NARUTO: Ultimate Ninja 2 – PS2 – Review

Ninjas don’t have it easy like they
did in the 14^th century. It used to be uncomplicated fighting
samurais, simple peasants, and feudal rulers. But now, in today’s society,
ninjas are fighting demons, dragons, and mythical creatures. I can only imagine
the thoughts going through a ninja’s mind when they first encounter a giant
tyrannosaurus rex or a colossal cyborg.

The storyline for Naruto isn’t a
brain assault of legendary beasts and fairy-tale monsters. It instead resorts to
a more dramatic representation of ninjas and their struggle to accept Naruto,
the main character, as a living vessel of a captive demon. To my knowledge,
Naruto concentrates more on the life of being a ninja rather than whisking fans
away into a fantasy world such as the creators of Inuyasha and Dragon
Ball Z did.

When the first Naruto: Ultimate
Ninja arrived to American shores last summer, fanatics of the series were
delighted with a quality fighter. The second go-around for the series maintains
what the original established; even the unbearable English voice-actors. There
have been a few changes along the way: the difficulty of the combo system and
new game modes.

To be successful in Ultimate Ninja
2, players will want to take full advantage of the Secret Techniques that use
Chakra. This is no easy feat since it asks for the players to tap the exact
order of buttons that come up on the screen or to compete against their opponent
to tap a particular button the fastest. If the player on the offensive loses,
the attack does little damage. Don’t assume this is a pick up and play game. If
players invest time into learning the powerful attacks, the game will become
significantly easier to play.

Another aspect of the game that
creates a moderate level of difficulty is the computer A.I. They have the
tendency to take to the route of blocking rather than actually putting on an
offensive barrage of attacks. This ends up being a problem when the players are
timed and the opponent is continually sticking to the method of blocking. I
often found myself frustrated within the storyline mode and I couldn’t land one
attack because of the blocking.

For the returning players, the
controls remain the same whereas the game modes haven’t. The story mode now pits
players in an assigned character from the developer’s choosing to fight with. As
players advance through the story mode, new characters will be assigned to the
player to use. If this deters anyone away from playing the story mode, let it be
known that the story mode is the only method of unlocking all 32 playable
characters.

The story mode, titled Ultimate
Road, is an interesting take on how to handle the default story mode found in
almost all fighters. Instead of the simple “tournament” style found in Mortal
Kombat or Street Fighter, there’s an actual storyline to play.
Protecting Naruto’s village is the most important goal of the story mode. Also,
take into account that many of the matches ask for the players to just finish
the match alive or with a particular amount of health left, Ultimate Road isn’t
the typical story mode.

If Ultimate Road, or any story mode
for that matter, isn’t what players are looking for, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2
contains a few other gameplay options. There is a versus mode, titled ‘Vs.
Duel’, that allows players to fight without any set requirements to win the
bout. Naruto comes packaged with a training mode for the players that feel they
are inexperienced and want to learn more. There isn’t a heap of gameplay
options, but what is provided here is enough to grasp the player’s attention for
6-8 hours.

When it comes down to the end,
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2 is a run-of-the-mill fighter. Though, with the lack of
fighters being released, it’s worthy of a rental. I personally like anime series
being translated into video games since they usually have interesting characters
to follow. In Naruto’s case, the characters were humorous and appealing to draw
my attention.

Gameplay: 7.4
The learning curve is high but don’t let that discourage you from picking up
Ultimate Ninja 2. My favorite portion of the game is the Ultimate Road story
mode; it provided a real purpose to finish the game.

Graphics: 7.0
While this isn’t the prettiest game I have played in recent memory, the
graphics at least hold up on the PlayStation 2. The environments are bright and
colorful; the animations are fluid; overall it’s enough to please Naruto fans.

Sound: 7.0
The usual complaint of bad English voice-acting is found here. Outside of
the voice-acting, the sound effects and music do respectable job of conveying
the mood of the fighting genre.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Pulling off the death-defying maneuvers will require players to string
together a long combination of buttons. This will not be easy for beginners;
advanced players will pick it up quickly. Though, if two beginners face off
against each other, it will without doubt turn into a button smasher.

Concept: 8.0
With the lack of games in the fighting genre nowadays, I fully support every
developer that ventures into creating a fighter.

Multiplayer: 7.5
This will delight all Naruto fans, especially those who have a friend to
share the enjoyment with. The multiplayer is basic but it gets the job done with
servicing the fans with solid controls.

Overall: 7.2
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2 is definitely catered towards fans of the anime
series. If you are reading this review, you probably already are a Naruto fan.
If that’s not the case, and you are totally oblivious of the Naruto universe,
you may want to rent Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2 to see what the fuss is all about.