Japan has a humorous relationship with the idea of ninja. Portrayal of them ranges from ‘sneaky spy in black pajamas’ to ‘earth-shattering technicolor wizard’. At the furthest latter excessive of that scale lies the Naruto franchise. This virtually inescapable manga/anime phenomenon dominated youngsters & teen’s TV for years, unsurprisingly spawning an enormous variety of licensed videogame tie-ins. The shock, then, is that some of them were shockingly good, and now they’re on PC.
Prefer your ninjas extra on the sneaky and shadowy aspect of issues? We’ve got you sorted, too.
The Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm collection (to present them their full identify – we’ll simply be utilizing Ultimate Ninja Storm right here) are largely agreed to be the head of licensed Naruto video games. Four titles – with some non-essential spinoffs – developed by Asura’s Wrath studio Cyberconnect 2. Notably, these 4 video games cowl (in abridged type) all the Naruto storyline from the very first childlike adventures of the orange-clad ninja teen all the best way as much as the absurd and bombastic god-slaying finale, and even a bit of past.
For the longest time solely the ultimate two video games have been out there on PC, however as of the discharge of the Legacy pack all 4 can be found, remastered and improved. Most notable is the improve to 60fps – the console variations of those video games are capped at a ‘cinematic’ 30fps, which works decently sufficient, however they appear vastly nicer on PC now. You’d be exhausting pressed to imagine that the primary two video games have been PS3-era titles. Oh, and purists might be blissful to know you could choose from Japanese or English voice tracks in all 4 video games.
The Ultimate Ninja Storm collection are very non-standard 3D combating video games, extra targeted on spectacle than precision. A swooping digicam generally places you within the background, fundamental melee is carried out solely with a single button, and emphasis is on realizing the place your character’s explicit secure and weak zones are. These are exceptionally fairly video games, too. While not fairly as excellent of their cel-shading as later titles resembling Guilty Gear Xrd or Transformers: Devastation, they nail the look of the supply materials, and the animation is definitely of upper high quality than the infamously corner-cutting anime adaptation.
The collection doesn’t adhere significantly to anybody style both. Each recreation within the collection has not less than a point of open-world RPG layer with you wandering round on the lookout for sidequests, attempting to find secrets and techniques and purchasing for gear in-between main story beats. Central story fights are incessantly interrupted by (actually spectacular) quicktime occasions – in the event you’ve ever seen or performed Asura’s Wrath, you’ll know the sort of factor that Cyberconnect 2 is known for. The first Ultimate Ninja Storm even has a robust deal with ninja coaching minigames, resembling bounding by forests and climbing impossibly tall timber by working straight up them.
Latter video games within the collection even embody some Dynasty Warriors-esque many-on-one battles, in addition to eventualities the place you management big summoned monsters, or fly round taking pictures stuff in Panzer Dragoon model. The fourth recreation has one significantly absurd phase the place your major purpose is simply to journey from level A to B, however you may have the elective purpose of wiping out over 10,000 enemies in your means there. It’s a shorter struggle than you’d suppose, however highlights the creativity and playfulness of the collection as a complete. While nearly all of your time goes to be spent in common fights, there’s so much to those video games, way more so than what you’d count on from the story mode of your common combating recreation.
If you’re trying simply to play these video games for the core fight, you may wish to skip straight to the fourth, which has a relatively large and stable player-base on Steam, and an enormous roster of playable characters, However, in the event you like the thought of taking part in by the whole Naruto story arc in videogame type, overlaying all the most important plot beats each out and in of fight, then you definately may wish to have a look at grabbing the Legacy bundle, which is kind of closely discounted on the time of writing. It also needs to go with out saying gamepad of some description is the best solution to play.
Bandai-Namco have been variety sufficient to ship me a assessment copy of the Naruto Legacy bundle, and whereas there’s not room right here for a full and complete assessment of 4 video games plus all their DLC and expansions – all included on this pack – think about this a broad suggestion. Even on sale the bundle isn’t particularly low-cost, but it surely comprises sufficient ninja content material to be a tempting buy for anybody who grew up studying the manga, and now feels a bit of bit outdated seeing Naruto himself formally married with youngsters.
The Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Legacy bundle (whew) is £38.40 on Steam right now, with the person video games being discounted individually, if you wish to choose and select..
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