Narutimate War Ninja Blazing

Lets players unleash their honed Jutsu skills through exciting

Follows the titular anime series from beginning to end, hitting the series' highlights along the way.

Lets players unleash their honed Jutsu skills through exciting single-player and multiplayer modes. Story Battle lets fans become part of explosive fights straight from the anime with more events and battle sequence. Tag Battle lets two friends connect through Ad-hoc to team up and complete over 20 missions cooperatively, while Versus Battle lets players battle against each other with their persistent customized characters across all modes. Over 20 characters are available to choose

The comics and anime series are filled with elements that can transition well to games: a huge cast of ninja characters with varied motives and personalities, an interesting fantasy setting, and, of course, lots of supernaturally powered ninjutsu battles. Sadly, Ultimate Ninja fails to capitalize on all the great things the Narutimate universe has to offer.

Ultimate Ninja adapts the storyline of the most current Narutimate anime series, Narutimate Shippuden. In the Ultimate Road campaign, Narutimate has returned to Hidden Leaf Village after three years of intense training to be reunited with many of his friends and comrades. However, his dear companion Sasuke, who has defected to serve the insidious Orochimaru, is not among them. Narutimate learns of some pressing events happening in the village and elsewhere, and he immediately sets off with his teammates to try to set things right, only to get tied up in a much bigger plot that involves several different factions. The way the game adapts the story is admirable, though if you're already familiar with the way events play out, there isn't much in the way of surprises.

The main game is divided into several chapters, each of which contains a map screen that allows Narutimate and company to advance to various events and stages. By completing certain stages or objectives, new playable characters, missions, and special ability cards can be unlocked. Successfully completing levels and performing skillfully in battle also earns you ninja points, which allows you to purchase character-enhancing card pieces and upgrades, along with extras like music or wallpaper.

The actual combat, however, is considerably less exciting. Ultimate Ninja borrows liberally from the design of Warriors games, for all of the good and bad that may entail. Controls are easy to grasp: You can jump, air-dash, or guard, as well as perform basic attack combos and throw weak projectiles with simple button presses. The chakra attacks are slightly more complex; they require you to first charge up your chakra meter sufficiently by holding down the triangle button and then either execute them at the end of a basic combo string or hit a set button sequence.