The Silent Protagonist – Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3

Wow. What a lengthy title! If anybody knows me, I love pretty much all things Japanese, from the food, the RPGs, to Anime. Naruto is my favourite anime, so much so that I’ve got an eight trigram seal tattooed to my back, if that’s not enough to convince you that I really like the series then I’m not sure what will.

My obsession started about two years ago, and I watched all of the original Naruto Episodes in one summer, along with working six days a week. Then, shortly afterwards, I went onto a spending spree  and purchased all of the localised games to date. I have to admit, I’ve played games adapted from movies, and by in large I’ve yet to be impressed, so I didn’t really know what to expect with these games, however, I was very happy with the result! For more information about games adapted from other sources of media, go see Giles’ blogs they’re awesome.

The Naruto games are always bright, colourful and true to the story – they’re epic beyond belief. And they’re really user-friendly as well. There’s the core story line, which follows that of the manga, but there’s also extra wee bits every here and there. The Ultimate Ninja Storm games are what I’m going to gush about for the next while anyway.

The original Ninja Storm game was released on the PS3 back in 2008 and follows Naruto through his childhood, up until Sasuke joins Orochimaru. Then in 2010, Ninja Storm 2 was released on Xbox 360 and PS3, this game covers the whole of the Akatsuki arc, which happens to be my favourite of the two games in this series.

Essentially, they are fighting games, and if anybody has seen me play fighting games, you know I’m useless. Prime example; Marvel vs. Capcom 3, difficulty easy, unlimited time and the simple controller thing… and I still get my arse handed to me. Despite that, the thing that I love about the Naruto games is that anybody can play them. Essentially, square is long distance attack, X is jump, O is attack (which varies on which direction the left analogue stick is being pushed) and triangle is use chakra. That’s the basics, and they are super easy, the game gets more complicated with substitutions and ultimate Jutsu’s and what-not, but you pick the more complex subtleties of the game as you play.

If you played Ninja Storm Generations, you get a general overview of what has happened in the Naruto-verse up until now, and you probably noticed that it is a pure fighting game. If you’re like me then you’d think that’d be pretty boring, but for people who want to get into the series, it’s a really good place to start, especially if you don’t have a spare few hundred hours to watch or read the story.

In Ninja Storm 3, the story continues from where the previous game left off, and now focuses on the 4th Ninja World War and the initial battle with the fearsome Nine-Tailed Fox, Kurama when it plagues Konohagakure, before Minato seals it inside Naruto.

Expect a style similar to that of the previous titles in the series, with a hub or open world, where the player must travel from place to place, and progressing with the story via battles. Boss battles also make a reappearance, with quick time events (which I love!). The game also takes one step further and includes a Dynasty Warriors aspect to the series as well, similar to that seen in Ultimate Ninja Storm Impact on the PSP.

With a very impressive 72 playable character line up, the game looks to be absolutely amazing.

Oh, did I mention that it also incorporates an “Ultimate Decision Mode”? This is a section of the game where you, as the player, get to decide the outcome of various battles, which would impact on the difficulty in future battles. By choosing certain changes, you are in actual fact deviating from the story line and thus creating a whole new alternative storyline.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwmWBcqX4KY[/youtube]