Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 Review

Thefanboyseo.com reviews the game Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 for the Sony Playstation 4 presented by Sony and Bandai Namco.

Naruto and the rest of the Konoha ninjas are back for the fourth installment of the Ultimate Storm games. This game features:

• New Generation Systems – With the power of the new generation systems, this brand new game will take players through an incredible journey of beautifully Anime-rendered fights!
• Change Leader System – Recreate all the legendary teams from Naruto Shippuden or create your own team! Players will be able to switch characters during the fight!
• New Features – Enjoy fast-paced fights with the Wall-run!
• Incredible Roster – The most impressive collection in the history of Naruto games will span the Naruto Shippuden story arc and capture the latest character appearances from the anime.
• Original Voiceover Support – Includes the Japanese, American, Mexican and Brazilian voiceover cast!

What it doesn’t feature is a stronger story mode, a great adventure mode and problematic dubbing. Other than that, I’m pretty happy with Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 which I shall now refer to as UNS4 because its such a long title.

Fast paced and frenetic, this fourth installment of Naruto’s flagship game finally wraps up the anime and manga’s story and I want to think that this ends with just a shout rather than a loud bang.

I still like the game but I expected too much content wise. We pick up just where Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 ends with Naruto officially joining the fourth ninja war from happening and making Uchiha Madara suffer from all the crap he’s done. So expect to see a lot of six path sage modes in this outing.

The past events and battles are still present through adventure mode which they recommend you start after finishing the game.  These battles are presented through memory crystals and you have to go on an RPG-esque journey to different ninja villages to find all those fights. This can either improve the game or ruin it for you.

One thing even I can’t challenge in UNS4 is the smartly done dynamics between QTEs (Quick Time Events) and actual button mashing mayhem. And its not just QTEs thrown there to look and feel “new” but they serve various purposes. It could however be a downfall if we’re to consider User Experience and the rewards could prove to be unsatisfying for some gamers.

The selling and buying system here is still the same. Currency is there but as you play and win various ninja items, it gives you the chance to buy more stuff from the Bandai store. This could be new costumes and new characters.

Online Battle can be anywhere between fun to annoying. Personally though, I found it a challenge, it’s also a nice way of breaking your self-confidence. That can’t be said for the awards for various challenges though.

But all that is forgiveable in my humble opinion. What really gets me from this game is the badly time lipsynching of the animation and the voicework. The voice talent is wonderful, it’s really that the movement of the lips of the animated characters don’t synch properly making it feel like a badly dubbed anime by some bored college students. That’s really all; and I think a big chunk of patching can do the trick.

I am still very impressed with the core game, with how you need to think fast while beating up opponents and even after all these years, the flashy moves still get me. So yes the Naruto fanboy in me still “likes” Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 despite the small problems here and there. Oh and the feels on this one is just tremendous.

SCORE: 8/10