Or otherwise known as Naruto 1.5. All i can say is i'm disappointed with it after 2hrs in, theres no noticable improvement over the first game and in many places is inferior due to all the extra tacted on mini games and forced use of the open field tag system which slows the game down.
Combat is same, still feels sluggish and is based around getting distance between you and the enemy ninja to allow jutsu's to charge, the only changes to the system are the tag options which allow you to switch at will and use them during a killer move to use what seem to be a single standard tag move for everyone regardless of match ups. You would think with the characters on offer they could do something more interesting than punch, punch to the air, punch to the ground they all have(like have Shika shadow bind the enemy, and naruto do a jutsu). Sadly throwing moves are yet again one of 3 types of animation for everyone(naruto spin throw, knees to air throw and Uppercut to air spin kick), and 1 in the air which smacks of lazyness when even major characters like Sasuke don't even get his piledriver. Luckly standard combos are varied and suit the characters along with the Jutsu(all QTE's again).
Open Field's only addition is tag play, allowing you to swap characters so different switches can be reached or walls smashed, nothing outstanding but at least some thought was put in to Shika's open field jutsu(1 allowing you to save people from traps using shadow bind to pull them back, the other is shadow hand/trace to guide his shadow to pull switches or get items). The rest is the same assortment of collecting coins, mini-games and improved tree running. You also start the game off with none of the jutsu you learned in the first but quickly get most of them back apart clone wall smash which is gone, and water/wall running no longer needs hand seals to use.
Now the bad bit, the story. Once again Ubisoft have gone about crafting there own events which often don't make sense, and stuff is cut from the get go like Kakashi's beating at itachi's hands which changes the motivations for Naruto being taught by Jiraiya to "just because". Main secondary characters are missing again, some of which appeared inthe first so there holding them back for payable dlc again(Shino,Hinata,Iruka,Shizune,Ino,Asuma,tenten) . Cut Scenes are laughable static, ugly and often lifeless with characters not even looking at each other, and while it comes with the japanese voices to start with, they are not used in the fights themselves so the grunts and moanings are all from the english VA's... which has got to be glitch as they've recorded new lines for random rubbish filler quests with the old japanese VA's..... so why couldn't they get them grunt and moan.
Overall it's very average and shows the engine and art have aged badly in just 1 year, which doesn't help when there so many well done and very pretty games being released right now.
Combat is same, still feels sluggish and is based around getting distance between you and the enemy ninja to allow jutsu's to charge, the only changes to the system are the tag options which allow you to switch at will and use them during a killer move to use what seem to be a single standard tag move for everyone regardless of match ups. You would think with the characters on offer they could do something more interesting than punch, punch to the air, punch to the ground they all have(like have Shika shadow bind the enemy, and naruto do a jutsu). Sadly throwing moves are yet again one of 3 types of animation for everyone(naruto spin throw, knees to air throw and Uppercut to air spin kick), and 1 in the air which smacks of lazyness when even major characters like Sasuke don't even get his piledriver. Luckly standard combos are varied and suit the characters along with the Jutsu(all QTE's again).
Open Field's only addition is tag play, allowing you to swap characters so different switches can be reached or walls smashed, nothing outstanding but at least some thought was put in to Shika's open field jutsu(1 allowing you to save people from traps using shadow bind to pull them back, the other is shadow hand/trace to guide his shadow to pull switches or get items). The rest is the same assortment of collecting coins, mini-games and improved tree running. You also start the game off with none of the jutsu you learned in the first but quickly get most of them back apart clone wall smash which is gone, and water/wall running no longer needs hand seals to use.
Now the bad bit, the story. Once again Ubisoft have gone about crafting there own events which often don't make sense, and stuff is cut from the get go like Kakashi's beating at itachi's hands which changes the motivations for Naruto being taught by Jiraiya to "just because". Main secondary characters are missing again, some of which appeared inthe first so there holding them back for payable dlc again(Shino,Hinata,Iruka,Shizune,Ino,Asuma,tenten) . Cut Scenes are laughable static, ugly and often lifeless with characters not even looking at each other, and while it comes with the japanese voices to start with, they are not used in the fights themselves so the grunts and moanings are all from the english VA's... which has got to be glitch as they've recorded new lines for random rubbish filler quests with the old japanese VA's..... so why couldn't they get them grunt and moan.
Overall it's very average and shows the engine and art have aged badly in just 1 year, which doesn't help when there so many well done and very pretty games being released right now.
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