PS3 Games Review

It's a sad fact that among the constant flood of games based on popular anime series, many succeed at delivering lots of characters, music, and other content that appeal to devoted fans, but can't manage to support all these goodies with a compelling gameplay experience. It's refreshing, then, that the Ultimate Ninja Storm series continues to deliver moments that capture the bristling energy and excitement of Naruto. Unfortunately, these terrific bits are separated by a great deal of dull filler, but the intensity Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 delivers at its best makes enduring these tedious stretches worth it in the end.

The tale you experience in the Ultimate Adventure mode is told with a great deal of dramatic flair, and it's clear that a lot of care went into doing these characters and events justice. As the hotheaded young ninja Naruto and his friends struggle against evil forces to protect Hidden Leaf Village, moody music, effective camera movement, and great voice acting all enhance the impact of their brave struggles and the poignancy of their noble sacrifices. Unfortunately, the story also casually throws around so many characters, organizations, and obscure terms without explanation that much will be lost on those who come to Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 without knowing their Akatsuke from their Kazekage. This game is unapologetically one for the fans, and it makes no effort to embrace anyone else.

The flip side of this is that there isn't a great deal of depth to the fighting. These button-mashing antics make for some fun and very flashy fights in the single-player story mode. The camera swings around to frame the action dramatically, and the spectacular chakra attacks you can perform make you feel like you've really harnessed the incredible powers of these characters. But as a multiplayer fighter, it doesn't hold up. It's a system that lends itself to easily pulling off the same outrageous moves over and over, not one that emphasizes tactics and strategy. Defeating characters with these limited repertoires of moves is satisfying when there are motivations to do so provided by the story. But as incredible as these fights may look, their shallowness quickly makes them unsatisfying when played competitively against other players. The introduction of online support is still a welcome one for the Ultimate Ninja Storm series, and Naruto fans will have a bit of fun pitting their favorite characters against each other. But this is no substitute for a proper fighting game.

Through it all, though, the visuals never cease to impress. Like its predecessor, Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 has vibrant colors and silky-smooth animation that capture the look of the anime with breathtaking accuracy. The bridges, streets, and shops of Hidden Leaf Village and the other areas you visit have a painterly quality that elevates them above the appealingly cartoony visuals of a typical cel-shaded game to create something truly beautiful. The sound is terrific, too. The voice cast delivers performances filled with the heightened emotions you'd expect from a saga about powerful ninjas locked in a struggle between good and evil, without going overboard and making the material seem goofy. The score sets just the right tone for this tale; melancholy piano melodies and haunting flutes accompany the story's more serious moments, but the music shifts into high gear once the fists start flying.

Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 delivers a well-told and memorable tale that does right by the characters and locations of the popular anime and is peppered throughout with some stunning moments that make you feel like tremendously powerful forces are at work here. Unfortunately, those great moments are separated by a whole lot of forgettable traveling back and forth through a world that looks gorgeous but that you can't interact with in any interesting ways, and although the fighting system works well enough in the context of the story, it doesn't have the depth necessary to stand on its own for very long. But the good moments are good enough to make up for the game's shortcomings, and you'll remember the intensity of those epic battles long after the tedium of what's in between has faded from memory.