the
mode runs smoothly but there’s little variety in the game mode department.

Overall: 6.0
Ninja Council
4 is a hard game
to recommend true fans of the spiky haired ninja even with the cool roster of
characters. Unfortunately, there are a number of problems that will not fail to
annoy anyone looking for a good action platform game with plenty of that awesome
Jutsu. If you can look past these things, Ninja Council isn’t a bad game but
it’s not a particularly great one either.