Naruto: The Broken Bond – 360 – Review

It
doesn’t seem that long ago that Ubisoft brought fans of the spiky-haired ninja
one of the best Naruto games to grace a console. Naruto: Rise of a Ninja
was not only a great Xbox 360 exclusive but it also did the popular Shonen Jump
manga and anime series justice by allowing fans to experience and explore
Naruto’s interesting world. Once again, we head back to the Hidden Leaf Village
in Naruto: The Broken Bond for the Xbox 360.

THE
RISE OF A YOUNG HERO.

Taking
place directly after the events of Rise of a Ninja, The Broken Bond
starts off covering the most interesting events that unfold after the death of
the Hidden Leaf Village’s Hokage (which is a village chief) and leads up to one
of the most intense story arcs that has anime and manga fans sitting on the edge
of their seats. Interestingly enough, the game doesn’t begin with gamers playing
as Naruto but rather we take control of the Third Hokage as he goes up against
the villainous Orochimaru during the attack on the village that occurred at the
ending of the last game.

When we
do take control of Naruto during the game’s Story Mode, we follow him through
the moments after the Hokage’s funeral as he is placed with the powerful (yet
girl crazy) Master Jiraiya as his new mentor after a brief mission disables his
fellow teammate and rival Sasuke. The main missions span a number of familiar
storylines (such as the search for the new Hogake) but The Broken Bond
focuses on the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke. In fact, their shaky
relationship plays a big role in this game to the point that we get to see the
events that lead up to a major confrontation through Sasuke’s eyes when we take
control of him.

That’s
right, Naruto fans. We get to take control of other familiar characters
throughout The Broken Bond and, for the first time, team up with other
characters. One of the many gripes fans had with Rise of a Ninja is that
it seldom felt like you were part of a team when Naruto went on missions with
his teammates. Here, the team aspect is played to good effect … especially
during the Sasuke pursuit mission later in the game. Teaming up with a character
allows you to switch to them via the D-pad. Aside from performing team-based
attacks during combat, you can use a teammate to help solve puzzles. For
example, Shikamaru uses a Jutsu called Shadow Possession that allows him to
manipulate shadows that can either possess an opponent or get to those hard to
reach places.

Unfortunately, the game offers no recaps or introductions to any of the
characters. If you’re not familiar with the story then you won’t really
appreciate the depth of the Naruto-Sasuke relationship. You see, when we do take
control of Sasuke we do learn the basic facts such as the fact that he’s on a
quest to kill his older brother for having murdered every member of their clan.
While Sasuke is a talented and powerful ninja, even he could see that Naruto’s
skills are increasing by leaps and bounds. When Sasuke becomes jealous of
Naruto, he attacks him and later runs off to join the evil Orochimaru in search
for more power. As Naruto and a team of other fellow ninja attempt to reach
Sasuke before he makes contact with Orochimaru, we witness Sasuke’s fall to the
dark side, so to speak.

WITH
A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS.

Aside
from the interesting team up with several sidekicks (that include everyone from
Neji, Kiba and Choji), exploration is back. You’ll also find the return of side
missions you can take on for money as well as hidden goodies you can look for
along the way. You can also upgrade your character’s skills, including increase
health and Chakra (what fuels your Jutsu abilities) as well as learn new Jutsu
moves. Unfortunately, exploring the Leaf Village gets old really quickly this
time around. Ubisoft really needs to add more interesting things to do aside
from random fetch quests. Combat remains relatively the same as Rise of a
Ninja with the exception that you can now use health items during battle and
the Jutsu moves make a much bigger and more impressive impact that makes combat
really enjoyable.

Speaking of enjoyable combat, Tournament Mode is back as well as Fight Mode that
allows you to battle one-on-one or come up with your own two-man dream team.
Fans will certainly enjoy creating some unlikely pairings offline as well as
online via Xbox Live. There’s even a Dojo mode that allows you to practice each
of the 30 different characters’ moves and Jutsu.

Visually, The Broken Bond looks good enough that it looks more like the
anime than the first game. The in-game animation is smoother and it replaces
footage from the show. This isn’t a bad thing considering the fact that the
colors are more vibrant, the character models and backgrounds are slick and
lovely and the visual effects practically light up the screen. Even the Hidden
Leaf Village looks better than before.

THE
SOUND OF BROKEN FRIENDSHIPS.

As far
as the sound is concerned, the music is excellent thanks to the fact that the
score comes directly from the show itself. The English dub voice cast is also
present and, for the most part, they do a decent job of bringing each character
to life. For my money, the Japanese voice cast is just far more superior but
that’s just me and I’m glad they included the option. The sound effects are
straight off the show as well.

Naruto: The Broken Bond
for the Xbox 360 is yet
another solid entry and an excellent sequel worth playing if you’re a Naruto
fan or like a good fighting game. The new gameplay elements do add more to the
experience and – despite a few weak spots – this sequel certainly has enough for
fans to really sink their teeth into once again. This is definitely one
Naruto game you will definitely want to buy, Xbox 360 owners.

Review Scoring Details for Naruto: The Broken Bond

Gameplay: 8.2
There are enough
Jutsu-filled battles in the game’s decent story mode and looking at one of the
series’ most intense storylines through the eyes of Naruto’s former friend.
Exploring the Leaf Village isn’t as fun as it was the first time around but
there’s still plenty to see and do in this game.

Graphics: 8.5
Rise of a
Ninja was a
great-looking game but The Broken Bond sports smoother animation and a
world that is a tad more detailed. You won’t find clips from the anime in this
game so all the cut scenes are done with the in-game visuals and that’s not a
bad thing at all.

Sound: 8.5
The show’s music
is back and it’s still just as good as the first time around and fans of the
Japanese voice acting cast will be happy to find it here in this game (although,
for my money, the English dub isn’t horrible). Even the sound effects seem to
come straight from the show.

Difficulty: Medium
Naturally, the
game gets more challenging the farther along you get in the game’s story mode so
you will find plenty of tough battles along the way. The tag team element helps
alleviate some of the more difficult battles (damn you again, Orochimaru).

Concept: 8.2
The game’s
single-player story mode covers one of the most intense story arc’s straight
from the Naruto manga and anime. Looking at the situation through
Sasuke’s fleshes out the story in ways that fans of the series will appreciate.
The other fighting modes offer enough fighting fun to keep players busy as well.

Multiplayer: 8.0
With numerous
characters to pick and team up with there is certainly no shortage of fun Naruto
fans will have with the multiplayer fighting mode. Online, the game runs at a
very steady framerate so fighting fans will find a good reason to play the game
long after they finish the game’s single-player story mode.

Overall: 8.2
If Naruto fans
were looking for another reason to jump into the Hidden Leaf Village with their
favorite orange ninja then look no further than Naruto: The Broken Bond.
It’s a solid entry and an excellent sequel to a great game and – despite a few
issues – it’s looking like this is a good year for Naruto and fighting game
fans.