Game Review - Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2

Name: Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2

Console: PS3/4/Xbox 360/One/PC/Switch (PS4 Reviewed)

Out of all of the games I have reviewed thus far this is probably the weirdest.

At the time of writing the review for Ultimate Ninja Storm the sequel series to Naruto, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, was picking up traction. That gave me some leeway to review that first game. It has been eight months since then...

Anyway, my hope is to review the remaining games before the year 2043 which seems semi plausible.

STORY TIIIIME!!!!!

In terms of story this game threw me for a loop back when it came out.

After the Sasuke Retrieval arc the anime continued with several filler arcs that nearly doubled the length of the original series. Low and behold I find out that none of that matters and I should've spent the time watching the latter half binging more Dragon Ball Z.

This game picks up with Naruto Shippuden, the second anime in the franchise, and attempts to retell the first part of the show.

Much like the previous game, I will be be referring to how this game feels as an adaptation more than the content itself. Is it a good adaptation and if so does it do a better job than its predecessor? 

Sooooort oooooof.

The weirdest part about the game's version of events is its pacing in comparison to the anime. If you're an average gamer then you'll get to the Akatsuki Hideout in 2-3 hours, which takes place at episode 51 of the anime. 

To put it in comparison to the previous game, Ultimate Ninja Storm covered 135 episodes within around 13 hours...

So the game's a bit speed right? What's the big deal?

The Kazekage Rescue Mission arc, the first 32 episodes of the anime, takes up around an hour to finish in the game.

THE PACING IS A LITTLE OFF...

With that being said is it a good adaptation?

Due to its constant change in pace it has a tendency to over explain things and then in other areas it completely neglects things. To put it bluntly, the game's plot sticks to the essentials only this time it adds some flavour text to make bigger events seem bigger.

I'll say that this makes the plot hit harder when it needs to, which is something the previous game lacked.

With this being said, I feel like the previous game worked better as a whole due to it having a complete story to tell. Whilst it didn't make too much sense, based on the few minutes of plot we got in between text scrolls and battles, there was still a clear beginning, middle and ending.

I will still say that if you're a fan of Shippuden's first half then you'll smile with glee at its presentation here.

A lot more cutscenes along with some character interactions that show scenes from their perspective which is refreshing. When we get an iconic battle the game makes sure that we know it's going down, which feels better than the "straight to fight" transition of the previous game.

In short, it gets the job done.

GAMEPLAY TIIIIIME!!!!

I feel like this is a little divisive amongst fans of these games because Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 is somehow more and less flashier than the previous entry.

To avoid repeating myself I'll simply state what has changed between games.

All of the controls are the same but the game plays stakes much higher than before.

As to not lose tension in battles quick time events have been relegated to boss fights only meaning that Ultimate Jutsus are played of swiftly. I like this change... a lot. Instead of waiting for a big and long animation sequence to play out I tap a few buttons and BAM! It makes me as the player feel more powerful because of how casual everything feels. Epicness feels casual in this, making basic attacks feel god-like.

I remember it being an hour or so in when I realised that depending on the position of my character, which way I'm facing and where my opponent is I can string a longer combo with an even bigger finishing move, such as a rasengun from above or a suplex throw. After learning this I wanted to experiment with other characters and see what I could pull off. This means this game already has more variation than the previous. You can also swap basic jutsu attacks to vary things up a bit.

Range attacks are back again and they feel just as useless as in the previous game, with the exception of a few boss fights. Enemies guard is almost always up when I throw one and even if it does hit they lose like 2 hp...

So it's no secret that I'm already a fan of the combat in this game but what makes it and breaks it at times are the contextual battles, or boss battles.

Two boss battles close together early on demonstrate my point perfectly.

MINOR SPOILERS

Orochimaru has a boss fight which starts fairly well, with a powered Naruto in Nine Tails mode, however the second face turns into a bizarre gunner style battle. I was fine with this until I realised how many projectiles are thrown at you making the fight last way too long.

Immanently after, besides from a single fight, you duel Sasuke which flashes back seamlessly between the current fight and the finale of the original game with all the same abilities. This was a fantastic fight in my opinion and the game shines when it tries the more experimental stuff with the ordinary battles.

MINOR SPOILERS OVER

I could go on with the combat but I'll just say that the variety is beautiful here, marking it as a great successor to the original.

With have another overworld on our hands here and... it's alright.

Ultimate Ninja Storm's Hidden Leaf Village worked because so much of the plot was based around the village. It makes sense to have it be fully explorable. In Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 we have paths and roads... lots of them. The layout is very linear, which disappoints me as it makes travelling, especially for sides quests, tedious as hell.

If this were a mere mission selected or world map I think it would have done better. 

I will say it's still cool to roam about iconic locations but it all feels a little on rails after a while.

You heard me right before, side quests are back and they're less interesting than before. The context behind them is less compelling because a lot of them come from villagers now rather than cast members, which made the previous game's side content a little more compelling. 

The bright side is that they can all be done in conjunction to the main story just fine but I can't say that the rewards are always worth it.

Last thing I'll touch upon here is the way health work in this game.

Unlike last time, because the previous game was all flashbacks, we are very much in the present for this game which means that our health bars carry over. You get beaten up a lot as Naruto? Better heal up the next time you get control otherwise he's gonna go down fast!

Context-wise I like this change as it makes sense for characters to be a little banged if they go from one battle to another. I can however understand that this can be time consuming if you don't have the supplies to deal with it. Luckily they're extremely cheap and easy to find so it was never an issue for me.

PRESENTATION TIIIIME!!!

Graphically this game still rocks. That cell shaded goodness returns buuut so does that performance. It's not 30fps anymore but it's not 60 either. I can't quite tell what it's running at anymore but it's an improvement I guess. My eyes adjusted to the change between this and the previous game fast but I had to take a break from Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 to play this otherwise I would've come out cross-eyed!

Music... I said it in the previous review... it's the same. Not the exact same but it's really similar. The opening steals the soundtrack for me but the rest of the game's music is just as lacklustre as the previous game.

One thing I neglected to mention in my previous review was the dubbing. I grew up the english dub of the original show and first few episodes of Shippuden so I thought it would be cool to see how they would sound passed their voicing stages in the anime. Problem being that the lip syncing is still Japanese...

Dialogue can feel incredible forced at times for the sake of padding a line or taking a breather. It's not instantly noticeable but from this game onward it doesn't get better.  

CONCLUSION TIIIIME!!!

You know what I'm going to say, if you're a fan of the show then I can wholeheartedly recommend this game however I can't say the same for newcomers.

In fact, due to the alienating nature of the previous game, I don't really know if I'll be able to recommend any of the future games... or can I?

For the fighting aspect this is a fantastic game and in that regard I can recommend this to anyone. You'll have a blast no matter what.

The story leaves at an appropriate point for those who know the anime but, once again, it doesn't have a natural story like the original. I can't stress how off putting those first few hours were due to the pacing alone.

Once you get into the grove I believe this to be a fun ride regardless.

Like the original it seems to excel in the gameplay department but feel a bit behind elsewhere and, unfortunately for this game, the newly added filler in between fights doesn't make this game as forgiving as the previous. Instead of jumping from one fight to the next, like in Ultimate Ninja Storm, we now have to wade and push through a weirdly mapped out world with unfulfilling side quests. 

7/10 - Combat is greatly improved but filler and bad pacing holds this game back.