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Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Impact Review for PlayStation Portable (PSP)

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Impact Review for PlayStation Portable (PSP)

Same Old Naruto

Being a so-called “franchise player” can have some serious drawbacks. On the one hand, it’s great to see characters from your favorite franchises evolve and grow over time. On the other hand, you’ve got to suffer through a lot of repeated content. Dragon Ball Z fans have suffered through the same content over and over for nearly twenty years, and it looks like Naruto is starting to have the same issue. I’m all for tons of games being released for a single popular property, but they all have to be just a little bit different. And the unfortunate fact is that Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Impact feels like a stripped-down version of games that already exist.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Impact Screenshot

The game only has one main mode: the story mode. Instead of giving you a semi-open world to explore, you get a static map with different points to select. These points can be special items, dialogue scenes, or actual battles. The format of the game is fairly boring, and doesn’t really do much to draw the player in, especially as the game starts up exactly where every other Shippuden game starts up: when Naruto returns to Konoha.

What ensues is the plot of every other Naruto Shippuden game on the market. I think somewhere in the development process, someone realized this; the story just kind of trails off halfway through, and the game expects you to fill in most of the blanks yourself. If you haven’t played another Naruto Shippuden game, read the manga, or watched the anime, don’t expect to be spoon-fed the story. The game just barely hits the highlights and is anything but exciting. It’s also extremely short, so if you’re hoping to get anything more than an afternoon’s worth of entertainment, you’ll be disappointed.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Impact Screenshot

If you strip the game of its lackluster story content, you’re left with a pretty generic brawler; the battle system is the same thing that has been featured in essentially every Ultimate Ninja game. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as I do enjoy the format of the Ultimate Ninja battle system, and there have been a few tweaks and new moves added to the overall roster. Though the repetition in the game is a big problem, the battle system is one area where I didn’t mind a little déjà vu .

The game also incorporates an RPG-like card system that allows you to outfit specific characters certain power-ups and special moves. As you play through the game’s story mode, you can unlock new cards by completing special challenges, which is good if you want to extend the experience. However, if you pride yourself on being a master of the Ultimate Ninja battle system, you probably won’t need to go out of your way to get these cards.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Impact Screenshot

Unfortunately, once you’ve played through the game’s story mode there isn’t that much more to do. There’s a basic mission mode that you can play and replay to improve your score, and there’s an ad hoc multiplayer mode. You can also collect character and in-game art. However, if you are looking for substantial post-game content or a bevy of modes to give this thing some replay value, you won’t find it here. Even just a basic exhibition or versus mode is missing from the list of features.

This is a real shame, as fighters have gotten to be quite beefy on handheld consoles. Series like Super Street Fighter and BlazBlue have offered hungry gamers plenty of content after an initial single-player playthrough. Ultimate Ninja Impact unfortunately does not follow suit, and feels outdated and underwhelming as a result. When you can completely finish a fighter in only a few hours and have nothing left to do, you’ve got a serious problem.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Impact Screenshot

About the only real thing Ultimate Ninja Impact has going for it are some great production values. CyberConnect2 has outdone themselves once again with the game’s visuals, giving Naruto and company their signature highly-detailed cel-shaded look. Although environments and battle stages aren’t as beautiful as they could be, and story scenes feature stoic character models, the 3D character design used in battle gets major points for re-creating the look of the Naruto anime almost completely. This is certainly one of the best-looking Naruto games on the PSP, and the visual style is the one area where you can tell that some hard work went into the development process.

Sound in the game is also extremely well-done, with all the anime’s original voice actors reprising their roles. Though only the English voiceover is available for play, most fans of the American version of the show will still be happy with the fidelity to the series. Background music is also sampled directly from the Shippuden anime series, which works very well in-game. About the only thing I can really complain about with the sound is that some of the catchphrases that characters use over and over can become grating after a while. However, this comes with the territory, I think, as the Naruto anime has the same repetitive ear-numbing catchphrases. I can’t hold this against the game version too much.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Impact is a game that would have been great about five or six years ago. However, as the years roll on and we get more and more Naruto games, there becomes an increasing need for games to stand out within the franchise. Ultimate Ninja Impact just doesn’t do a whole lot to give it its own identity. While the battle system works well and the technical specs are spot-on, there just isn’t enough content to justify a purchase. And with the PSP on its last legs in lieu of the PlayStation Vita, Naruto fans would be wise to just skip this entry and wait for a better handheld to come along. This one just doesn’t have enough going for it to be legitimately called an “Ultimate Ninja.” Maybe next time, Naruto fans.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 4.0 Graphics
The game looks great and preserves the look of the anime extremely well. 3.5 Control
Battle system is easy to learn but complex enough to not be boring. 3.5 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Music and voiceover work recall the anime perfectly. 1.9 Play Value
There isn’t enough to this game for it to be very fun, and you’re better off playing any one of the older Naruto games for the PSP. 2.5 Overall Rating – Average
Not an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.

Review Rating Legend
0.1 – 1.9 = Avoid 2.5 – 2.9 = Average 3.5 – 3.9 = Good 4.5 – 4.9 = Must Buy
2.0 – 2.4 = Poor 3.0 – 3.4 = Fair 4.0 – 4.4 = Great 5.0 = The Best

Game Features:

  • Large Scale Battles – Test your skills against hordes of attacking enemy ninjas in frenzied large scale melee battles and emerge victorious using famous moves like Naruto’s Great Ball Rasengan and Shikamaru’s Shadow Stitching Jutsu!
  • 360° Rotating Camera – Upgraded camera views enhance battles sequences that offer an exciting and immersive gameplay experience.
  • New Anime Characters – Over 50 characters including Gigantics like Eight Tails, Kakuzu, and Gamabunta, including Awakenings features that enable incredible power and defense for short bursts.
  • Deep Missions – Over 100+ unique battles to experience over 8 stages and 25 custom designed missions.

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