None of this is really skipped over, either, with hefty cutscenes detailing the entire plot. Part of this is down to the fact that it pretty much covers the plot from right after Pain’s attack on Konoha up to the close of the Fourth Ninja War, so you’ve got the Five Kage Summit, the whole Danzo/Sasuke thnig, Naruto and Bee’s training, etc. And then there’s the story mode, called Ultimate Adventure.
Free play mode offers Challenge Missions, giving you specific matchups with unusual conditions (nobody can block, for instance) that, uh, let you unlock wallpapers. Naturally you’ve got your free battle mode – letting you set up local battles or matches against the computer – and your online play, but there’s plenty more to keep you occupied. As I said, it’s not hugely deep most of the characters play very similarly to the extent that you can win battles even if you’ve never played as your selected character before, but it’s quite a thing to watch. You pick your characters and battle it out, dashing around a 3D battlefield and using a very simple directional system to unleash different attacks and combos. It’s also Fanservice: The Game in that the more prominent female characters have optional bikini costumes.Īs this is the first time a Naruto game has hit PC, I should point out that this is first and foremost a fighting game.
It is bright and beautiful and features about a million characters, all of whom are properly voiced and coloured and animated, and all of whom use their techniques and special moves and make fans go “ooh” while they do it. The quick and cheerful way of describing Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 (because I am not writing out that entire title every single time) is that it is Fanservice: The Game. If you’ve read up to about issue 580, though, you’re probably okay from there on, the game largely makes up its own ending. Screenshots and text will probably spoil things about the current plotline. If you haven’t read up to there (and most of the way through it) this game contains pretty massive spoilers, and it’s rather difficult for me to talk about a lot of the game without going into them.
Not particularly deep as fighting games go, but it’s certainly both authentic and visually impressive.Įven if you know what all of those terms mean, a quick warning: Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3: Full Burst is set during the Fourth Ninja War, which is the current arc.