Official Website

Platform: PlayStation 2

Genre: Action

Number of Players: 1

Wasn’t there just a Naruto game released a month or two ago . . . or maybe five?

There was actually, but Namco isn’t just going to sit back. Naruto is one of the more popular anime series’ that shown on television today, not to mention there’s also a trading card game for fans. When they aren’t too busy with those however, there are the games, and the Naruto title that came out recently, Ultimate Ninja was a fighting game, but the latest, Uzumaki Chronicles, is a much different breed.

You are Naruto, or course, and things haven’t been going too badly for him as far as his training is concerned, but hopefully all that hard work is going to be worth it. Naruto and the other Genin have been summoned to take on yet another task. Normally, they would be restricted to low ranking missions, but now the trainees are needed for higher missions and Naruto knows that this is the time for him to finally prove just how much his training has paid off.

Uzukamki Chronicles is still something of a fighting game, but a much different form that also combines 3D action with some minor role playing elements. Ultimate Ninja wasn’t a bad game, but between the two, Uzumaki Chronicles offers more excitement, tons of adjustments, and immediately became an addiction to play (even with the PS3 titles nearby.)

The game features 25 different missions that you can choose from, though you will need to complete certain ones in order to unlock others, and they do being to grow more and more difficult as you advance into the higher ranks. They might be quite simple at times, having you make basic deliveries, but they also might have you tracking some foul ninja lurking elsewhere that only you can deliver justice to. Once you’ve taken on a mission, you will seen, in most cases, where the destination is and you can move Naruto there. However, there are random encounters that will occur as well, and you know what that means; ninja!

This brings you into the fighting portion of the game, and you will be given an introduction at the start of the story concerning just how all of these moves work. You have three basic forms of attack to work with. Your weak and strong attacks can be chained together to do more damage while you also have your item attacks. Every ninja, even those in training, need the proper tools, and you have a good selection that can be picked up from fallen ninja, won at the end of battle, or even traded for. The game also allows you to jump, but this also provides another means of attack. By pressing jump at just the right moment, you can counter an opponents attack, though you will take some minor damage in the process. You can also lock on to enemies to make your fighting a little easier, but a ninja just can throw punches and kicks.

Your ninjitsu moves will prove to be important in dropping foes like a sack of rice. You have Shadow Clones that you can use to attack, and should you have an enemy targeted, they will immediately run to that foe. There’s also a power strike that can do some amazing damage and your Sexy Jutsu that can distract just about any opponent. You can also charge these to do more damage. The last thing that you will need to use is you Nine Tail, one of the most destructive combo moves in the game and one that can easily be utilized to devastate enemies with roughly 100 hits during the allotted time frame.

One other thing about being a ninja, at least for Naruto, is that you can’t always work alone. You will find times when other characters from the Naruto universe join our hero in his quests, and each of them has their own special moves that can be done. L2 will bring them into battle, but their presence on the field of combat. You can have Choji come into the game and use his Human Boulder or Sasuke unleash the Phoenix Flower. However, once the time runs out, they will need to rest and build back their stamina before being summoned into battle once again. But, you can handle taking on most of the ninja’s alone, right?

While fighting, you will notice that enemies will drop item bags, blue spheres (to regain stamina) or yellow spheres (to gain virtue) and virtue does become quite important. As you play through the game, Naruto will not only gain virtue from his defeated opponents, but also from completing missions. Virtue can be used in a number of ways. You can increase both health and stamina, or you can use these to buy skill chips. There are four different types that cover your Taijutsu and Ninjutsu fighting styles as well as special attacks and one that only have a limited use. Chips can be set into your skill plates, and more of these will be found throughout the game. The skill plates have a certain shape to them, as do the chips, so only so many can be placed into a given plate. You can luckily turn and manipulate these as you see fit and this gives you the ability to customize your fighting style. You might improve defense or maybe your attack, you may even increase your stamina, and this can be done at any point. Not doing so hot in a fight? That’s not a problem. You can simply adjust the chips in your skill plate in hopes of gaining the advantage.

Aside from the change to full 3D, Uzumaki Chronicles really doesn’t look that much different from the Ultimate Ninja game that was released. The characters all look very similar to what you’ve seen in the anime and that really should be the main focus for the game. The backgrounds though tend to be a little uninspired, but I don’t think most will be paying careful attention to those. There are some great effects though, in particular the Nine Tail attack, and seeing the sudden burst of fire and the flames surrounding Naruto is extremely cool and well worth watching time and time again. What I really would love to see included in more of the anime inspired games however is the inclusion of the original Japanese audio. Uzumaki Chronicles instead uses the English voice actors and hopefully the new generation of BluRay games will have companies actually including multiple dialog tracks, not just one.

Ultimate Ninja may have been fun, but Uzumaki Chronicles really is a much better game in my opinion. There is more than enough challenge for those that may not be the best gamers and those that are far beyond just being seasoned veterans. You don’t have to know the anime in the least to enjoy the game either to really appreciate and have fun with the game. Namco-Bandai has released a few anime games recently that haven’t been that entertaining, but Uzumaki Chronicles certainly makes up for that and this is undoubtedly one of the best games in this sub-genre that you’re going to find, at least until they release a better one, and something tells me that it’s going to have Naruto written all over it.

 -mike-